One player reported hearing sounds from the first-person puzzle game Portal when passing specific buildings that reminded him of the game’s world. The most interesting examples, however, are those that seem to be triggered by real-world cues that relate to in-game situations. Often it happens when you’re trying to fall asleep – players would look for their computer or console because they thought they’d left the game on.” “Some players heard voices, some heard game sounds.

“There were lots of examples of players hearing the game music, in the same way as you continue to hear music in your head when you’ve stopped listening,” said psychology researcher Angelica Ortiz De Gortari, who is leading the study. 12 per cent of those spoke of re-experiencing game audio outside of the game environment – hearing sword slashes, electronic beeps and Super Mario’s falling coin sound were all reported. The new paper is the first time that specifically auditory experiences have been analysed.įor the study, the Nottingham Trent team visited games forums and collected anecdotal evidence from 1,244 gamers about GTP experiences. Previous research has concentrated on visual distortions and effects – Tetris players seeing falling shapes when they closed their eyes, for example. This is the latest study into what the university calls “game transfer phenomena”, a range of cognitive quirks that can follow extended gaming sessions.

Recently published in the Journal of Cyber Behaviour, Psychology and Learning, it suggests that players often hear game sounds such as explosions, screams and laser fire, long after they’ve left a game.

Instead, it can linger in the mind, overlaying the real world.Īt least that’s according to new research from Nottingham Trent University’s International Gaming Research Unit. When you switch off a video game, a really involving and engrossing video game, sometimes it doesn’t go away.

Hear audio in after effects