Long-Time Exposure to Violent Video Games Does Not Show Desensitization on Empathy for Pain: An fMRI Study

Abstract

As a typical form of empathy, empathy for pain refers to the perception and appraisal of others’ pain, as well as the corresponding affective responses. Numerous studies investigated the factors affecting the empathy for pain, in which the exposure to violent video games (VVGs) could change players’ empathic responses to painful situations. However, it remains unclear whether exposure to VVG influences the empathy for pain. In the present study, in terms of the exposure experience to VVG, two groups of participants (18 in VVG group, VG; 17 in non-VVG group, NG) were screened from nearly 200 video game experience questionnaires. And then, the functional magnetic resonance imaging data were recorded when they were viewing painful and non-painful stimuli. The results showed that the perception of others’ pain were not significantly different in brain regions between groups, from which we could infer that the desensitization effect of VVGs was overrated.

Violence in video game produces a lower activation of limbic and temporal areas in response to social inclusion images

“…A possible interpretation of the findings of the present study is that the others' representation perceived during fighting activities (kill enemies) is in contrast with the representation of the others experienced during social involvement. The discrepancy between these findings and those discussed above of recent studies that did not report a neurobiological desensitization (Szycik, et al 2017b;Gao et al, 2017) could be explained by the different stimuli used among the studies. In fact, in those previous studies the neurobiological activation were evaluated in response to stimuli designed to elicit empathic reactions to pain.…”

“…As suggested by Siegal and Varley (2002), the amygdala is a core structure for the comprehension of others' thoughts and emotions. Conversely, studies on long-term effects of the exposure to violent video games reported different results (Szycik et al, 2017a(Szycik et al, , 2017bGao et al, 2017), where habitual use of violent video game in chronic players did not produce any effect on brain activity in response to emotional stimuli compared to nonchronic players. These studies sustain that the violent contents in video games do not have long-term influence on brain activity, emotional processing, or aggressive behaviours but only possible short-term effects immediately after or during the exposure to violent video games (Szycik et al, 2017a(Szycik et al, , 2017b.…”

“…Referring to the main literature on the neurobiological responses to violence in video games (Gao, et al 2017;Szycik et al, 2017aSzycik et al, ,2017bMontag, et al, 2012;Mathiak & Weber, 2006;Mathiak, et al 2011), five regions of interest (ROIs), corresponding to specific combinations of Brodmann areas (BAs), have been defined. Specifically, the cingulate cortex ROI (CC) included BAs 23,24,25,29,30,31,32,and 33; the prefrontal cortex ROI (PF) included BAs 9, 10, 11, 46, and 47; the temporal cortex ROI (T) included BAs 20,21,22,38,39,41,42,and 43;and the limbic ROI (L) included BAs amygdala,hippocampus,13,27,28,34,35,and 36.…”

“…However, in a SPECT study, Chou et al (2013) reported that cerebral blood flow (CBF) was significantly decreased in the prefrontal cortex and increased in the temporal cortex equally after playing both violent and nonviolent video games (Chou, Yang, Hsu, Wang, Lin, Huang et al, 2013). Furthermore, recent studies reported that there were no evidences for a neural desensitization in the processing of emotionally salient stimuli in long-term users of violent video games (Szycik, Mohammadi, Hake, Kneer, Samii, Münte et al, 2017a;Szycik, Mohammadi, Münte, & Te Wildt, 2017b;Gao, Pan, Li, Weng, Yao, & Chen, 2017).…”

The Influence of Empathy and Morality of Violent Video Game Characters on Gamers’ Aggression

“…However, past research has focused primarily on a single factor affecting the player and failed to conduct a more comprehensive investigation, such as the interaction of two factors. Further, there is debate about the relationship between violent video games and empathy and aggression ( Gao et al, 2017 ; Hilgard et al, 2017 ; Kepes et al, 2017 ; Szycik et al, 2017 ). To remedy this deficiency, the present study investigates the influence of the moral attributes of game characters and that of empathy in the players, as well as their interactive effect.…”