Video Games and Memory: PSHS-MC Grade 9

• The study explores the effect of video game type and play duration on memory retention among Philippine Science High School (PSHS-MC) Grade 9 students.
• The research aims to determine if gaming habits either help or harm short-term memory retention.
• The findings could enhance understanding of the connection between gaming and cognitive abilities.
• Grade 9 was selected as the study population because it’s a pivotal time when students balance gaming and school.
• The study may benefit students and educators by providing practical insights into educational and cognitive development.
• New findings could encourage healthier gaming habits and strategies that blend gaming into teaching methods.
• The results could lead to the creation of video games designed to enhance memory.
• The study aims to advance educational methods, game design practices, and strategies for using video games for cognitive and educational purposes.

Variables

• Most Preferred Video Game Type is a qualitative, independent variable referring to the game category an individual enjoys most.

Game Categories

• Action/Adventure games focus on exploration, puzzle-solving and storytelling with non-playable character interaction to uncover a plot.
• Role-Playing (RPG) games allow players to take on character roles and develop unique abilities within structured stories.
• Strategy/Simulation games focus on planning, resource management, and tactical thinking, replicating real-world scenarios.
• Sports/Party games imitate real-life sports or popular party games.
• Puzzle games emphasize problem-solving, logic, and pattern recognition.
• N/A is for individuals without a preferred video game type or who do not play video games.
• Play Duration is a qualitative, independent variable referring to how long a participant played video games (in hours) the week, measured through screen time settings and rounded to ranges: 0, 1-5, 6-10, 11-20, 21-30, and 31+ hours.
• Verbal Memory Score is a quantitative, dependent variable referring to average words identified on the Verbal Memory test on Human Benchmark.
• Higher scores correspond to a higher ability to encode, store, and retrieve verbally presented information.
• Visual Memory Score is a quantitative, dependent variable referring to an average level reached on two attempts of visual memory test on Human Benchmark.
• A higher score equals a higher ability to retain visual imagery, the possible scores can be any positive numbers.
• Testing conditions are control variables that keep consistent across all students to reduce the effect of extraneous variables.

Testing Conditions

• This includes things like the number of attempts (three for each test), memory tests (Visual and Verbal Memory tests), and familiarity with the tests (short intro and demonstration).
• The environment is also controlled, including survey location, time of day, noise level, and lighting conditions.

Proposed Methods: Survey

• Utilized to analyze game habits.
• Allows analysis in natural context without variable manipulation.
• Sampling Method: Cluster sampling will be used to select 2 out of 8 grade 9 sections due to convenience of scheduling.
• Data Collection Method: Students will be informed in advance, consent will be obtained via Google Space & environment should be quiet and free of distractions.

Data Collection Steps

• There will be reminders of all required tracking and honest answering, provide test tutorials & administer two test attempts while proctoring to prevent cheating.
• Further data will be obtained with information entered into the Google Form & survey answers and data will be encoded for inconsistencies and errors.

Data Analysis

• Summary measures and data visualizations shown will provide understanding.
• Descriptive statistics provided will support tendencies & spread of variables with skewness examined to select summary measures.

Pre-Test

Used to identify flaws in the survey and data collection; current PSHS-MC students not in B2028 were used.

• First, 20 students were selected from the 10th grade: 10-Graviton (simple random sampling).
• Grade 10 students are the most similar batch to B2028 (also in AYP).
• Additionally this section was the only grade 10 group to share test periods

Pre-Testing Procedure

Students were invited into a Google Space where details and announcements were given. Students were asked to meet to perform memory tests and input data into the Google Form. After answering, the Google Form feedback was given. The Google Form data was cleaned and imported into a Jamovi file, where statistical analyses were performed.

Pre-Test Results

• 15 PSHS-MC students attempted to answer; “What is the effect of Most Preferred Video Game Type/Play Duration (per week) on visual/verbal memory of PSHS-MC B2028 students?”
• The y-axis shows the number of students, while the x-axis represents the different playtime intervals (in hours).
• 8 people play for 1-5 hours per week, making this the most common time interval.
• The second most common time interval is 11–20 hours per week, with 4 people.
• Table data suggest respondents prefer action and RPG based games (the least sports based) while a few people do not prefer any

Pre-test Insights: Survey Invitation & Feedback

-Short invitation notices were sent with limited options -Shorten survey duration from three to two -Lack of test clarifications -Additional links to the the Google Form and images will be edited

Possible issues

• Schedule of the respondent, respondents not showing and respondents lying about their score