Exposure to Media Violence lowers violence inhibition in the brain

[Skybird]

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%...l.pone.0001268





I think this should be taken into account with regard to the disucssion of wether or no video games can be a stimulus for players to act violant on the street or even start a school schooting, or not.

I rechecked the statistcial measures they describe (means: I had a look in one of my old statistics book, since I do not have all details on how to do such calculations in my memory anymore, and found their method to be reasonable and accurate. All in all I would have used the same calculation models, when being in their place.

I consider it to be a reasonable guess that if exposure to media violence now is proven on the hardware level - the brain - to weaken inhibitory processes in the brain that usually dampen aggressive behavior, that then something comparable must be expected from violent games as well, because here it is not only passively viewing violence, but actually cimmiting it, and beeing embedded in it.

a theory that explains it I could imagine to focus on this: if you view violence against people like you, it signals the brain a potential conflict situation that eventually may increase and confront you as well - so your organism prepares to fight, and aggression inhibition gets lowered. If your brain receives an even more intense stimulus by witnessing such a situation, but now you even already are surrounded by the conlfict situation and praticipate in it and fight in it in your imagination, this mechanism should lead to an even more lowering of your brain'S agression-inhibiting schemes.

some weeks ago, another study showed that the brain basically DOES NOT DIFFER - on a hardware-level - between abtract, imagined violence (your fantasy), and violence that actually and physically and "for real" is carried out (your actual deed), or is received. It does not need much imgination to see the relevance of that finding for the experiment above.

I have not managed to re-find the link to the second study, sorry.

This is not subjective opinion and political correctness and a given world viev in action anymore, but hard, solid physiological finding, that also hint at the ways of our evolutionary past.

It must find enterance into the usual bla-bla-discussion of wether or not violent games do harm or not. On a neural level, it is clear: such games do affect the organism in favour of a more violent behavior, or a lowering of agression inhibition what means an increase in probability that the indovidual eventually will show aggression in a situation where normally it would not have done so.

[August]

I've been saying this for years, usually to the ridicule of people who didn't want to believe it.

[STEED]

Are the gravy train strikes again.

[Kapitan_Phillips]

Originally Posted by August

I've been saying this for years, usually to the ridicule of people who didn't want to believe it.

I think it can, but not to extent alot of people claim. Its certainly not to the extent that soldiers wonder where the respawn point is on the field, but some people can be more succeptable to suggestion than others. Its not as simple as saying "Playing Grand Theft Auto turns everyone into common thugs"

I can speak from experience, too. I posess a fair few violent video games that I play frequently (Soldier of Fortune 2, GTA et al.) but I dont feel any different nor do I act such.

Then again, the major flaw is you cant generalise me to everyone.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Kapitan_Phillips

I can speak from experience, too. I posess a fair few violent video games that I play frequently (Soldier of Fortune 2, GTA et al.) but I dont feel any different nor do I act such.

That is nice, but the brain scan may show something different.

Me, for example, I must not jump onto every female I find attractive and who fails to climb onto a tree when I have counted to three, and maybe I even have no more thought on her, and no more reaction I am aware of. It is possible that I even do not take note of that my subconsciousness considers her to be attractive - and still my brain would have chnaged activation levels in parts of it, and still my eye'S pupils may have slighty widened in a reaction of involantile dilation of the iris, and a changed hormone level, sweat production, breathing rythm, etc.

the point is that here are solid clues that add some more substantial argument to the discussion about violent games (perception of violence) than just educational well-meaningness and political program and subjective beliefs. It says instead: yes, if you perceive violence, than your body/your brain alters it's state to easier act violently itself by lowering hard-wired inhibition mechanisms.

So the discussion should better shift and focus on these two points instead:

1. what cognitive factors now work against display of violence after the inhibitory treshholds got lowered when perceiving/when playing violence? Obviously not every gamers becomes a mass killer. But are there indicators others than violence that gaming alters behavior? I see such changes in young people's behavior, yes.

2. If it is clear that violence is having a solid, hardwired effects on human being, what consequences should a society draw by this finding with regard to the daily display of violence in fiction stories shown on TV? What ethic is there in supporting a business that in film or game produces products showing such levels of violence that they have a negatively altering effect on the consumer, negrtaive in the meaning of increasing the probability that he/she will show aggression more easily, in a wider variety of situations, and by that running the increasing risk of being violent in situations where the level of violence is not adequate for the given contexts, but is excessively overdosed. Schools for exmaple are a far more violent place today than they were 20, 30 years ago - and I do not talk about drug-related crime and school shootings, but general behavior, and an massive increase in general willingness to become violent if one feels like it. At the same time, media have become far more violent in their content, and computer games started their march of victory amongst the young.

