Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 15, 2025
Combining Computer Game-Based Behavioural Experiments With High-Density EEG and Infrared Gaze Tracking
Published on: December 16, 2010
Effects of excessive violent video game playing on verbal memory: an event-related brain potentials study
Metehan Irak1, Can Soylu2, Ceyda Tümen2
1Department of Psychology Brain and Cognition Research Laboratory, Bahçeşehir University, Çırağan Cad. No: 4 Beşiktaş, 34353, Istanbul, Turkey. metehan.irak@eas.bau.edu.tr.
Abstract:
The goal of the study was to investigate temporal dynamics of excessive violent game playing. We compared behavioral data and event-related potentials (ERPs) of excessive video game players (EVGPs, n = 21) and non-players (NPs, n = 21) using a classical learning, cued recall and recognition paradigm, featuring violent and non-violent words. During the recognition phase, EVGPs performed better for violent words, but worse for non-violent words compared to NPs. Also, EVGPs showed slower reaction times than NPs when responding to new violent words. We found significant group differences in parietal P300 and FN400 amplitudes. The EVGP group showed larger P300 amplitudes for violent words, and more negative FN400 amplitudes for new violent words compared to NPs. The results imply that EVGPs differ from NPs in their cognitive and ERP responses to violent and non-violent verbal stimuli. The cognitive processes of EVGPs are consistent with a model of attention and memory bias rather than with desensitization to violence.
