Article in International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations · October 019 doi: 10. 4018/ijgcms. 2019100103 citations reads 105 authors: Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects

Involvement and Its Interaction with Cognitive Load

Involvementoccurswhentheplayerfocuseshis/herattentiontothegameandgetslostintheonline

gamingenvironment(SadowskiandStanney,2002),and“takesnonoticeofthoughtsandperceptions

outsidethegame”(Refianaetal.,2005,p.108).Asadimensionofflow,itis“amotivationalstate

toexertcognitiveeffortatplayingagame”(LeeandFaber,2007,p.77).Thecapabilityofgames

toinduceflow,involvement,andimmersionareessentialcomponentsofexperiencesofpresence

(TamboriniandBowman,2010;Steffenetal.,2015).Thisimmersivestateextendsthesenseof

playfulness(HoffmanandNovak,1996),andabsorbstheplayerinafeelingofescapismandfun

(Refianaetal.,2005).Whentheplayerisinvolvedinthegame,i.e.,experiencingtheflow,she/he

movestoanunconsciousstate(Hernandez,2011).

Whileinvolvementenhancestheinteractivity,itdemandscognitiveresources(Caubergheand

Pelsmacker,2013),andcreatesaCL.Asthedual-processtheoriesofpersuasionsuggested,reduced

cognitivecapacityleadstheplayertorelyonheuristic-drivenprocessing,andnotelaboratingany

messageinthegame.

Researchonadultsrevealedthatinformation-processingmemorydecreaseswhenthereisahigh

involvementwiththegame(Nelsonetal.,2006).VanReijmersdaletal.(2012)positthat;involvement

depletesthecognitiveresources;hencethereisnocapacitylefttorecallandrecognizethebrand

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