ACM Interactions

Authors:
Shalom Fisch, Richard Lesh, Elizabeth Motoki, Sandra Crespo, Vincent Melfi

---

Two eight-year-old girls are playing a computer game in which they have to fill gaps in a railroad track with different-size pieces of track: "I think we're supposed to use the 1 and then the 10." "Uh-oh. Can [we] subtract?" "This is too confusing." They clear the pieces from the screen, then start again with a different strategy: "This time, we'll start with the mini-pieces..." None of us is born with a separate part of the brain devoted exclusively to playing computer games. While playing games, we apply the same sorts of knowledge, inferences, and cognitive skills that we…

---

You must be a member of SIGCHI, a subscriber to ACM's Digital Library, or an interactions subscriber to read the full text of this article.

GET ACCESS

Join ACM SIGCHI

In addition to all of the professional benefits of being a SIGCHI member, members get full access to interactions online content and receive the print version of the magazine bimonthly.

Subscribe to the ACM Digital Library

Get access to all interactions content online and the entire archive of ACM publications dating back to 1954. (Please check with your institution to see if it already has a subscription.)

Subscribe to interactions

Get full access to interactions online content and receive the print version of the magazine bimonthly.