Introduction

Learning is a process that occurs in human daily life. From the perspective of information processing, humans store any experience in their long-term memory if they pay attention (consciously and unconsciously) and use it for their next performances (1). This learning process can be provided through various experiences, including games. From the perspective of cognitive psychology, games are a process that provides training experiences that may be more valuable than self-directed training (structured training) and lead to a longer exercise period (2). Games are considered as a side method to provide training opportunities (physical and cognitive) along with entertainment. Today, due to changes in the urban environment and also due to changes in technology, the types of games have changed significantly from before. Games have moved from the real environment to the virtual environment, and almost all children and adolescents spend most of their lives working with computer systems, tablets, or mobile phones (3). Researchers believe that video games can affect some cognitive abilities related to movement (3). One of the most important motor abilities is spatial ability. Spatial ability is a component of fluid intelligence and includes the cognitive processes of visualization, position recognition, and mental rotation (4). Mental rotation is the ability to imagine how an object is rotated to recognize its position relative to what is actually presented (5). Researchers have shown that the ability to mentally rotate is related to motor coordination among individuals (6). It has also been shown that different types of mental rotation can be related to visuospatial imagery and motor imagery (7). Since motor imagery is thought to have a similar mechanism to actual execution (8), this cognitive ability (mental rotation) can be considered a cognitive ability that is involved in the process of producing movement. Some research has shown that video games can be related to or enhance the ability to mentally rotate in children. For example, playing video games has been shown to be significantly associated with higher mental rotation ability in students (8). Research has also shown that playing two-dimensional video games can have a positive effect on the mental rotation ability of children and adolescents (9). In addition, it has been shown that there is no significant difference between the motor experience (ship) and the cognitive experience of video games on mental rotation ability (10). This indicates that the positive effect of video games can be as great as the motor experience. In a controlled study, the effects of video games in a pre-test and post-test design were examined on adolescents (11). In this study, the effect of eleven 30-minute training sessions of Tetris on mental rotation ability was evaluated. The results of this study showed that children who were involved in playing Tetris significantly increased their mental rotation ability in the post-test.

But despite these positive effects of video games, as mentioned, video games can have destructive effects such as addiction and dependence, as well as aggressive behavior, which can limit the use of these types of tools as an auxiliary tool for increasing cognitive ability related to movement. Instead, it may be possible to use intellectual games that increase the cognitive ability related to movement of individuals without having the adverse effects of video games and also help increase the creativity of children and adolescents. Among these games, we can mention cognitive games that are played in real time and in pairs and will cause more social interaction between individuals and may not have the adverse effects of video games. Among these games, which are very similar to the video game Tetris, is a game called Block-Ass, which is played in pairs, and in which individuals must try to place more pieces on the desired board than their opponent by using strategy and imagining rotated shapes in their minds and maintaining these rotated images in working memory. Based on the similarity of this game to games that have previously been shown to be effective on individuals' mental rotation ability, and considering the importance of the destructive role of video games, in this study we sought to investigate the effects of video games versus group intellectual games on the cognitive abilities (mental rotation, motor and visual imagery ability) of adolescents.

Method: The present study is a comparative and cross-sectional developmental study with a semi-experimental experimental and control group. Participants: The participants in this study included 48 students who met the inclusion criteria for the study, including no history of fractures, no neurological disorders, and no visual impairment (which may affect movement). These criteria were obtained through interviews with individuals and through self-report. These individuals were randomly divided into three groups (16 people each): video game practice, two-player cognitive Block Ace games, and a control group.

Mental Rotation Test (MRT): This test consists of numbers provided by Shepard and Metzler (1978) and is originally a version of AutoCAD drawing and the Vanderberg and Kies mental rotation test (Shepard and Metzler, 1971). The mental rotation test comes in two forms: V, 20 questions, and K, 24 questions. The mental rotation test used was a set of 24 questions. Each question consists of a target shape on the right and four stimulus shapes on the left. Two of the four stimulus shapes are rotated versions of the target shape, and the other two shapes cannot be the same as the target shape (Peters, Lang, Ladham, Jackson, Zayona, Richardson, Redran, Vandenberg, & Kass, 1995). Dehghani Zadeh et al. (2014) reported the reliability of the test as 0.87.

Revised Motion Imagery Questionnaire: In Iran, Sohrabi, Farsi, and Fouladian (2010) showed that the research tool, including the revised Motion Imagery Questionnaire of Hall and Martin (1997) with eight questions and two subscales, has the necessary validity and reliability.

