Effects of Violent Media in Young Adults

           In modern society, people are frequently exposed to violence through media such as video games and television. Considering the high prevalence of media use among young adults, it is important to consider the possible physiological effects of violent media. 

In the article, “Cool , callous and in control: superior inhibitory control in frequent players of video games with violent content,” Laura Stockdale and colleagues examined the effects of media violence in frequent and infrequent players of video games with graphically violent content by measuring neural correlates of response inhibition in the context of attention to emotion, and they looked at how these factors were related to empathetic responses. The researchers found that participants who play violent video games more frequently exhibited lower levels of empathy. In addition, measurements of P100 and N200/P300 event related potentials indicated that there is an association between violent media and reduced brain activity. The results of this study suggest that long-term exposure to violence in media may have serious consequences in terms of emotional and cognitive processes.

A 2014 study by Hummer, Kronenberger, Wang, Anderson and Matthews examined the relationship between exposure to violent television and executive functioning, as well as the association between media exposure and brain structure. Participants, who were adult males with limited video game experience, were asked to report estimations of their television use over the past year. They then reported both the amount of time spent watching and characteristics of television over a period of one week before receiving tests to measure executive functioning and an MRI. The data collected revealed a positive correlation between violent television exposure and lower scores of inhibition, attention, and interference control. Researchers also observed reduced frontoparietal white matter volume in participants with higher exposure to violent television.  

The two articles described above have important associations with one another due to the fact that both studies have found evidence that constant exposure to violent media can physically modulate functions of the brain, such as emotional and cognitive processes. These physiological changes could potentially lead to real life enactments of violence. 

References

Hummer, T.A., Kronenberger, W.G., Wang, Y., Anderson C.C., & Mathews, V.P. (2014). Association of television violence exposure with executive functioning and white matter volume in young adult males. Brain and Cognition, 88, 26-34. https://doi-org.flagship.luc.edu/10.1016/j.bandc.2014.04.010

Stockdale, L.A., Morrison, R.G., Palumbo, R.T., Garbarino, J., & Silton, R.L. (2017). Cool, callous and in control: superior inhibitory control in frequent players of video games with violent content. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 12, 1869 - 1880.