Research on instructional design provides inconsistent results on the use of game elements in cognitive tasks or learning. Cognitive load theory suggests that game elements increase extraneous cognitive load and, thus, may distract the users. In contrast, from an emotional design perspective, the use of game elements is argued to increase performance by providing a more interesting and motivating task environment. To contribute to this debate, the current study investigated the effect of game elements on behavioral performance, attention, and motivation. We designed two versions of the number line estimation task—one with game elements and one without. Participants completed both versions of the task while their eye-fixation behavior was recorded. Results indicated that participants paid attention to game elements, that is, they fixated them, although they were not necessary to complete the task. However, no difference in estimation accuracy was observed between the two task versions. Moreover, the task version with game elements was rated to be more attractive, stimulating, and novel, and participants reported experiencing greater flow. In sum, these data indicate that game elements seem to capture attention but also increase motivational aspects of learning tasks rather than decreasing performance.

中文翻译：

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要添加还是不添加游戏元素？使用眼动追踪探索不同的认知任务设计的效果

教学设计的研究在认知任务或学习中使用游戏元素的结果不一致。认知负荷理论表明，游戏元素会增加无关的认知负荷，因此可能分散用户的注意力。相比之下，从情感设计的角度来看，游戏元素的使用被认为可以通过提供更有趣且更具激励性的任务环境来提高性能。为了促进这场辩论，当前的研究调查了游戏元素对行为表现，注意力和动机的影响。我们设计了两种版本的数字线估计任务-一个带有游戏元素，一个没有游戏元素。参与者完成了两个版本的任务，同时记录了他们的注视行为。结果表明，参与者关注游戏元素，即他们固定了它们，尽管它们不是完成任务所必需的。但是，在两个任务版本之间未观察到估计准确性的差异。此外，带有游戏元素的任务版本被评为更具吸引力，刺激性和新颖性，参与者报告的流量更大。总之，这些数据表明游戏元素似乎吸引了注意力，但也增加了学习任务的动机，而不是降低了性能。