Results: As the results show, the main effects of group, test, and the interaction of these two factors are significant. A post hoc test was performed for the interactive effect, and the results showed that there was no significant difference between the groups in the pre-test, all P < 0.05. However, these results showed that in the immediate and delayed post-test, the Block-Ace group was significantly different from the video game group and the control group, all P < 0.05. The difference between the video game group and the control group was not significant, P < 0.05. According to the descriptive data tables, it can be seen that the Block-Ace group has a higher score on this scale than the other two groups.

As the results of the table above show, the main effect of group, test, and group interaction in the test is significant, all P < 0.001. A post hoc test was performed for the interactive effect, and the results showed that there was no significant difference between the groups in the pre-test, all P < 0.05. But these results showed that the difference between the block ass and video groups as well as the block ass and control groups in the immediate and delayed post-test was significant, all P<0.05. The difference between the video and control groups was not significant, P<0.05. Comparison of means showed that the block ass group had acquired higher mental imagery ability.

Conclusion: The findings showed that the cognitive game Block Ace has a different and significant effect on the mental rotation ability of adolescent boys compared to video games. The present result is consistent with the research of Ahmadshahi et al. (16), Farahmand et al. (17), Dehghani Zadeh et al. (18). One of the issues that was investigated was the investigation of the cognitive game Block Ace's significant different effect on the mental rotation ability of adolescent boys compared to video games, and the results showed that Block Ace games are effective on mental rotation. Mental rotation is the ability to imagine how an object is rotated to recognize its position relative to what is actually presented (19). Researchers have shown that the ability to mental rotation is related to motor coordination among individuals (20). It has also been shown that different types of mental rotation can be related to visuospatial imagery and motor imagery (21). Since motor imagery is thought to have a similar mechanism to actual execution (22), this cognitive ability (mental rotation) can be considered as a cognitive ability that is involved in the process of producing movement. Thus, since cognitive games are appropriate methods for mental skills, the results indicate that using various cognitive games such as Block Ace, the progress and improvement of these skills can be increased. The results also showed that the cognitive game Block Ace has a significant difference in the mental imagery ability of adolescent boys compared to video games. The results of the analysis of variance test showed that the cognitive game Block Ace has a significant effect on the mental imagery ability of adolescent boys compared to video games. Thus, the cognitive game Block Ace improves the imagery ability of adolescent boys. Bessler (23) considers mental imagery to be a mental skill that creates and reconstructs clear mental images in the brain by consciously using the imagination. People can create mental images about simple subjects such as shapes or create mental images to remember complex events related to their lives. Mental images may be a direct reflection of reality. However, mental images can be created about imaginary subjects or events that have not occurred (24). Mental imagery is used in many ways. Some people use it to overcome psychological problems, such as anxiety and stress. While others use it to increase motivation and stimulate athletes to perform various skills. Imagery is referred to as seeing with the mind's eye; that is, just as humans need visual acuity to perform their tasks optimally, seeing with the mind's eye is also very important. When an athlete opens his mind's eye to performing skills and the sports environment, he will look at the sport and skill from a different perspective and, according to Plato, the visualization of an action precedes the performance of that action (25). Mental imagery is a conscious internal process that imitates real-life experience in the absence of perceptual and sensory experience. In this way, by providing a platform for developing cognitive skills such as mental imagery in adolescents through cognitive games and indirect methods, they can be empowered in this field.

Research limitations:

In this study, despite great care, the existence of limitations at the researcher's disposal is something that we have to accept, just as other studies are not free from limitations. This study was conducted only among boys in Shiraz who were studying in the second quarter of 2024, and other students were not present in it on other dates and in other cities of Fars province. The participation of other students can certainly be useful in future studies. Many psychological characteristics, such as uncontrolled anxiety, can be involved in the study. On the other hand, due to the limited sample and its spatial scope, generalization of the results of the present study to other educational levels should be done with caution. Some subjects refused to continue cooperating with the present study, which was inevitably excluded from the data analysis cycle. In order to conduct the study, since this study was conducted for the first time among male students in Shiraz, problems such as the novelty of the research topic for the subjects, delays in responding, and holding training sessions were encountered. On the other hand, the honesty and accuracy of some subjects is questionable.

Keywords: Blockus Cognitive Game, Mental Rotation Ability, Tetris Video Games, Visualization Ability.

Ethical Considerations

Compliance with ethical guidelines

The ethical principles observed in the article, such as the informed consent of the participants, the confidentiality of information, the permission of the participants to cancel their participation in the research. Ethical approval was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Shiraz.

Funding

This study was extracted from the M.A thesis of first author at Department of Sport Sciences of University of Shiraz.

Authors' contribution

All authors contributed equally to the conceptualization of the article and writing of the original and subsequent drafts.

Conflict of interest

The authors declared no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all participants of the present study.