The Scientific Benefits of Play: Gamifying Sensory Neuroscience

Aim: We present a case study of gamifying research on multisensory (audiovisual) interaction. The advantages and drawbacks of game-based platforms are explored by examining four variants of the same basic experimental protocol. Method: We implemented and compared four platforms that assessed interactions between auditory and visual processing systems. Two of the variants had been developed in prior research using a minimal to moderate level of gamification to study a particular form of audiovisual interaction. Two new variants were implemented one with no gamification at all to determine whether subjects preferred the gamified version, and one with much more sophisticated competitive tournament-style gamification to explore the effects of more sophisticated gamification on the experimental design. Results: All four platforms produced comparable evidence of substantial audiovisual interaction, but subjects preferred the more gamified platforms. Equally important was the efficiency of the most gamified platform: it generated a rich database of ∼40,000 informative stimulus-response events with just three hours’ data collection. This would have taken over 40 hours using a conventional, non-gamified approach. Conclusions: In platform-to-platform comparison, subjects preferred a gamified platform to one with conventional experimental design. The relaxation of some experimenter control in the most gamified platform had two main effects. It complicated the data analysis because there were more uncontrolled variables to contend with, but exploration of those additional variables opened a valuable window onto a number of unanticipated behaviors and strategies. Importantly, a consistent, strong multisensory interaction was clear even in the most complex, gamified experimental