Efecto del entrenamiento con un juego de estrategia en tiempo real sobre la toma de decisiones en adolescentes Effect of Training with a Real-Time Strategy Game on Decision Making in Adolescents

We evaluated if training with a real-time strategy game could improve decision-making (DM) in adolescents of both sexes aged 15 to 18 years-old from Cordoba (Argentina). An experimental design was used with pre- and post-test. The experimental group spent 7 40-minutes training sessions with the game Dark Reign (independent variable). Because data was not normally distributed, nonparametric statistical tests were used. To measure DM several tests were used. First of all, analysis of global performance in the Iowa Gambling Task revealed only a main effect of treatment. On the other hand, men in the experimental group performance, by blocks, improved their score on blocks 3 and 4. No differences were found in performance of Cognitive Bias Task and Game of Dice Task. Experimental group IGT global net score improvement, accompanied by improvements found in IGT block score for male experimental group, suggest that treatment had an effect on the ability to make advantageous decisions, highlighting the long term rather than the immediate rewards in this group profit.