Effects of violent and non-violent computer game content on memory performance in adolescents

Abstract

The present study focuses on the short-term effects of electronic entertainment media on memory and learning processes. It compares the effects of violent versus nonviolent computer game content in a condition of playing and in another condition of watching the same game. The participants consisted of 83 female and 94 male adolescents with a mean age of 17.6 years. The dependent variables are memory for previously learnt verbal and visual material, memory for media-related content and physiological measures of stress (heart rate, cortisol, salivary alpha-amylase). Besides the group comparisons, potential mediation effects and gender differences were examined. The results show that violent content leads to a poorer memory performance for verbal material and to an increased heart rate. The heart rate, however, does not mediate the effect on memory performance. Genders differ regarding their abilities to memorise verbal and visual material, with females showing a better performance (independent of the experimental condition), and for memorising media-contents, where the males outperform females (also independent of experimental condition). The study supports the assumption that violent and arousing media content has a negative short-term effect on simultaneous information processing and learning and that there are gender-specific media effects.

Rapport Operationalized as a Humanitarian Interview in Investigative Interview Settings

“…In addition, depending on their ability to avoid illness and save lives, participants were exposed to between 37 and 42 news pictures (M ¼ 38.5) that included a variety of possible items to remember. The pictures used in the present study, originating from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) developed by Lang, Bradley, and Cuthbert (2005), had a mean arousal level of 5.06 (SD ¼ 0.09) IAPS norms.…”

Exposure to video games: effects on sleep and on post-sleep cognitive abilities. A sistematic review of experimental evidences

“…Contrarily to these studies, some other authors refuted these results indicating the absence of a clear relationship between playing VG and addiction, and violent or aggressive behavior 17 , 18 . Some studies focused their attention to cognitive aspects, suggesting that prolonged exposure to VGs may have a detrimental impact on the attentional sphere 16 , 19 , 20 , with possibility to evolve to a clinically relevant attentional deficit 21 , with worsened scholastic performance 22 , 23 and memory deficiency 24 . In addition to these effects, a negative correlation between exposure to VGs and cognitive proactive control has also been reported 25 .…”

Single night video‐game use leads to sleep loss and attention deficits in older adolescents☆

“…Despite their prevalence, the consequences of video-gaming to adolescent functioning are relatively under-studied and extant findings are inconsistent. Some studies have associated video-gaming with worse academic performance (Rehbein, Psych, Kleimann, Mediasci, & M€ oßle, 2010), memory deficits (Maass, Kollh€ orster, Riediger, Macdonald, & Lohaus, 2011), symptoms of inattention and ADHD (Chan & Rabinowitz, 2006), poor mood and heightened aggression. Conversely, other studies have found either no effect of video-gaming on academic performance (Gentile, Lynch, Linder, & Walsh, 2004;Smyth, 2007), or even beneficial associations between video-gaming and academic performance (Skoric, Teo, & Neo, 2009), working memory (Colzato, Van Den Wildenberg, Zmigrod, & Hommel, 2013), visualespatial skills and attention (Ventura, Shute, & Zhao, 2013).…”