Violent video game play impacts facial emotion recognition.
This study assessed the speed of recognition of facial emotional expressions (happy and angry) as a function of violent video game play. Color photos of calm facial expressions morphed to either an angry or a happy facial expression. Participants were asked to make a speeded identification of the emotion (happiness or anger) during the morph. Typically, happy faces are identified faster than angry faces (the happy-face advantage). Results indicated that playing a violent video game led to a reduction in the happy face advantage. Implications of these findings are discussed with respect to the current models of aggressive behavior.
Kirsh
Steven J
SJ
Department of Psychology, SUNY-Geneseo, Geneseo, New York, USA. kirsh@geneseo.edu
Mounts
Jeffrey R W
JR
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000786:Anger; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006240:Happiness; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009518:New York; D011930:Reaction Time; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012737:Sex Factors; D012938:Social Perception; D018910:Video Games / Q000523:psychology*; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology*