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Improving the Data Quality of Attention-Based Cognitive Tasks Through the Use of Games

Date

2024-04-12

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

ORCID

0000-0002-0854-346X

Type

Thesis

Degree Level

Doctoral

Abstract

Cognitive tasks have many uses as scientific tools, from helping us understand how the human mind works to informing mental health assessments. But these tools are not perfect—they face problems of attrition for research and with patient cooperation for clinical use. Participants often exert suboptimal effort, leading to poor-quality data. To address these problems, researchers have turned to games. When cognitive tasks are gamified, users may find the previously boring tasks become interesting, and feel more willing to engage with the tasks and motivated to put forth their best effort. However, there are still many unanswered questions about how game-based assessments work. In this dissertation, we ask the question: How do games for the assessment of attention affect the quality of gathered data, in terms of both the experience of participants and their performance? We systematically reviewed the literature to identify how game-based assessments of attention are made and measured. Our results provided an overview of the field, further research questions, and a guide for how to approach future studies. We found that many assessment games are not sufficiently evaluated to determine the quality of data they produce. We then conducted two studies to examine how game elements affect performance on and enjoyment of an attention-based cognitive task. These studies provided guidance on which game elements are most likely to improve data quality, in terms of increasing participant enjoyment (and therefore engagement with the task) and performance (how quickly and accurately they respond to the task). Finally, we examined how the game elements identified in the previous studies affect the reliability of an attention-based cognitive task. To advance the use of game-based assessment, we need robust literature that examines individual game elements and their effects of all aspects of the assessment—the user experience, the behavioural performance of users, and the psychometric properties of the tasks. Our studies add to these structural building blocks of knowledge. We also offer models for how to design studies that adequately measure both user experience and performance, and ultimately the data quality of these tasks.

Description

Keywords

gamification, serious games, cognitive assessment, attention

Citation

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Department

Computer Science

Program

Computer Science

Part Of

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DOI

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