After running across this game a few days ago, I became curious if playing it would develop any sort of skill, or at least if my scores would improve over time.

After running across this game a few days ago, I became curious if playing it would develop any sort of skill, or at least if my scores would improve over time. Over about a week of casual (and briefly, obsessive) playing, I kept track of my scores in a text file. Within 30 games or so, my score had climbed from 26 on the first game to normally 42-44, topping at 46. Over probably 50 more games, I did not notice any further increase in average or top score. During that second block of 50ish games, the novelty of keeping track wore off, and I deleted the file. If I play now (after a few hundred games), I am still hoping for a high 40s score, and feel as though I have made serious mistakes with a score in the low 30s. Other factors to consider: I have been "watching" television through most of the games (>70%), which is to say listening and occasionally glancing from the game to the show. Also, I noted some games where I spent time speaking out loud to other people in the room, and found that my scores were consistently lower on those (29-33). From this (pathetic) study, it appears that the skill of playing this game can be developed through casual effort, but only to a limited extent. The structure of the game -- specifically, failing to continue to get harder past score 32 or so -- may contribute to this. The skill being improved may or may not be colour-difference detection, because mouse accuracy and speed of decision matter a lot in this game as well. /pretending to run a study