Tetris effect
Repatterned modes of perception after devotion to an activity
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Key Takeaways
- The Tetris effect occurs when someone dedicates vast amounts of time, effort and concentration on an activity which thereby alters their thoughts, dreams, and other experiences not directly linked to said activity.
- People who have played Tetris for a prolonged amount of time can find themselves thinking about ways different shapes in the real world can fit together, such as the boxes on a supermarket shelf or the buildings on a street.
- They may see such colored, moving images when they are falling asleep, a form of hypnagogic imagery.
- Those experiencing the effect may feel they are unable to prevent the thoughts, images or dreams from happening.
The Tetris effect occurs when someone dedicates vast amounts of time, effort and concentration on an activity which thereby alters their thoughts, dreams, and other experiences not directly linked to said activity. The term originates from the popular video game Tetris.
People who have played Tetris for a prolonged amount of time can find themselves thinking about ways different shapes in the real world can fit together, such as the boxes on a supermarket shelf or the buildings on a street. They may see colored images of pieces falling into place on an invisible layout at the edges of their visual fields or when they close their eyes. They may see such colored, moving images when they are falling asleep, a form of hypnagogic imagery. For some, this creative urge to visually fit shapes together by organising and building shapes can be extremely addictive.
Those experiencing the effect may feel they are unable to prevent the thoughts, images or dreams from happening.
A more comprehensive understanding of the lingering effects of playing video games has been investigated empirically as game transfer phenomena (GTP).
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