![]() ![]() In another 2014 study, also presented at the International Society for Research on Aggression Symposium, Anderson assessed the impact of intermediate exposure to violent and non-violent video game play on proactive executive functioning in 62 low-volume players. He found that video game players who play first-person-shooter (FPS) games self-reported more attentional difficulties than subjects that played third-person games, action games, real-time strategy games, and other types of video games (Anderson, 2014). In 2014, Anderson presented data at the International Society for Research on Aggression Symposium from a recent Iowa State University (ISU) study with 210 student subjects. There is also some evidence that suggests violent video games have a more harmful effect on attention and concentration ability than non-violent video games. Bailey, West, and Anderson (2010) also found attention and concentration deficits in young adult male subjects who played violent video games for 40 hours a week or more. In 2012, researchers found that children and adolescents that spent more time playing video games had more attention problems, even when pre-existing attention difficulties were statistically controlled for in the analysis (Gentile, Swing, Lim & Khoo, 2012). In a 2010 study, researchers found that children playing non-violent video games between 2 ½ and 3 hours a day were 67% more likely to have attention and concentration problems (Swing, Gentile, Anderson & Walsh, 2010). Additionally, a recent Pew Poll study reports that 50% of boys, aged 12 to 17, state that their favorite games were rated M (mature) or AO (adults only) (Lenhart et al., 2008).īoth non-violent and violent video game playing has been associated with concentration and attention problems, such as having difficulty maintaining focus on less exciting tasks, like schoolwork, and having a shorter attention span. More than 50% of the boys in the study endorsed the statement “I play electronic games because I like guns and weapons” (Olson et al., 2007). The boys in this study reported that two out of their favorite three game were rated M girls in the study reported that a rated M game was number two in their top three favorites. In a 2007 study with 1254 middle school students, aged 12-14, researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital found that one quarter of girls and two-thirds of boys reported that they played at least one M-rated game “a lot in the past six months” (Olson et al., 2007). In a 2009 Harris Poll, researchers found that American youth, aged 8 to 18, averaged 13 hours a week of video game play (Gentile, 2009). A Pew Poll study found in the United States that 99% of boys and 94% of girls play video games (Lenhart, Kahne, Middaugh, Macgill, Evans & Vitak, 2008). This study demonstrates that brief exposure to violent video games may also have a negative effect on attention and concentration.Įvery day, millions of children and adolescents in the United States play video games (Granic, Lobel & Engels, 2014). Previous studies have linked video game playing for extended and intermediate periods of time to attention problems in both high-volume and low-volume players. Results revealed that subjects performed significantly worse after brief exposure to a violent video game. Each subject was tested with DSF Version 1 at baseline and then again with DSF Version 2, immediately following 45 minutes of playing a violent video game. Participants were given two versions of Digit Span Forward (DSF), a neuropsychological test that measures attention and concentration. We hypothesized that subjects who played 45 minutes of a violent video game would perform significantly worse on a widely-used neuropsychological test when compared to their baseline performance. This study examined the effects of brief exposure to a violent video game on a test of attention and concentration in 12- to 14-year-old males with low-volume video game play histories. Institution: Flintridge Preparatory School
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