Introduction
When conducting Games User Research at Sprung Studios, whether it be usability testing or expert reviews, we often talk about the idea of the research being “based on Cognitive Science principles”, but what exactly does that mean?
Client reports are rarely the right time or place to explain the Cognitive Science principles that underlie games user research, or how video games and the brain are related. This can be problematic, especially in the case of expert reviews, as it can unfortunately lead to the false impression that the work is simply the opinions of the researchers, or a subjective catalog of what the researchers did and didn’t like about the game.
Therefore, this article has two goals:
Summarize some of the Cognitive Science principles being applied
Show examples of where these principles can come up in game design
Cognitive Functions
Cognitive Science is an interdisciplinary field that is concerned with understanding the various systems of the brain, the cognitive functions involved, and the processes that govern their operation. Throughout this article we’ll be highlighting a few of these cognitive functions.
This is not an exhaustive list, and it is important to understand that the brain does not work in distinct buckets. These functions often overlap, and a problem in a game can be rooted in multiple cognitive functions. The simplified explanations presented below are simply to teach the basic ideas.
Attention
Attentional Spotlight
While a player can see the entire screen, a common myth is that they can also pay attention to the entire screen at the same time. However, that is generally not true as attention acts more like a spotlight that can be directed.
When it comes to game design, this means that 1) it’s not safe to assume that a player will notice something on the edge of the screen just because it is visually present, and 2) work needs to be done to guide the player’s attention to the part of the screen you want them to focus on. Failure to do so is one of the main reasons that players miss important on-screen events.
Endogenous vs. Exogenous
Guiding of attention can happen either voluntarily or automatically.
Voluntary shifting of attention is called endogenous control and commonly seen in games like Hidden Folks (think: Where’s Waldo?), where the player is actively searching for a target item.
Automatic/reflexive attention is called exogenous control, and is the reason why notification pips, popups dialogs, and flashing animations draw the player’s attention.
When designing a game, consider which type of attention you’re aiming to achieve. For example, consistent iconography between a map and a key helps to maximize endogenous control, whereas you may want to limit popup notifications when the player is in combat to avoid automatically/reflexively drawing their attention away from the action.
Useful Field of View (UFOV)
When looking at any part of the screen, there is a limited area around that point where information can be effectively retrieved. This is called the Useful Field of View (UFOV). The size of the UFOV does not span the entire screen, so placing important information on opposite sides of the screen can be problematic, especially if the player is using a widescreen display.
Additionally, the size of the UFOV is heavily dependent on age (it gets smaller as you get older), so it’s important to consider the target demographic when considering where to place UI elements on the screen.
In game design, this comes up frequently when displaying off-screen markers. For example, in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, if players are looking at the off-screen markers on the left side of the screen, it will be difficult for them to simultaneously see the one of the right side without moving their eyes:
Iron Space gets around this problem by moving enemy markers into a radar that is placed more centrally:
The same idea applies to larger UI elements. Many first and third person shooters place health bars and ammo count at the edges and corners of the screen. The Division 2 places that information closer to the center of the screen so it’s easier to access with a quick eye movement:
Inattentional Blindness
Inattentional blindness is the inability to see something that is in full view of the screen due to engagement in another task. The classic example of this effect comes from the paper Gorillas in Our Midst: Sustained Inattentional Blindness for Dynamic Events (1999).
This effect comes up time and time again in games. Imagine fighting a raid boss in World of Warcraft and seeing your party members die because they’re standing in some area-of-effect damage. Sound familiar? This is inattentionalblindness in action and is usually not the player’s fault, but instead the result of the game drawing the player’s attention to the wrong thing.
This also comes up frequently with in-game tutorials. In Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, tutorials can pop up in the middle of combat. Failure to see these tutorial boxes due to focusing on combat can have long-term consequences for the player’s comprehension of game mechanics:
Perception
Gestalt Principles
Gestalt Psychologists outlined a number of principles of perceptual organization and grouping. They help to explain why certain elements appear to belong to the same group, while others do not. This is particularly useful in UI and motion design because it allows you to perceptually group items together without literally drawing a box around them.
A few examples:
Law of proximity
Items that are close together are perceived to be in the same group
Law of similarity
Items that are similar (colour, shape etc.) are perceived to be in the same group
Law of common fate
Items that move together along a similar path are perceived as being grouped together
Law of past experience
If items have frequently been seen together in the past, they are more likely to be seen as grouped moving forward
Breaking these principles can lead to confusion for players. For example, in the Asphalt 9: Legends example below it’s unclear what the +12 refers to because it’s not placed in close proximity to any other element:
Memory
Procedural Memory
Not all memories are encoded actively with conscious awareness. Procedural memories are implicit, skill-based, and learned through repetition. One real-life example of this is learning how to tie shoelaces; with enough practice and repetition, it becomes automatic and you can do it without thinking.
In the context of game design, one place where procedural memories come up is with control inputs. Over time, players develop a memory for certain controls, and is one of the main reasons that games offer settings for joystick and mouse sensitivity; they allow players to tweak input settings to match what they have stored procedurally. Similarly, some players have developed a strong procedural memory for playing with inverted-Y controls, and games become almost unplayable for them if no inverted option is available.
Another common issue is the use of non-standard key bindings and/or the lack of key remapping options. Non-standard bindings, like in the case of Undertale, make it very easy for players to press the wrong button when performing common actions:
Short-Term Memory
The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two (1956) is one of the most famous papers in Cognitive Science, and states that short-term memory has a limited capacity of 7 items that can be effectively held in memory at a time. However, that value has been d
