The Effect of Computer Gaming on Subsequent Time Perception

Losing track of time upon gaming is a phenomenon often reported by players of computer and video games. However, the few studies addressing this issue show mixed results and do therefore not allow final conclusions about the effect of gaming on time perception. Even less is known about whether and h...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Stefanie Luthman, Thomas Bliesener, Frithjof Staude-Müller
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Masaryk University 2009-06-01
Series:Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberpspace
Subjects:
Online Access:https://cyberpsychology.eu/article/view/4221
_version_ 1797258922219798528
author Stefanie Luthman
Thomas Bliesener
Frithjof Staude-Müller
author_facet Stefanie Luthman
Thomas Bliesener
Frithjof Staude-Müller
author_sort Stefanie Luthman
collection DOAJ
description Losing track of time upon gaming is a phenomenon often reported by players of computer and video games. However, the few studies addressing this issue show mixed results and do therefore not allow final conclusions about the effect of gaming on time perception. Even less is known about whether and how time distortion continues after a play session. Therefore, the present experiment tested the effect of gaming on the perception of time subsequent to a game session at a LAN party. 40 players produced standard time intervals of 10 s and 60 s before and after having played computer games. Results show a significant increase in time productions after gaming for the short interval, indicating that game-induced time losses continue even after a game session. In contrast, the reverse was true for the longer interval. We discuss how this result may be explained in terms of participants’ motivational states during the experiment counteracting subjective time losses.
first_indexed 2024-04-24T23:01:14Z
format Article
id doaj.art-251b5641e4a245cf83c279e24f04bb84
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1802-7962
language English
last_indexed 2024-04-24T23:01:14Z
publishDate 2009-06-01
publisher Masaryk University
record_format Article
series Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberpspace
spelling doaj.art-251b5641e4a245cf83c279e24f04bb842024-03-17T13:15:23ZengMasaryk UniversityCyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberpspace1802-79622009-06-0131The Effect of Computer Gaming on Subsequent Time PerceptionStefanie LuthmanThomas BliesenerFrithjof Staude-MüllerLosing track of time upon gaming is a phenomenon often reported by players of computer and video games. However, the few studies addressing this issue show mixed results and do therefore not allow final conclusions about the effect of gaming on time perception. Even less is known about whether and how time distortion continues after a play session. Therefore, the present experiment tested the effect of gaming on the perception of time subsequent to a game session at a LAN party. 40 players produced standard time intervals of 10 s and 60 s before and after having played computer games. Results show a significant increase in time productions after gaming for the short interval, indicating that game-induced time losses continue even after a game session. In contrast, the reverse was true for the longer interval. We discuss how this result may be explained in terms of participants’ motivational states during the experiment counteracting subjective time losses.https://cyberpsychology.eu/article/view/4221time perceptioncomputer gameLAN party
spellingShingle Stefanie Luthman
Thomas Bliesener
Frithjof Staude-Müller
The Effect of Computer Gaming on Subsequent Time Perception
Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberpspace
time perception
computer game
LAN party
title The Effect of Computer Gaming on Subsequent Time Perception
title_full The Effect of Computer Gaming on Subsequent Time Perception
title_fullStr The Effect of Computer Gaming on Subsequent Time Perception
title_full_unstemmed The Effect of Computer Gaming on Subsequent Time Perception
title_short The Effect of Computer Gaming on Subsequent Time Perception
title_sort effect of computer gaming on subsequent time perception
topic time perception
computer game
LAN party
url https://cyberpsychology.eu/article/view/4221
work_keys_str_mv AT stefanieluthman theeffectofcomputergamingonsubsequenttimeperception
AT thomasbliesener theeffectofcomputergamingonsubsequenttimeperception
AT frithjofstaudemuller theeffectofcomputergamingonsubsequenttimeperception
AT stefanieluthman effectofcomputergamingonsubsequenttimeperception
AT thomasbliesener effectofcomputergamingonsubsequenttimeperception
AT frithjofstaudemuller effectofcomputergamingonsubsequenttimeperception