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Stephen Blessing
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The Intersection of Psychology and Games

  1. 07/29/2025

    Episode 37: Hooked on Mnemonics

    How can some people remember scores of digits at a time or repeat back all the cards in a shuffled deck? Do they have exceptional memories? Is it a party trick? Or, is there something more? Game References Chess, En … Continue reading →

    21 min

  2. 10/17/2024

    Episode 36: Memory Behaving Baddeley

    It’s time to dive in and finally have an in-depth discussion of working memory! Game References Carcassonne, River Valley Glassworks, Tetris, That’s Not a Hat, Wandering Towers, Wilmot’s Warehouse Research References Baddeley, A. (1992). Working memory. Science, 255(5044), 556-559. Baddeley, A. D., … Continue reading →

    15 min

  3. 07/26/2024

    Episode 35: Cognalysis: Sky Team and Wandering Towers

    It’s a bird, it’s a…yeah, it is a plane! Oh, and also a Tower? We are back with a cognalysis of two games, Sky Team, fresh off its Spiel des Jahres win, and also Wandering Towers. Game References Hanabi, Sky … Continue reading →

    15 min

  4. 08/12/2022

    Episode 34: I Never Metacognition I Didn’t Like

    As humans, we can think about our own thinking. This is referred to as metacognition, and can provide great insight into game playing and life in general. Game References Dominion, Dungeons and Dragons, League of Legends, Magic, poker, Rear Window … Continue reading →

    14 min

  5. 09/16/2021

    Episode 33: Get Your Head in the Game

    This episode considers how best to learn and teach games. Are there particular techniques that enables people to learn games more quickly and efficiently, and that also results in a longer memory for those rules? Game References Fog of Love, … Continue reading →

    22 min

  6. 04/09/2021

    Episode 32: From the Bottom to the Top and Back Again

    When processing information, humans use both the information coming through our senses and previously stored knowledge. This is referred to as bottom-up versus top-down processing. This podcast explores how this occurs when we play games. Game References Paranormal Detective Research … Continue reading →

    17 min

  7. 06/25/2020

    Episode 31: I Think I Know What You Know

    Show Notes When playing games, we find it useful to consider what other players know, and how that affects game play. Psychologists study theory of mind, our concept of what other people know. Dr. Jennifer Blessing and I discuss how … Continue reading →

    28 min

  8. 04/18/2020

    Episode 30: The Invisible Boardgame

    I ruminate on playing games online and how that relates to both game and interface design, as well as how humans experience emotion. This has ties to me planning to teach my Cognition of Game Playing as an online class … Continue reading →

    17 min
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4.9
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About

The Intersection of Psychology and Games

Information

  • Creator
    Stephen Blessing
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2025
  • Episodes
    37
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2024 Cognitive Gamer
  • Show Website
    Cognitive Gamer