I would like to see now a study focussing on brain scans not only concerning perception of violence, but general changes of brain acivity during computer gaming as it is conducted by clan-players, profi players, short: those playing excessively and all the day, and if these effects in any way are making lasting changes in the activation patterns of the brain after some time. for it seems to me that excessive, fanatical computer gaming is not only changing one's inhibition mechnaisms of aggression, but behavior in general, and cognitive focusses of social life. It probbaly is not so easy that "PC gaming leads to social isolation", but that the behavior of an individual outside the gaming sessons and even beyond the age of when gaming dominated and then faded due to job, university, freinds etc may have already been altered due to brain processes having been altered and thus "hard-coded" these chnages for the future behavior. My working hypothesis is that brain activation patterns are getting altered not only during game sessions, but that they create persisting alterations of hard-wired brain activity beyond these situation as well. It would be nice to see if this could be linked to regions of the brain that control emotions, social behavior, and abstract thinking. It is often said in defense of games that they train eye-hand-coordination, and reflexes, and quick perception of (easy-levelled) systemic contexts in a situation (pattern recognition). but this could hardly compensate deficits in social competence, short and long term memory, abstract thinking. For it are the latter factors deciding on our ability to learn, to study, to run our lifes, live a social life, being comopetent in academic jobs, etc. What games are training, accroding to these defending arguments, is reflexes for the most. And that may be fine for primitives in the wild, but our evolution has led us beyind this stage of our race's developement. reflexes neither help you toi find a loving wife or husband and live a fulfilled social life, nor does it help you to study mathemtics, become a good business man or engineer, or invent the medicine of the future. and even when you are stranded in the wild you may realise very soon, that you are messed up if your only cognitive competence is in fast reflexes and good hand-eye-coordination.

Old advise, but so true: do not exaggerate it. Be moderate. Excessive behavior and consuming will make you need to pay a bill. Excessive consumation of violence alters your mind. Excessive gaming does chnage your approach on reality and your life.

Does one really need brainscans to know this...? It seems it mostly are junkeys that demand black on white evidence and until then refuse to alter their behavior. And if that evidence is there , they find other excuses and demands. In other words: "change the world, chnage other people - but don't dare to try changing me!"

[Kapitan_Phillips]

Another thread pwned by Skybird

:rotfl:

[Skybird]

pwned?

Wthk r ytrtosy...? Pawn?

[Chock]

Well, personally I can't wait to laugh my ass off as some armed robber gets gunned down by the police after their efforts to avoid fire by 'bunny hopping' in a Counterstrike stylee fail to prevent them from being cut to ribbons ina hail of lead.

Chock

[Stealth Hunter]

^ @Chock


I think the fine line on this matter comes down to "Can you separate reality from fiction/fantasy?"

If you can't, well you have problems and it's not the games that are causing it, it's just your mental system.

Most of the time though (in cases like kids shooting friends and blaming it on games) it comes down to looking for a scapegoat so you can move on without much fuss towards you at all. Like that teen who stole a car and shot an officer.
Blamed it on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, but he was plenty old enough to know damn well that it was wrong to do such things all the way around. If he continues to claim he doesn't, then *obviously* he's mentally unstable and should be put away.

EDIT:

Don't forget that it's also the burden of the parents to make sure that their kids aren't exposed to violence and such too early. Wait till they get older, then let them on their way. Everyone has got to grow up and start taking charge of your life sometime. We have a rating system that is also to be followed. If parents don't pay attention to it and their child goes on a rampage "due to video games", the punish the parents and send the kid off to a ward for rehab, don't punish the game companies.

[STEED]

Attention all kids out there become a scientist and you can keep yourselves on the gravy train for life.

Money and backhanders and more money.

[Stealth Hunter]

And GET ON THE LOVE TRAIN! LOVE TRAIN!

[NEON DEON]

I wonder how much money they got for testing 14 people?

Anyways, cause for further study:

"Although these results are suggestive, further data will be required to assess the specific effects of these functional changes on behavior. Because numerous studies have already linked exposure to violent media with an increase in aggressive behavior [6], it seems reasonable to consider the effect observed here as a plausible component of a mechanism; however, it is important to note that in an otherwise pacific individual, it is very unlikely that these exposure-related changes are a sufficient catalyst for the emergence of criminal aggression. The strongest evidence for this claim is the fact that, although many individuals watch violent media, relatively few go on to commit criminally violent acts."

[August]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Does one really need brainscans to know this...? It seems it mostly are junkeys that demand black on white evidence and until then refuse to alter their behavior. And if that evidence is there , they find other excuses and demands. In other words: "change the world, chnage other people - but don't dare to try changing me!"

That pretty much nails it I think.

[Chock]

Media violence hasn't affected me, and I'll fight any man in the room who dares to suggest it has!

Chock

[d@rk51d3]

Originally Posted by Chock

Media violence hasn't affected me, and I'll fight any man in the room who dares to suggest it has!

Chock

:rotfl:

SILENCE!!!!! I KEEEEEEEL YOU!