Interacting with videogames in adolescence: Effects of graphic visualization on perceived presence and visuospatial competences

The study here described had the aim of studying the effects of the interaction with videogames characterized by different modalities of graphic visualization (two-dimensional vs. three-dimensional) on presence and visuospatial competences. Participants were 129 adolescents (74 M and 55 F) aged 14– 18 years old (mean of age = 16.11; SD = 1.31), recruited in a high school in Northern Italy. Participants were instructed to use for a week on their home PC a specific videogame and were divided in five experimental conditions: 2D Tetris, 3D Tetris, 2D Adventure, 3D Adventure, control. Videogames provided to participants were chosen so to have a continuum in terms of complexity of graphics, complexity of interaction possibilities and degree of immersivity. At the end of the week of playing with the given videogame, participants were administered specific checklists for measuring the degree of presence experimented during the interaction with the videogame and their visuo-spatial performance. This results show that there is a strong and direct correlation between the degree of complexity, immersivity and cognitive demands of videogames and the level of presence conveyed. Results also show that some of the visuo-spatial abilities are progressively and positively improved as the complexity of the graphic environment increases.