Cognitive Bottleneck

The process of playing games is a process of the brain working hard, accompanied by a large amount of cognitive work. We can receive visual, auditory, and tactile information transmitted by the game, and then make decisions and take actions. Although the processing speed of the human brain is extremely fast, it is not without limitations. In video games, players often encounter what is known as a “cognitive bottleneck” which refers to the limitations in cognitive abilities that prevent effective multitasking or processing of multiple information streams simultaneously.

1. Fast-paced Reaction Requirements: In fast-paced shooting games (such as the Call of Duty series), players are required to quickly react to enemy movements while managing their health, ammunition, and map position. The high-speed information processing demands can exceed a player’s cognitive capacity, leading to delayed reactions or incorrect decisions.
2. Resource Management: In strategy games (like StarCraft or the Civilization series), players must manage resource gathering, unit production, technology research, and tactical planning all at once. This multitasking can lead to difficulty in effectively allocating attention and cognitive resources, affecting gameplay performance.
3. Complex Tactical Decisions: In team-based competitive games (such as DOTA 2 or League of Legends), players must control their characters, coordinate tactics with teammates, and keep track of multiple dynamic factors on the battlefield. The complexity of decision-making can overwhelm a player’s cognitive processing capabilities.
4. Information Overload: In open-world games (like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt or The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim), players may be confronted with a vast amount of information and choices, including quests, character interactions, and environmental exploration. This information overload can make it difficult for players to decide on their next course of action, leading to decision fatigue.
5. Memory Load: Some games require players to remember specific control combinations (such as in the Dark Souls series) or the layout of the game world (such as in the Escape series). This memory load can become a cognitive bottleneck during gameplay.
6. Visual Search Tasks: In certain games, players need to quickly locate targets within complex visual scenes (such as environmental searches in the Fallout series). Visual search tasks can become difficult due to distracting elements in the scene, making it hard for players to find the necessary information in time.
7. Time Pressure: In games with time limits (such as Tetris or certain platformers), players must make decisions and react within a constrained timeframe. Time pressure can increase cognitive load, causing players to make incorrect decisions under stress.
8. Construct and Immerse in the Virtual World: Players rely on cognition to construct and understand virtual 3D spaces within games and understanding the relationship between their avatars and these spaces is a fundamental aspect of many game types. Game maps are designed to facilitate easier movement within the virtual space, effectively reducing cognitive load and alleviating memory pressures. However, maps are not always necessary, and there is an unavoidable tendency for players to focus on the map rather than the game environment. This over-reliance on map navigation can lead to ignoring important information and environmental details within the game world. Therefore, some hardcore games opt to increase engagement by not providing maps. Recalling the experience of playing Black Myth: WuKong, this approach of increasing cognitive load requires players to pay closer attention, observe, and memorize the game world more diligently, which can result in a higher level of immersion.

It’s worth noting that games are not designed to frustrate players unnecessarily. In other words, game designers take into consideration the player’s cognitive bottlenecks, balancing the load on the player’s cognitive resources. They ensure that the game remains challenging, enjoyable, and fair. This careful equilibrium is essential for maintaining player engagement and satisfaction.

Analyzing the examples of games mentioned above, we can see that when the amount of information to process is relatively high, games often do not require immediate decision-making from the player, instead providing ample time for information processing (as seen in board games and the “pause” feature in games). On the other hand, when challenges are clear and straightforward, games typically enhance difficulty by limiting action timing (as in platformers, rhythm games, etc.).

PATAPON, an old game from the PSP era, serves as a prime example of this kind of design. As a rhythm game, it requires players to input commands rhythmically at the right moments; as a battle simulation game, it demands that players observe the battlefield situation and make decisions about whether their troops should advance, attack, or defend. Here lies a tremendous challenge for the player’s cognitive load – no matter how much we train, we cannot simultaneously plan strategies while rhythmically inputting commands. It’s akin to our inability to simultaneously draw a square with one hand and a circle with the other; these actions require our brain to process information and execute behaviors in sequence, even if these sequences are very brief and switch rapidly. The game also employs the strategy that we use when confronting such challenges, segregating the tasks of decision-making and action. Throughout gameplay, it utilizes a “Decision-Action” loop. Players must maintain high levels of mental focus as they rapidly switch between decision and action within this loop to ultimately achieve victory.

Furthermore, if you can get your hands on this game and experience it firsthand, you’ll undoubtedly have a completely different feeling compared to just watching videos of it.