Playing videogames is associated with reduced awareness of bodily sensations

Swinkels, Lieke M J; Veling, Harm; Schie, Hein T. van

doi:10.1016/j.chb.2021.106953

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Virtual worlds also afford users to choose their avatars’ appearance and identity, which can influence how they perceive and interact with their surroundings. In an international survey of 142 regular users of video games, greater embodiment over an avatar was associated with lower awareness of bodily sensation during gaming sessions [ 25 ]. In a sample of 60 women from the UK general population, reducing avatar height during a virtual reality train ride was associated with increased levels of paranoia and negative social comparison [ 26 ].…”

Section: Virtual Worlds and Mental Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Time to Think “Meta”: A Critical Viewpoint on the Risks and Benefits of Virtual Worlds for Mental Health

Paquin¹,

Ferrari²,

Sekhon³

et al. 2023

JMIR Serious Games

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The metaverse is gaining traction in the general population and has become a priority of the technological industry. Defined as persistent virtual worlds that exist in virtual or augmented reality, the metaverse proposes to afford a range of activities of daily life, from socializing and relaxing to gaming, shopping, and working. Because of its scope, its projected popularity, and its immersivity, the metaverse may pose unique opportunities and risks for mental health. In this viewpoint article, we integrate existing evidence on the mental health impacts of video games, social media, and virtual reality to anticipate how the metaverse could influence mental health. We outline 2 categories of mechanisms related to mental health: experiences or behaviors afforded by the metaverse and experiences or behaviors displaced by it. The metaverse may benefit mental health by affording control (over an avatar and its virtual environment), cognitive activation, physical activity, social connections, and a sense of autonomy and competence. However, repetitive rewarding experiences may lead to addiction-like behaviors, and high engagement in virtual worlds may facilitate and perpetuate the avoidance of challenges in the offline environment. Further, time spent in virtual worlds may displace (reduce) other determinants of mental health, such as sleep rhythms and offline social capital. Importantly, individuals will differ in their uses of and psychological responses to the metaverse, resulting in heterogeneous impacts on their mental health. Their technological motivations, developmental stage, sociodemographic context, and prior mental health problems are some of the factors that may modify and frame the positive and negative effects of the metaverse on their mental health. In conclusion, as the metaverse is being scaffolded by the industry and by its users, there is a window of opportunity for researchers, clinicians, and people with lived experience to coproduce knowledge on its possible impacts on mental health and illness, with the hope of influencing policy-making, technological development, and counseling of patients.

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Section: Virtual Worlds and Mental Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Time to Think “Meta”: A Critical Viewpoint on the Risks and Benefits of Virtual Worlds for Mental Health

Paquin¹,

Ferrari²,

Sekhon³

et al. 2023

JMIR Serious Games

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“…On the theoretical level, there are vastly different approaches to investigating the effects of games. Researchers studying the psychology of play highlight that games can help players try out different social roles, experience power in a safe environment, or experience a state of flow [15][16][17]. Earlier research traditions invoked the displacement hypothesis to explain the effects of media, taking for granted the idea that engaging with media displaces face-to-face interaction, leading to lower well-being [18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Time spent playing video games is unlikely to impact well-being

et al. 2022

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Video games are a massively popular form of entertainment, socializing, cooperation and competition. Games' ubiquity fuels fears that they cause poor mental health, and major health bodies and national governments have made far-reaching policy decisions to address games’ potential risks, despite lacking adequate supporting data. The concern–evidence mismatch underscores that we know too little about games' impacts on well-being. We addressed this disconnect by linking six weeks of 38 935 players’ objective game-behaviour data, provided by seven global game publishers, with three waves of their self-reported well-being that we collected. We found little to no evidence for a causal connection between game play and well-being. However, results suggested that motivations play a role in players' well-being. For good or ill, the average effects of time spent playing video games on players’ well-being are probably very small, and further industry data are required to determine potential risks and supportive factors to health.

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Availability of synchronous information in an additional sensory modality does not enhance the full body illusion

Swinkels

Veling

Dijksterhuis

et al. 2020

Psychological Research

Self Cite

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The Full body illusion (FBI) is an illusion in which participants experience a change in self-location to a body that is perceived from a third-person perspective. The FBI is usually induced through experimenter generated stroking but can also be induced through self-generated stroking. In four experiments (three preregistered) we compared a self-generated stroking induction condition to a self-generated movement condition, where the only difference between conditions was the presence or absence of touch. We investigated whether the illusion reflects an all-or-nothing phenomenon or whether the illusion is influenced by the availability of synchronous information in an additional sensory modality. As a prerequisite, we investigated whether the FBI can also be induced using just self-generated movement in the absence of synchronous touch. Illusion strength was measured through illusion statements. Participants reported an equally strong illusion for both induction methods in Experiments 1, 2 and 3. In the third experiment, we additionally measured the time of illusion onset. Like the illusion strength measures, the illusion onset times did not differ between the two induction methods. In the fourth experiment participants only completed the self-generated movement condition. Again, they reported the FBI, demonstrating that the findings of Experiments 1, 2 and 3 were not dependent on the presence of a condition that used synchronous touch. Together, these findings confirm the hypothesis that the FBI is an all-or-nothing phenomenon and that adding additional multisensory synchronicity does not help to enhance the strength, onset time or onset probability of the illusion.

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Playing videogames is associated with reduced awareness of bodily sensations

Cited by 4 publications

References 49 publications

Time to Think “Meta”: A Critical Viewpoint on the Risks and Benefits of Virtual Worlds for Mental Health

Time to Think “Meta”: A Critical Viewpoint on the Risks and Benefits of Virtual Worlds for Mental Health

Time spent playing video games is unlikely to impact well-being

Availability of synchronous information in an additional sensory modality does not enhance the full body illusion

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