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Digital games are well known for holding players' attention and stopping them from being distracted by events around them. Being able to quantify how well games hold attention provides a behavioral foundation for measures of game engagement and a link to existing research on attention. We developed a new behavioral measure of how well games hold attention, based on players' post-game recognition of irrelevant distractors which are shown around the game. This is known as the Distractor Recognition Paradigm (DRP). In two studies we show that the DRP is an effective measure of how well self-paced games hold attention. We show that even simple self-paced games can hold players' attention completely and the consistency of attentional focus is moderated by game engagement. We compare the DRP to existing measures of both attention and engagement and consider how practical it is as a measure of game engagement. We find no evidence that eye tracking is a superior measure of attention to distractor recognition. We discuss existing research on attention and consider implications for areas such as motivation to play and serious games. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined relationships between general and specific anxiety symptoms and time perspective among adolescents and how these relationships varied by gender. Time perspective was conceptualized as a multidimensional construct and assessed with the following dimensions: time frequency, time attitudes, time orientation, and time relation. Multiple regression analyses indicated that participants (N = 771; Mage = 15.82, SD = 1.23; 54% female) with more anxiety (a) felt less positively about the present; (b) felt more negatively about the past, the present, and the future; and (c) thought the past was more important than the present and the future. Findings for specific anxiety subtypes were generally similar. Interactions between time perspective and gender indicated that more frequent thoughts about the past and the future may be associated with greater anxiety, especially for females. Results highlight the temporal qualities of anxiety and provide support for time perspective as a potential factor for understanding and supporting adolescents with anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Time perspective is an under-researched social construct in Africa. We examined scores on an Amharic translation of the Adolescent and Adult Time Inventory (AATI) in a sample of 422 young adults attending two types of educational institutions in Ethiopia: preparatory school (n = 191) and university (n = 231). Results indicated that Ethiopian young adults thought about the present and the future more frequently than the past. The modal option for time orientation was present-future, and the modal options for time relation were present-future and linearly related. There were differences in the choice of time orientation options in the two school types. Although the largest group from both school types chose present-future, future and past were the second and third choices for the preparatory school students, and past and present were the second and third choices for the university students. Scores from the AATI supported a six-factor time attitudes model: past positive, past negative, present positive, present negative, future positive, and future negative. The results of this study indicate that the AATI can be used to study time perspective in Ethiopia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We used a multidimensional model of time perspective to examine how feelings and thoughts about the past, present, and future were related to optimism and sensation seeking among young adults. The dimensions of time perspective assessed were time feelings, the positive and negative emotions one has about the past, present, and future; time frequency, the amount of thinking about each time period; and time orientation, the relative emphases toward the time periods. Optimism and sensation seeking were self-reported and participants included 463 young adults. Variable-based analyses indicated that reporting more positive and less negative feelings about the time periods or emphasizing the present and future simultaneously were associated with greater optimism. For sensation seeking, boredom susceptibility was especially associated with the time perspective dimensions. Person-centered analyses based on time feelings and time frequency yielded four profiles (i.e., Mindful, Discontent, Bleak, and Indifferent) that were associated with both optimism and sensation seeking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human development approaches to time perspective that are life-span and include multiple developmental periods are largely lacking in the literature even though the topic has received wide attention from many scholars. Extant studies have focused on specific age groups or have compared younger and older adults. This introduction addresses these issues and provides on overview of the multidimensional, developmental, and modifiable qualities of time perspective. The four contributions focus on distinct age groups including adolescents, young adults, middle-aged adults, and older adults. The papers comprised several conceptualizations of time perspective, diverse participants, and age-specific outcomes. Collectively, this work sets the stage for the next era of age-related research on time perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]