A neuroscientific study shows that physical-digital game concepts like LEGO® Hidden Side 
make children more creative
Munich. November 14, 2019 – Digital skills yes, but please not at the expense of creativity and imagination. Especially parents, the pursuit of their children in the digital is often anything but right. The worry that too much screen time has negative consequences and is at the expense of the “good old” playing with draft drives them around. A neuroscientific research * carried out by the Goldmedia research institute on behalf of LEGO® Hidden Side TM now shows that the combination of physical and digital, ie “phygital”, play has a positive effect on sensory and motor skills and can promote children’s creativity.
Parents have always been confronted with changes in the nursery. If magic cube or discman were still available for earlier generations, digitization has made much more opaque. As a result, parents are often cautious especially with digital gaming offerings. According to the LEGO Group’s Play Well Report of 2018, 41 percent of parents surveyed question the positive impact of digital gaming. However, a neuroscientific study commissioned by LEGO® Hidden Side now shows the positive effects of phygital play.
“The phygital play with LEGO® Hidden Side TM , the combination of physical and digital play, shows mental patterns that suggest increased creative processes in the brain.” Florian Kerkau, study director at Goldmedia. “The results of the investigation also suggest that the different requirements of virtual-physical play can be expected to have a positive impact on both basic and specific cognitive abilities. It trains, for example, the concentration or the memory span, but also skills such as logical thinking and planned action as well as processes of attention and recognition, “Kerkau continues.
The neuroscientific results of the investigation in overview
The physical games created especially analytical, cognitive brain activities and training in particular skills such as logical thinking, the memory span or fine motor skills . In contrast, digital games primarily activate emotions, spontaneity and reaction speed . In addition, skills such as orientation , attention and perception as well as cognition are promoted. In the case of phygital play , the study participants showed an overall high degree of focus and concentration . The measurement of brain activity also suggests increased creativity .Phygital play stimulates different brain areas
The central result of the neurophysiological analysis: The varieties “physical” and “digital” differ significantly in their cognitive requirements and complement each other optimally. If in purely physical games, especially analytical and motor-specific requirements are placed on the children, in which spatial imagination is required, playing with the inclusion of the augmented reality app requires a completely different set of cognitive skills. Here, the information processing must be very fast, motor reactions occur spontaneously, which among other things promote a spatial orientation via augmented reality and can positively influence the creativity and activity of the child.
* About the study
On behalf of LEGO® Hidden Side TM , Goldmedia Custom Research GmbH conducted a neuroscientific study in October 2019 with 33 children aged 10 to 14 years. The study looked at children’s responses to play with LEGO® Hidden Side kits and the associated augmented reality app using EEG measurements, facial analysis, and electrodermal activity (EDA) measurements. The measurements initially took place while building up the haptic LEGO® sets and were repeated while the subjects went on virtual ghost hunting around the kits using the AR app. In addition, qualitative interviews and surveys with questionnaires were conducted among the subjects.
