The effects of reward and experience valence in a videogame-task designed to evaluate response inhibition

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the impact of the valence of experience during gameplay(VEG) and rewards on a new video game task designed to assess responseinhibition. Participants and Methods: Adolescents (n=101) aged between 10-12years-old with typical development were evaluated in several measures, such as:attention, hyperactivity and impulsivity symptoms, game proficiency; gamerelated performance, and VEG. Based on VEG, participants were divided intotwo groups: positive (ExpP) or negative (ExpN). Bayesian statistical groupcomparisons and Bayesian repeated measures analysis (rmBANOVA) wereemployed. Results: rmBANOVA showed a difference between groups onlyduring the two halves of the task were ExpN made a higher number ofcommission errors. Total of commission errors was negatively correlated withthe total time on task. Path analysis revealed a positive influence of VEG onrewards gain, which was negatively related to commission errors. The best-fitmediation model considered the rewards as having a causal impact on totalnumber commission errors. Conclusions: Results shed light on the importance ofmotivation and rewards during tasks that involve cognitive and motivationcontrol processing.