Not many of us have to ask for directions anymore due to GPS-enabled mobile devices. Although getting lost might not be a concern anymore, losing a crucial cognitive skill, spatial intelligence, or the ability to learn and adapt to our surrounding environment might be something to worry about.

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Five Penn State Behrend students tested the idea by using the game Pokémon Go.

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Grace Waldfogle, a 2017 graduate in psychology and a student working on the study stated their research questions. She said, “We wanted to understand the mental mapping skills of players, how they might differ between experienced and novice players, and if there would be a gender difference.”

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Jacob Benedict, Tiffany Eichler, Kameron Landers and Mason McGuire helped with the study. Heather Lum, an assistant professor of psychology and Dawn Blasko, an associate professor of psychology, supervised the student’s research.

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Lum mentioned how this experience was one of a kind. She said, “Pokémon Go offered a unique opportunity to look at this. The game uses a real-world platform and augmented reality. The real world and the game world share many of the same roads, paths, landmarks and buildings.”

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The students recruited 60 total participants for the study that included students, faculty members and community residents. The mean age of participants was 23 and the group was split evenly between gender and between novice and experienced players.

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Participants were tested on their mental rotation and spatial perception during the study by using online tools. They were also given a blank campus map and instructed to draw the buildings. Participants were sent outside to play Pokémon Go for 20 minutes and then repeated the map drawing but this time including Pokéstops, which are where players collect game items.

Results showed that males significantly improved their mapping skills. Males were able to correctly identify more Pokéstops.

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Lum states that these findings require more studies to accurately state that males are better at mental mapping. She said, “More of the males were ‘experts’ at the game and did better on the initial mental rotation task. Does that mean men are inherently better, or did the game make them better? Alternatively, are those with better spatial skills drawn to these types of games?”

The Pokemon Go research team won the poster contest at Behrend’s annual Sigma Xi Undergraduate Research and Creative Accomplishment Conference.

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Lum stated, “If we find this a viable way to improve mental mapping, maybe admissions could work with the School of Engineering to develop an augmented reality game as a way for new students to learn their way around campus. It would be much more fun, and possibly more effective than a paper map.”