A new study provides some evidence that playing action video games strengthens a person’s ability to translate sensory information quickly into accurate decisions. Researchers had 23 male volunteers with an average age of 20 look at moving arrays on a computer screen and indicate the direction in which the dots were moving. Half of the volunteers (11 men) reported playing action video games at least five times a week for the previous year, while the other 12 reported no video game playing in the previous year. The response time and the accuracy score were both measured. A 95% confidence interval for the mean response time for game players minus the mean response time for non-players is −1.8 to −1.2 seconds, while a 95% confidence interval for mean accuracy score for game players minus mean accuracy score for non-players is −4.2 to +5.8.
(a) Interpret the meaning of the 95% confidence interval for difference in mean response time.
(b) Is it likely that game players and non-game players are basically the same in response time? Why or why not? If not, which group is faster (with a smaller response time)?
(c) Interpret the meaning of the 95% confidence interval for difference in mean accuracy score.
(d) Is it likely that game players and non-game players are basically the same in accuracy? Why or why not? If not, which group is more accurate?