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Wyly S, Jinon N, Francis T, Evans H, Kao TL, Lambert S, Montgomery S, Newlove M, Mariscal H, Nguyen H, Cole H, Aispuro I, Robledo D, Tenaglia O, Weinberger N, Nguyen B, Waits H, Jorian D, Koch-Kreher L, Myrdal H, Antoniou V, Warrier M, Wunsch L, Arce I, Kirchner K, Campos E, Nguyen A, Rodriguez K, Cao L, Halmekangas A, Wilson RC. The psychophysiology of Mastermind: Characterizing response times and blinking in a high-stakes television game show. Psychophysiology 2024; 61:e14485. [PMID: 37966011 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14485] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2023] [Revised: 10/20/2023] [Accepted: 10/21/2023] [Indexed: 11/16/2023]
Abstract
Television game shows have proven to be a valuable resource for studying human behavior under conditions of high stress and high stakes. However, previous work has focused mostly on choices-ignoring much of the rich visual information that is available on screen. Here, we take a first step to extracting more of this information by investigating the response times and blinking of contestants in the BBC show Mastermind. In Mastermind, contestants answer rapid-fire quiz questions while a camera slowly zooms in on their faces. By labeling contestants' behavior and blinks from 25 episodes, we asked how accuracy, response times, and blinking varied over the course of the game. For accuracy and response times, we tested whether contestants responded more accurately and more slowly after an error-exhibiting the "post-error increase in accuracy" and "post-error slowing" which has been repeatedly observed in the lab. For blinking, we tested whether blink rates varied according to the cognitive demands of the game-decreasing during periods of cognitive load, such as when pondering a response, and increasing at event boundaries in the task, such as the start of a question. In contrast to the lab, evidence for post-error changes in accuracy and response time was weak, with only marginal effects observed. In line with the lab, blinking varied over the course of the game much as we predicted. Overall, our findings demonstrate the potential of extracting dynamic signals from game shows to study the psychophysiology of behavior in the real world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Skyler Wyly
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Neryanne Jinon
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Timothy Francis
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Hailey Evans
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Tsai Lieh Kao
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Shelby Lambert
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Shayne Montgomery
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Marvelene Newlove
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Haley Mariscal
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Henry Nguyen
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Harrison Cole
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Israel Aispuro
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Daniela Robledo
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Olivia Tenaglia
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Nina Weinberger
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Bill Nguyen
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Hailey Waits
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Daisy Jorian
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Lucas Koch-Kreher
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Hunter Myrdal
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Victoria Antoniou
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Meghana Warrier
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Leah Wunsch
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Iram Arce
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Kayla Kirchner
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Elena Campos
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - An Nguyen
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | | | - Lanqin Cao
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Avery Halmekangas
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Robert C Wilson
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
- McKnight Brain Research Foundation, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
- Cognitive Science Program, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
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