The influence of chronic exposure to violent virtual avatars on players' aggressive behavior: An ERP study

Short-term exposure to virtual avatars in violent video games has a short-term effect on players' aggressive behavior, but few studies have focused on the effect of chronic exposure to virtual avatars in violent video games on players' aggressive behavior, and its cognitive neural mechanism remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the effects of chronic exposure to virtual avatars on players' aggressive behavior in violent video games and its cognitive neural mechanism. 54 undergraduates were selected (27 participants with violent virtual avatars exposure) to complete a competitive reaction time task, during which participants' EEG were recorded. Results indicated that in the decision phase, compared with the control group, violent virtual avatar exposure group showed lower P2 amplitude and more negative DRN amplitude. In the outcome phase, there was no significant feedback related negativity (FRN) amplitude difference between two groups on the winning feedback, while the violent virtual avatar exposure group showed greater FRN amplitude on the losing feedback. These results suggest that chronic exposure to violent virtual avatars have a chronic effect on players' aggressive behavior, and the internal cognitive neural mechanism is that chronic exposure to violent virtual avatars has an impact on the decision phase and the outcome phase of players' aggressive behavior.