title: Short-term effects of prosocial video games on aggression: an event-related potential study.
abstract: Previous research has shown that exposure to violent video games increases aggression, whereas exposure to prosocial video games can reduce aggressive behavior. However, little is known about the neural correlates of these behavioral effects. This work is the first to investigate the electrophysiological features of the relationship between playing a prosocial video game and inhibition of aggressive behavior. Forty-nine subjects played either a prosocial or a neutral video game for 20 min, then participated in an event-related potential (ERP) experiment based on an oddball paradigm and designed to test electrophysiological responses to prosocial and violent words. Finally, subjects completed a competitive reaction time task (CRTT) which based on Taylor's Aggression Paradigm and contains reaction time and noise intensity chosen as a measure of aggressive behavior. The results show that the prosocial video game group (compared to the neutral video game group) displayed smaller P300 amplitudes, were more accurate in distinguishing violent words, and were less aggressive as evaluated by the CRTT of noise intensity chosen. A mediation analysis shows that the P300 amplitude evoked by violent words partially mediates the relationship between type of video game and subsequent aggressive behavior. The results support theories based on the General Learning Model. We provide converging behavioral and neural evidence that exposure to prosocial media may reduce aggression.
authors.affiliation: The Lab of Mental Health and Social Adaptation, Faculty of Psychology, Research Center of Mental Health Education, Southwest University Chongqing, China ; Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Center for Information in Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Yanling
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: The Lab of Mental Health and Social Adaptation, Faculty of Psychology, Research Center of Mental Health Education, Southwest University Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Zhaojun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Teng
authors.affiliation: The Lab of Mental Health and Social Adaptation, Faculty of Psychology, Research Center of Mental Health Education, Southwest University Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Haiying
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lan
authors.affiliation: The Lab of Mental Health and Social Adaptation, Faculty of Psychology, Research Center of Mental Health Education, Southwest University Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Center for Information in Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Dezhong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yao
keywords: P300; aggression; event-related potential; general learning model; prosocial video games