Department of psychotherapy, the Graduate School of Professional Therapeutic Technology, Seoul Women's University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Department of Psychology, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
PLoS One. 2020 Mar 20;15(3):e0230498. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0230498. eCollection 2020.
Cognitive control is the most fundamental psychological function that underlies the execution of many other psychological functions. A mobile game application could be a useful strategy to evaluate cognitive control in the groups of children and adolescents. Although a serious game that is based on gamification would be an optimal platform for the administration of behavioral and clinical assessments of children and adolescents, most studies on gamification have been conducted among adults and older adults than among children and adolescents. This study aimed to assess cognitive control using a mobile game that used gamification and compared the results to those from traditional neuropsychological tests for children and adolescents. In order to address this objective, this study used a serious game, namely, "CoCon," which was developed to assess cognitive control in children and adolescents. This study included 100 participants from a community sample (mean age = 11.75 years, ranged from 9 to 16 years, SD = 1.40 years; Male = 59(59%), Female = 41(41%)). The analyses interrogated the relationships among various game behaviors scores of CoCon, the standardized neuropsychological tests (K-WISC-IV, CTT, and Stroop), and self-reporting executive function difficulty questionnaire. As results, a mobile game application-based assessment proved to be a reliable and valid measure of the cognitive control in children and adolescents. The index scores from the CoCon were significantly related to various cognitive control functions and differentiated between the high and low cognitive control groups. Specifically, even though the participants completed the mobile game 'CoCon' in their natural habitats, the CoCon scores were comparable to the measures from standard neuropsychological tests. In conclusion, the present findings suggest that mobile games that use advanced technology and sophisticated psychological strategies can serve as a new and expanded platform for the administration of psychological assessments.
认知控制是执行许多其他心理功能的最基本的心理功能。移动游戏应用程序可能是评估儿童和青少年群体认知控制的有用策略。虽然基于游戏化的严肃游戏将是对儿童和青少年进行行为和临床评估的最佳平台，但大多数关于游戏化的研究都是在成年人和老年人中进行的，而不是在儿童和青少年中进行的。本研究旨在使用使用游戏化的移动游戏来评估认知控制，并将结果与传统的儿童和青少年神经心理学测试的结果进行比较。为了实现这一目标，本研究使用了一种严肃游戏，即 "CoCon"，用于评估儿童和青少年的认知控制。本研究包括来自社区样本的 100 名参与者（平均年龄=11.75 岁，年龄范围为 9 至 16 岁，SD=1.40 岁；男性=59（59%），女性=41（41%））。分析探讨了 CoCon 的各种游戏行为得分、标准化神经心理学测试（K-WISC-IV、CTT 和 Stroop）以及自我报告的执行功能困难问卷之间的关系。结果表明，基于移动游戏应用程序的评估被证明是一种可靠和有效的儿童和青少年认知控制测量方法。CoCon 的指标得分与各种认知控制功能显著相关，并区分了高认知控制组和低认知控制组。具体而言，尽管参与者在其自然栖息地完成了移动游戏 'CoCon'，但 CoCon 得分与标准神经心理学测试的测量结果相当。总之，本研究结果表明，使用先进技术和复杂心理策略的移动游戏可以作为进行心理评估的新的扩展平台。
