#something something tetris effect and game transfer phenomena

[the-tetris-effect]

Listen to Elise with special guest Jordan discuss Tetris Syndrome!

Link to Podcast (x).

Transcript under the cut

Elise: Hello, hello and welcome back to Mind Games!  Before we get started, I’d like to talk about our sponsor for today’s episode, Goop!  Check out their revolutionary Ear Seed Kit!  Use tweezers to place small 24-karat gold plated ‘seeds’ in your ear!  They are self-adhesive, and you should leave them on for 3-5 days!  We’re not asking how they are both self-adhesive and gold-plated, and neither should you!  Elevate your wellness with Goop for only $45 dollars!

I have with me today special guest Jordan, a Sleep Psychologist with the Tiger Paw Institute!  How are you doing Jordan?

Jordan: I’m doing just swell today Elise.  Thank you for having me, I’m very excited!

Elise: Of course! We are very excited to have you!

Elise: Now, today we will be talking about a study from October of 2000 regarding The Tetris Effect.  The name of the study is “Replaying the Game: Hypnagogic Images in Normals and Amnesics”.  This study really helped me to understand just how ingrained into our minds this Tetris Syndrome is.  So let’s jump right in!

Jordan: I’m very excited to hear about this today, Elise. 

Elise: So, to conduct this study, the researchers had 27 participants: 12 Tetris novices with no prior experience, 10 Tetris experts, and 5 “amnesics with extensive, bilateral medial temporal lobe damage” [10].  They were all asked to play a total of 7 hours of Tetris over the course of 3 days, and then reported if they thought about playing the game as well as whether they experienced ‘Hypnagogic Images’.

Jordan: So I’m glad that you brought up Hypnagogic Images, because this is something that I’ve studied pretty extensively.  So, the word hypnagogia refers to the state between wakefulness and sleep [11], and many people experience what we call hypnagogic illusions.  These can affect any of your senses.  So, for example, have you ever been drifting off to sleep and suddenly feel like you’re falling?  

Elise: Oh, definitely.

Jordan: Right, so that’s an example of a hypnagogic hallucination.

Elise: Interesting!  So in this particular study, they were focused on the particular aspect of Game Transfer Phenomena that occurs during hypnagogia and affects the visual sense.  Ultimately, there were 38 reports of participants experiencing the hypnagogic images specifically related to Tetris.  

Jordan: Wow, that’s a lot!

Elise:  Right? Only over three days!

Jordan: Right.

Elise: So, the participants would see stuff like Tetris pieces, and sometimes they would be falling.  Some of them even reported that the lines would disappear, just like they were playing the game [10].  Now, here’s the really interesting part of the results: None of the amnesic participants could remember, from one session to the next, that they had played Tetris, or that they had even met the experimenter.  However, 3 out of the 5 participants reported experiencing Tetris-related hypnagogic imagery.  

Jordan: That’s such a high rate!

Elise: Right? They even reported this experience at a higher rate than the Tetris experts [10].  Isn’t that wild?

Jordan:  That is wild.  So in your research, what does it appear that the implications of these findings are?

Elise:  Well, the biggest implication that we get from this particular study is that now we know that it is unlikely that, for at least this aspect of Tetris syndrome, that it is caused by the structures in your brain that are associated with declarative memory.  Instead, the researchers theorize that it is more similar to your body developing muscle memory, which is on the subconscious side of memory [10].

Jordan: Wow.  That’s really incredible.  I can’t wait to see how this fits into my research of sleep.

Elise: All right, well, this is where our discussion of this particular study ends, but I’d be really curious to see this replicated.  Reading this study has really opened my eyes to the possibilities of Game Transfer Phenomena.

Jordan: I absolutely agree!

Elise:  Well, thank you for coming and sharing your expertise with us today, Jordan!  You’ve been a real pleasure to have!

Jordan:  Before we go, I have to ask you: What do you call a snoozing dinosaur?

Elise:  What do you call a snoozing dinosaur?

Jordan: A dino- SNORE!

Elise:  Very nice!  Thank you to all of our listeners for tuning in today, come back next week for more Mind Games!