{"pk":29358,"title":"The “cognitive speed-bump”:How world champion Tetris players trade milliseconds for seconds","subtitle":null,"abstract":"Tetris is a fast-paced puzzle solving game that requires play-ers to rapidly maneuver falling blocks to clear rows and scorepoints. Skilled Tetris players learn to execute moves in thegame very quickly to keep up with the increasing time pres-sure. But world champion Tetris players employ more complexstrategies that save precious milliseconds that enable them toreach even higher levels of play. Such strategies show mas-tery of the game’s event structure, but also come with a startupcost— a “cognitive speed bump”— wherein they must mo-mentarily decide whether to rotate a block left or right, evenfor scenarios where the distinction is not meaningful for per-formance. We present data showing both the world champions’superior overall action times, but also a preliminary “speedbump” that is consistent both within and between world cham-pion players. Potential underlying memory structures are ex-plored, and implications are discussed for both the Soft Con-straints Hypothesis and the relationship between Hick’s Lawand expertise.","language":"eng","license":{"name":"","short_name":"","text":null,"url":""},"keywords":[{"word":"cognitive strategies; extreme expertise; videogames; real-time tasks; complex tasks; skill acquisition; Tetris;complex skills; interactive behavior"}],"section":"Neuroscience and Psychophysics","is_remote":true,"remote_url":"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7gv9443c","frozenauthors":[{"first_name":"John","middle_name":"K.","last_name":"Lindstedt","name_suffix":"","institution":"University of New York","department":""},{"first_name":"Wayne","middle_name":"D.","last_name":"Gray","name_suffix":"","institution":"Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute","department":""}],"date_submitted":null,"date_accepted":null,"date_published":"2020-01-01T18:00:00Z","render_galley":null,"galleys":[{"label":"PDF","type":"pdf","path":"https://journalpub.escholarship.org/cognitivesciencesociety/article/29358/galley/19219/download/"}]}