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In this study, we investigated whether the use of smartphone games while reading a text reduces learning performance or reading speed. We also examined whether this is affected by push notifications. Ninety-three students were randomly assigned to three learning conditions. In the gaming group (G), participants played a game app for 20 s at 2-min intervals while reading. In one subgroup, the game app sent push notifications (GN+); in the other subgroup, no notifications (GN-) were sent. In the control group (C), participants did not play a game. After the reading, participants took a multiple-choice quiz. We compared quiz scores and reading times of the groups (G) and (C) and within the gaming group (GN+, GN-) and observed no differences. Since the statistical non-significance of these tests does not entail the absence of an effect, we conducted equivalence tests, which did not demonstrate equivalence either. The experiment ensured high internal validity, yet remained inconclusive. Reasons for the similarity of performance in all groups could be non-specific exercise effects (all participants owned a smartphone), low similarity between the tasks, low variance of participants' ability and motivation (high achieving, low ADHD scores) or low game complexity. Future research should address these questions.

In science and philosophy, there is still no general agreement on what ‘consciousness’ is. But how do normalpeople (with no education in psychology or philosophy) use the term in their everyday life? What is the folk understandingof the word “conscious”? We conducted an online study on how the general public uses the word “consciousness” in theirdaily life. Participants (n=445) answered the question “What is consciousness?” in four different formats: they (1) generatedfree definitions in their own words, (2) generated many synonyms, (3) generated one synonym, or (4) selected one alternativedescription in a multiple choice task. The most frequent words were: alertness, clarity, I-sensation, knowledge, perception,reflecting, and thinking. The word perception was provided most often across all formats. There was also a high correlationbetween all response formats. We discuss these findings and their implications for the scientific study of consciousness.