Stimulus-Response Compatibility and Videogame Performance

Abstract

We investigated the role of stimulus-response compatibility in influencing manual reactions to a moving visual target in a videogame (pong). 40 right-handed university men were assigned randomly to one of two experimental conditions, the normal game condition or a reverse control condition in which the response device on the right controls the left game paddle and the device on the left controls the right paddle. Subjects in the normal condition performed marginally better playing pong when seated on the right than when seated on the left, consistent with earlier findings. However, subjects in the reverse control condition showed the reverse effect, a leftside advantage. These findings suggest that compatibility between location of the moving target (the ball) and either handedness or hand used to respond may have been responsible for the right-side advantage observed in the normal-game condition.