Assignments

Human Experimental Paper

Playing Counterstrike versus running: The Impact of Leisure Time Activities and Cortisol  on Intermediate-Term Memory

This article uses an experiment to test the benefits of playing violent video games or running on memory consolidation. They had 3 groups that were made to watch a documentary and take a test after performing an activity after. 1 group went for a run, 1 group played CS, and 1 group just went outside (control). They hypothesized that cortisol levels played a role in memory consolidation. After the experiment they found that running aided in memory consolidation while playing CS impaired it. However, cortisol levels did not correlate with memory consolidation as they hypothesized. This article had many apparent flaws such as the fact that people were able to cheat on the test. The sample recruitment was also called into question because it only factored in those who were familiar with CS.