Effects of e-sport games on cognitive skills and learning performance

E-sports is a game type that develops various skills of players and is becoming increasingly popular. There is evidence in the literature that e-sports positively affects cognitive skills and 21st century learner skills. It is known that these skills positively affect learning processes. However, there is limited research on the indirect effects of e-sports games on learning performance. The main purpose of this research is to determine the effects of attention, working memory capacity, cognitive load control and 21st century learner skills developed by e-sports games on learning performance and the relationship between these skills and learning performance. For this purpose, analyses were conducted on cognitive skills measured with the EEG device and 21st century learner skills measured with the 21st century learner skills usage scale, which are thought to be a bridge between e-sports and learning performance. The application process lasted 8 weeks-16 hours, and measurements were made before and after the game playing process. The participants were volunteers taking the Information Technologies course in the fall semester of the 2024-2025 Academic Year. Data collection and game playing processes were carried out face to face, in Van YYU Faculty of Education computer laboratory and in the room where the researcher set up the EEG mechanism. As a result of the current research, it was found that e-sports games positively affected cognitive skills within the scope of working memory variable and did not have a significant effect on 21st century learner skills. However, no significant effect was found on learning performance of these skills. In addition, it was found that the relationship between cognitive skills thought to be developed by e-sports games and 21st century learner skills and learning performance was at a low level. Keywords: E-sports, Cognitive skills, 21st century skills, EEG (Electroencephalography), Learning performance