From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Tetris effect
Tetris effect
at the edges of their visual fields or when they close their
eyes.[1] In this sense, the Tetris effect is a form of halluci-
nation or hypnagogic imagery.
Other examples
The Tetris effect can occur with other video games,[2]
with any prolonged visual task (such as classifying cells
on microscope slides, weeding, picking or sorting fruit,
flipping burgers, driving long distances, or playing board
games such as chess or go), and in other sensory modal-
ities.[citation needed] In kinesthesis, a person newly on land
after spending long periods at sea may move with an un-
bidden rocking motion, having become accustomed to
the ship making such movements (known as sea legs or
mal de debarquement). Computer programmers and de-
velopers sometimes have similar experiences, and report
dreaming about code when they sleep at night.
Place in memory
Stickgold et al. (2000) have proposed that Tetris imagery
is a separate form of memory, likely related to procedural
memory. This is from their research in which they
showed that people with anterograde amnesia, unable
to form new declarative memories, reported dreaming
of falling shapes after playing Tetris during the day, de-
spite not being able to remember playing the game at
all.[3] A recent Oxford study (2009) suggests Tetris-like
video games may help prevent the development of trau-
matic memories. If the video game treatment is played
soon after the traumatic event, the preoccupation with
Tetris shapes is enough to prevent the mental recitation
Screenshot of a tetromino game. People who play video puzzle of traumatic images, thereby decreasing the accuracy, in-
games like this for a long time may see moving images like this tensity, and frequency of traumatic reminders. "We sug-
at the edges of their visual fields, when they close their eyes, or gest it specifically interferes with the way sensory mem-
when they are drifting off to sleep. ories are laid down in the period after trauma and thus
reduces the number of flashbacks that are experienced
The Tetris effect occurs when people devote suffi- afterwards," summarizes Dr. Emily Holmes, who led the
cient time and attention to an activity that it begins to study.[4][5]
overshadow their thoughts, mental images, and dreams.
It is named after the video game Tetris.
People who play Tetris for a prolonged amount of
History of the term
time may then find themselves thinking about ways dif- According to Earling (1996),[1] one of the first references
ferent shapes in the real world can fit together, such as to the term is by Garth Kidd in February, 1996.[6] Kidd
the boxes on a supermarket shelf or the buildings on a described "after-images of the game for up to days af-
street.[1] In this sense, the Tetris effect is a form of habit. terwards" and "a tendency to identify everything in the
They might also dream about falling Tetris shapes when world as being made of four squares and attempt to de-
drifting off to sleep or see images of falling Tetris shapes termine ’where it fits in’". Kidd attributed the origin of
the term to computer-game players from Adelaide, Aus-
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Tetris effect
tralia. The earliest description of the phenomenon is in • Neuroplasticity
the introduction to Neil Gaiman’s SF poem "Virus"[7] • Video game addiction
(1987) in Digital Dreams. More recently, the term has
been used in the book Tetris Mania, describing a seven-
teen year old named Jason suffering from this phenome-
References
non. [1] ^ Earling, A. (1996, March 21–28). The Tetris Effect:
Do computer games fry your brain? Philadelphia City
Paper
L’effet Tetris [2] Daniel Terdiman (January 11, 2005). "Real World
The effet Tetris (French: Tetris effect) is a similarly named, Doesn’t Use a Joystick". Wired.
but quite different phenomenon found in evolutionary http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/
AI systems related to the concept of bounded rationality. news/2005/01/66225.
The effet Tetris then, is the effect whereby a hasty, but im- [3] Stickgold, Robert; Malia, April; Maguire, Denise;
precise course of action is better than calculating an op- Roddenberry, David; O’Connor, Margaret (2000).
timal move where such a calculation would not be com- "Replaying the Game: Hypnagogic Images in
pleted in time; in short, evolutionary systems often find Normals and Amnesics". Science 290 (5490):
local rather than global optima. 350–353. doi:10.1126/science.290.5490.350.
PMID 11030656.
Game Transfer Phenomena [4] Holmes EA, James EL, Coode-Bate T, Deeprose C,
(2009), "Can Playing the Computer Game "Tetris"
Modern term created after the thesis wrote by Angelica Reduce the Build-Up of Flashbacks for Trauma? A
Ortiz de Gortari student, a student from the Nottigham Proposal from Cognitive Science.", PLoS ONE 4 (1):
Trent University. The Game Transfer Phenomena or GTP e4153, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004153,
is the set of residual feelings, thoughts and/or images PMC 2607539, PMID 19127289,
which remain after playing a videogame. A good exam- http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/
ple, other than the Tetris effect would be the awareness articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=2607539
of the absence of a Head-up display in the natural human [5] "Tetris ’helps to reduce trauma’". BBC News.
field of view after playing a First-person shooter or the January 7, 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
urge to arrange (or command) little objects after playing health/7813637.stm.
a strategy game such as Starcraft. [6] Kidd, G. (1996). Possible future risk of virtual
reality. The RISKS Digest: Forum on Risks to the Public
References in Popular Culture [7]
in Computers and Related Systems 17(78)
Virus
The Tetris effect is implied in the Simpsons episode,
Strong Arms of the Ma, when Homer packs the car while
imagining objects (and people) as Tetris shapes. External links
• This Is Your Brain on Tetris — Wired magazine, May
See also 1994
• Tetris dreams - Scientific American magazine, October
• Earworm 2000
• Fixation (psychology)
• Highway hypnosis
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tetris_effect&oldid=461562948"
Categories:
• Tetris
• Memory
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