Update on the use of gamified educational resources in the development of cognitive skills

Introduction: the use of game elements and game design techniques in content unrelated to the same is known as gamification. It is likely that gamified environments generate a fruitful scenario to evoke complex processes within higher nervous activity and thus develop cognitive skills. This facilitates its application for educational purposes. The objective was to characterize the use of gamified educational resources in the development of cognitive skills. Method: a total of 27 articles in Spanish and English were reviewed, from Pubmed, Scielo and Scopus; using as keywords: gamification, game, cognition, being more than 50% of the last five years. Result: gamification improves the services in which it is applied through playful experiences, it can positively influence aspects of the student experience such as level of interest, intellectual intensity and intrinsic motivation, by providing opportunities for autonomy, relationship and competition. There is a strong need for further exploration and experimentation to provide a gamified design that meets user preferences, tailored to individual characteristics. Conclusions: Gamified educational environments facilitate learning like a game. Through gamification it seems to increase motivation, commitment, active interaction, level of interest, critical thinking, intellectual intensity and intrinsic motivation. The effectiveness of gamification largely depends on the use of different game features and how they are implemented.