The Effects of Exposure to Violent Media

The Effects of Exposure to Violent Media 

            The prevalent use of digital media in youth is found to be associated with emotional anesthetization, reduction in empathy as well as increased aggression. These inhibitory behaviors are often linked to ADHD. Following exposure to violent media, the reduction in cognitive resources devoted to processing emotional facial expressions is found to influence the neural correlates of inhibitory control processes. Dr. Stockdale’s findings demonstrate the importance of inhibitory control processes in preventing aggression. Decreased empathy responses in individuals are found to be positively correlated with the P100 as well as the N200/P300 reduced amplitudes. The authors of “Emotionally anesthetized: media violence induces neural changes during emotional face processing” and “Cool, callous and in control: superior inhibitory control in frequent players of video games with violent content” discuss the effects of exposure to violent media on inhibition and empathy. 

            Due to the large cognitive and behavioral effects of video games on developing brains, frequent violent media users are more likely to develop aggressive behaviors due to the suppression of empathy. In “Emotionally anesthetized: media violence induces neural changes during emotional face processing” Dr. Stockdale along with fellow researchers demonstrates the inhibition in emotional face processing in individuals with short term media exposure. Researchers have identified a correlation between emotional anesthetization and moral disengagement, which ultimately leads to committing more aggressive acts. The increased P200 amplitude suggests that state aggression can alter neural correlates of emotional facial processing. Similarly, in “Cool, callous and in control: superior inhibitory control in frequent players of video games with violent content” researchers demonstrate reduced P100 and N200/P300 amplitudes in response to facial expressions and inhibition respectively, suggesting an increase in aggression due low empathy. This relationship indicates a negative correlation between aggression and empathy.   

            The issues of media violence are seen in a study investigating the effect of digital devices on teenagers’ susceptibility to ADHD. By analyzing the mental health consequences of media, the researchers demonstrate that “tech-dependent teens are driven to distraction” which is a major component of ADHD along with aggression. Dr. Stockdale’s studies show that top-down inhibitory control processes are responsible for frontocentral N200 and P300 components when individuals were asked to inhibit a dominant response, therefore, indicating their susceptibility to distractions. Her findings are consistent with “Digital media use linked to behavioral problems in kids” in which researchers conclude that “teens who were exposed to higher levels of digital media were significantly more likely to develop ADHD symptoms in the future.” Dr. Stockdale demonstrates that emotional anesthetization is associated with decreased empathy and increased aggression. Inhibition and lack of empathy are both linked to ADHD, which is seen through the decreased P100 amplitudes in response to happy facial expressions. The reduced N200/P300 amplitudes were evoked by the stop-signal, which is consistent with inhibition. The ongoing media violence research has shown that individuals with exposure to violent media demonstrate emotional anesthetization, which is characterized by increased aggression and decreased empathy. 

References

Stockdale, L. A., Morrison, R. G., Kmiecik, M. J., Garbarino, J., & Siltoon, R. L. (2015).   Emotionally anesthetized: media violence induces neural changes during emotional face processing. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsv025

Stockdale, L. A., Morrison, R. G., Palumbo, R., Garbarino, J., & Siltoon, 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, 2017, 1869-1880. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsx115  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/07/180717112508.htm