神经科学与心理学2019sciencedirect.com
Portal 2 与 Lumosity 对认知和非认知技能的影响
The effects of Portal 2 and Lumosity on cognitive and noncognitive skills
入门 · 约 45 分钟读完前置知识：实验设计基础、认知心理学常识
导读
这项研究通过实验对比了玩《传送门2》(Portal 2)与使用脑训练软件 Lumosity 对认知能力和非认知技能的影响，探讨商业游戏是否比专门的“脑训练”产品更能提升认知功能。
HN 关注点：HN 读者长期关注“脑训练”产品是否有效这一话题，而研究结论——精心设计的商业游戏可能比专门的脑训练软件更有效——颇具反讽意味，引发讨论。
后来怎么样
该研究属于对'脑训练'产品有效性质疑的一系列证据之一，与更早的动作游戏认知研究（如 Green & Bavelier 的工作）相互印证，常被引用来说明商业游戏可能优于专门脑训练软件。
HN 评论精选
这几条评论里：支持 1 补充 2 亲历 1
补充Valve 的游戏设计高度依赖玩家测试文化，Portal 的许多设计细节由此而来
Valve 对游戏进行大量玩家测试。Portal 的很多主题设计都源于他们深厚的测试文化以及由此发展出的操纵玩家的手法。比如“重量级伙伴方块”的诞生：他们想要一个玩家携带物体解谜的关卡，但测试者总是把那个东西丢下不管，于是 Valve 的解决方案是把它设定成一个需要玩家照顾的“角色”。
bitwize查看英文原文
Valve playtests the shit out of their games. A lot of Portal's theming is based on their extensive testing culture and the ways they've developed to manipulate the player through testing. For example, the Weighted Companion Cube came about because they wanted a level where you solve puzzles while carrying an object. But the playtesters kept leaving the damn object behind. So Valve's solution was to tell them it was a "character" they had to care for.
补充Quake 这类实时对抗的竞技游戏对认知能力的锻炼可能更值得研究
希望他们能用 Quake 系列玩家做这个测试。与 Portal 不同，Quake 是实时与人对抗的多人游戏，没有查攻略的退路——要么练习变强，要么被彻底碾压。1v1 对战中你需要把地图背到几乎闭眼也能走，精确到秒地计算道具刷新时间，预测人类对手的走位，精通每种武器以最大化输出、最小化受伤，还要纵观全局判断何时冒险何时保守。此外还需要极快的反应和精准的瞄准，每种武器瞄准风格都不同（甩枪、精确追踪、弹道预判、即时命中判定等）。
nickjj查看英文原文
I wish they did this test with people who played the Quake series (Quake / Quake II / Quake 3 / Quake Live). They were arguably one of the most popular non-realism based FPS games of their time (they spanned ~25 years). The big difference between Portal is, Quake is a multiplayer game where you're playing against a human in real time and there's no backup plan of being able to Google an answer if you get stuck. You either practice and get better or get utterly destroyed. It's really a good case for overcoming challenges and persistence. There's 1v1 matches where you need to memorize maps to such a degree that you can almost navigate them blind folded. You're also dealing with timing multiple items down to the second, predicting where a human opponent will go, mastering each weapon in every scenario to maximize damage output while minimizing damage input and also generally having a high level overview of how the match is going to figure out when it's worth taking risks or play it safe. That's just the mental side of it too. Then there's needing very good reaction times and dexterity to aim quickly and precisely and each weapon has its own style of aiming (flick shots, precise tracking, projectile prediction, instant hit scan weapons, etc.). And then there's other variants of the game like 4v4 TDM or capture the flag that share similar challenges as above but now it's amplified because you're playing with a lot of people and you need to make very interesting decisions with powerups. All of this happens within seconds and becomes second nature once you've played long enough. It's actually almost unbelievable that a human brain can react so quickly and become so well adjusted to navigating a high speed virtual world under pressure. A lot of these Quake games were played at live events with hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line before e-sports became as huge as it is today.
支持精心设计的游戏才是真正的脑训练，且动作游戏可缩小空间认知的性别差异
所以精心挑选的视频游戏才是真正的脑训练，谁能想到呢……另一个持续有趣的发现：玩动作游戏几乎可以消除空间注意力上的性别差异，同时缩小心理旋转能力的性别差距。
DanielleMolloy查看英文原文
So carefully selected video games are the real brain training. Who would have thought.. The following finding also continues to be interesting: “More remarkably, we found that playing an action video game can virtually eliminate this gender difference in spatial attention and simultaneously decrease the gender disparity in mental rotation ability, a higher-level process in spatial cognition.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/17894600/
亲历Portal 2 的叙事水准极高，完全通过玩法表达
我仍然认为 Portal 2 拥有所有游戏中最伟大的叙事——它完全通过玩法来表达，非常搞笑，还有出人意料的深刻情感内核。
gallerdude查看英文原文
I still maintain Portal 2 has the greatest narrative in all of video games - it’s expressed purely in gameplay, it’s funny as hell, and has a surprisingly deep emotional core.
相关资源
从这篇论文所有 HN 讨论帖的全部评论里整理出来的链接。
历次讨论
- 2019Hacker News 讨论帖231 分 · 143 评
同领域还值得读
神经科学家能理解微处理器吗？（2017）
Could a Neuroscientist Understand a Microprocessor? (2017)
提出一个思想实验：把神经科学常用的分析方法（损伤实验、电生理、功能定位等）应用到一个我们完全了解其原理的工程系统——6502 微处理器（运行游戏）上，检验这些方法能否真正“理解”…
神经科学与心理学2017 · 411 分 · 135 评进阶 · 约 60 分钟编辑精选大脑衰老呈现非线性转变，提示中年“关键窗口”
Brain aging shows nonlinear transitions, suggesting a midlife "critical window"
这篇 PNAS 论文研究大脑衰老的非线性变化，发现大脑老化并非匀速进行，而是在中年（约 40-60 岁）存在一个关键的"临界窗口期"，此时干预可能有效。
神经科学与心理学2025 · 295 分 · 159 评进阶 · 约 75 分钟编辑精选社交网络中大规模情绪传染的证据（2014）
Evidence of massive-scale emotional contagion through social networks (2014)
这篇 2014 年发表于 PNAS 的论文研究了 Facebook 上约 70 万用户的信息流中，减少正面或负面内容是否会传染性地影响用户自己发布内容的情绪。
神经科学与心理学2020 · 285 分 · 72 评入门 · 约 45 分钟编辑精选裸盖菇素使人类大脑去同步化
Psilocybin desynchronizes the human brain
这篇 Nature 研究用个体化的 fMRI 精密成像追踪受试者服用裸盖菇素（psilocybin）前后的脑功能连接变化，发现药物会造成大范围的脑网络「去同步化」，尤其是默认模式…
神经科学与心理学2024 · 273 分 · 259 评进阶 · 约 60 分钟编辑精选对智力的赞扬会削弱儿童的动机与表现（1998）
Praise for Intelligence Can Undermine Children's Motivation (1998)
这篇 1998 年的经典论文（Dweck 等人）通过实验研究表扬方式对儿童动机的影响：夸孩子“聪明”（表扬智力）会让他们回避挑战、害怕失败，而表扬努力则更能培养坚持性。
神经科学与心理学2016 · 253 分 · 155 评入门 · 约 45 分钟编辑精选