Detection of Physiological and Affective Desensitization to Violent Video Games Using Facial Electromyography
- ASU Author/Contributor (non-ASU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Glenna Lee Read (Creator)
- Institution
- Appalachian State University (ASU )
- Web Site: https://library.appstate.edu/
- Advisor
- Mary Ballard
Abstract: Some evidence, using the framework of the General Aggression Model (GAM), suggests that exposure to violent video games decreases physiological arousal and blunts affective responses (i.e., produces desensitization) to subsequent exposure to violent or negative stimuli (Bartholow, Bushman, & Sestir, 2006; Carnagey, Anderson, & Bushman, 2007b). The current experimental study examined physiological and affective desensitization to violent video game play through the GAM. Participants played a violent or non-violent game. Afterwards, they were exposed to pleasant, neutral, and aggressive images. Facial EMG was used to assess participants’ reactions by measuring intensity of negative affect indicated by movements of the brow muscle region (i.e., corrugator supercilii; CS). Heart rate (HR) and self-reported affective valence were also gathered. It was hypothesized that participants who played the violent game would demonstrate less negative affect as measured by reactivity in the CS region and less HR reactivity to violent images than participants who played the nonviolent game. It was also expected that participants who played the violent game would differ from those who played the nonviolent game in their ratings of aggressive images. None of the hypotheses were supported. Results indicated the violent video game did not produce physiological and affective desensitization.
Detection of Physiological and Affective Desensitization to Violent Video Games Using Facial Electromyography
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Created on 3/8/2013
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- Read, G.L. (2012). Detection of Physiological and Affective Desensitization to Violent Video Games Using Facial Electromyography. Unpublished master’s thesis. Appalachian State University, Boone, NC.
- Language: English
- Date: 2012
- Keywords
- Affective desensitization, Physiological desensitization, Video games, Facial electromyography, Media