Examining the influence of target–distractor similarity on difficulty in a working memory game

Video games often feature complex game environments, with many elements irrelevant to the current task, which may distract from goal-relevant information. From a game design perspective, this increased difficulty factor may either be desired or lead to unwanted consequences and accessibility concerns. Evidence from cognitive science suggests that information processing is more susceptible to distracting items similar to the target. The current study therefore investigated the effects of target–distractor similarity on difficulty in a Working Memory (WM) game that requires participants to memorise a target path on a grid. Distractors with varying similarity to the path were presented either simultaneously with the path (encoding period), or after the path has disappeared (delay period). Results revealed that distractors generally led to poorer performance, and further that performance gradually declined with increasing target–distractor similarity during memory encoding. Exploratory analyses between performance and player experience suggest that higher success rates may be related to higher ratings of enjoyment. The present findings highlight the importance of considering the visual design of goal-relevant and task-irrelevant surrounding elements to provide an optimal challenge level and ensure positive player experiences in video games that place demand on WM capabilities.