Tetris effect
People who have played Tetris for a prolonged amount of time can find themselves thinking about ways different shapes in the real world can fit together, such as the boxes on a supermarket shelf or the buildings on a street.
[1] This suggests that the initial increase in GMR levels may be a reflection of the brain adapting to the novel demands and conditions of the game, thus causing alertness and arousal.
This heightened alertness and cognitive engagement, experienced both during and after play, has the potential to boost the brain's tendency to integrate Tetris-related patterns into everyday life.
When individuals play Tetris for prolonged periods of time, their brains become highly tuned to recognising and processing the distinctive shapes and patterns of the game.
[7] With repeated exposure to Tetris, the brain begins to adapt to the increased demand for WM resources such as attention from the central executive, facilitating their ability to selectively focus on pertinent information whilst disregarding irrelevant stimuli.
This data is consistent with the hypothesis that mental rotation engages cortical areas involved in tracking moving objects and encoding spatial relations; all of which contribute to working memory processes.
This has been furthered by studies using neuroimaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging to show how continuous Tetris game play leads to an increase in cortical thickness.
As the brain is more attuned to detecting and encoding patterns similar to those encountered during gameplay, there may be involuntary retrieval of Tetris-related images in everyday life.
The Tetris effect has shown to challenge traditional views of memory and perception by highlighting the dynamic and active nature of the cognitive processes involved.
A study conducted by Iyadurai et al in 2010[12] hypothesised that playing Tetris would disrupt consolidation of sensory elements of trauma memory following a motor vehicle accident.
The Tetris effect once again reduces these cravings by occupying mental processes supporting the imagery; making it harder to imagine consuming a substance or engaging in an activity simultaneously.
[12] A series of empirical studies with over 6,000 gamers has been conducted since 2010 into "game transfer phenomena" (GTP), a broadening of the Tetris effect concept coined by Angelica B. Ortiz de Gortari in her thesis.
[16][17][18][19] The earliest known reference to the term appears in Jeffrey Goldsmith's article, "This is Your Brain on Tetris", published in Wired in May 1994: No home was sweet without a Game Boy in 1990.
