The Experience and Cognitive Performance as a Gamer during the Use of Educational Video Games

Video game have surged in popularity and usefulness in education; higher-education institutions have seen an increment in student's interest on interactive content for learning complex subjects, especially in the field of engineering. This study explored the effects of emotions and cognitive performance during the use of serious games. Methodology: A quasi-experimental approach was used to assess cognitive processing during the execution of a challenging matrix-related activity within undergraduate engineering students (n=9). An initial baseline was made on emotional dimensions through the EMOTIV software and later analyzed to evaluate student's cognitive load through a semi-structured interview. Results: Six basic emotions were identified: commitment (24.31%), relaxation (21.7%), emotion (21.04%), interest (12.43%), focus (16.31%), stress (9.25%). Cognitive dimensions emerge such as effort, frustration, performance, mental demand, physical demand and temporal demand. Conclusion: higher task commitment is identified when students utilize serious games and cognitive performance is mediated by individual adjustments to video game's complexity.