From Players to Participants: Citizen Science and Video Games to Understand Cognition

A new review on arXiv by Syrine Salouhou, Edgar Dubourg, Maxwell Scott-Slade, Hugo Spiers, and Antoine Coutrot examines how citizen science video games are transforming cognitive research. By embedding experimental tasks into engaging game experiences, researchers can reach large, diverse populations and collect behavioral data that is more ecologically valid than traditional lab studies. The paper highlights successful projects like Sea Hero Quest, which studies spatial navigation, and The Music Lab, which explores auditory cognition.

The review outlines key benefits: scalability (thousands of players can participate simultaneously), ecological validity (data reflects real-world behavior), and public engagement (participants are motivated by fun, not obligation). However, it also addresses challenges such as ensuring scientific rigor, maintaining ethical standards, and designing games that are meaningful for both researchers and players. The authors draw on professional game developer insights to explain why this approach is still rare in the literature, despite its potential to revolutionize cognitive science.