What is the TETRIS EFFECT?

Let's think about when we decide to buy a new car and choose the color. Once chosen, perhaps a not too common one, we will begin to see cars of that color everywhere. And it is not that they did not exist before, we simply did not see them because our attention is selective and cannot hold so much information at the same time. So now he inserted cars of that color into our mind and inevitably finds them wherever he goes.

At the base of our personal training to notice what happens to us, with the purpose of amplifying it, is the so-called effect Tetris, theorized by Shawn Achor in the book "The Happiness Advantage", made from what is called "residual image cognitive ". This theory says that we always pay attention to what we see most often and it is persistent. In this Psychology-Online article, we will discover together what is the Tetris effect.

Index

1. What is the Tetris effect
2. How the Tetris effect works
3. Why the Tetris effect occurs

When Our brain gets used to a certain kind of perception, then tends to constantly operate through the mental pattern already mapped out. This process is known as the Tetris effect. And who invented the Tetris effect? It was the psychologist Shawn Achor who defined this process called in the same way as the famous video game in which the player must stack, as compactly as possible, two-dimensional or three-dimensional geometric objects that fall from top to bottom of the screen.

This game has been the star of a famous Harvard Medical School experiment. Twenty-seven people were paid to play Tetris for numerous hours for three days in a row. In the days that followed, many of them couldn't help but glimpse geometric blocks falling from the sky or saw shapes everywhere, naturally with full awareness that these were just effects opticians.

The Tetris players are particularly prone to this effect. Objects in the real world, such as cars, laundry or food, seem to be able to match with the tetromines, and the falling blocks chase the periphery of the imagination as one sleep.

What is the Tetris effect? This psychological phenomenon occurs when an activity that requires a high level of attention influencesofincongruous way in cognitive processes, in the mental images and in the dreams of those who dedicate themselves to it for a long time. Find out what the Basic and higher cognitive processes, examples and types.

Therefore, Tetris players, over long periods of time, can be led to involuntarily reason about ways of stacking real-world objects, such as the packages he sees on the shelves of a supermarket or the buildings of a neighborhood. In addition, they can see geometric objects in motion at the limits of their visual field or when they close their eyes. Finally, the geometric figures in the game can also appear in dreams, especially in the passage from waking sleep to sleep.

To better understand how the Tetris effect works in everyday life, we can consider the example of our negative thoughts. We started the day with a crooked foot and the complaint started. There is sun, yes, but it is too hot, too humid, there is no fresh air, we sweat too much, etc. Hence a series of situations that generate even more buzz.

The good thing is that we can do the same with what gives us joy, positivity and beauty, since the more we give ourselves Realize the positive elements in our life, and we are committed to focusing on them, the more we can discover others. It's a true upward workout for unleash a virtuous circle capable of giving us well-being.

As studies after the Harvard experiment have confirmed, focusing your thinking on the game continuous and repeated sedimentation of certain neural pathways that affect the way in which the reality.

If you wonder why the Tetris effect occurs, it can be caused by different factors. Let's see what they are:

• Activities characterized by strong visual repetitiveness: can be experienced, for example, by prolonged use of other video game, after spending several hours looking at microscopic shop windows, playing chess or even other activities such as fruit selection.
• The other senses may be involved: For example, a musician who performs long sessions, may experience an appearance of related mental processes in incongruous contexts. You can also continue to hear musical phrases in your own mind during the run-up to sleep.

A 2000 study showed that people with anterograde amnesia, that is, with declarative memory deficits, they can dream of Tetris images after playing for a long time, without remembering having played. This suggests that the Tetris effect implies a different type of memory, probably similar to procedural memory. In this article, you will find information about the types of human memory.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to What is the Tetris effect?, we recommend that you enter our category of Cognitive psychology.

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