Learning Processes and Violent Video Games

2011 ◽  
pp. 1807-1822
Author(s):  
Edward L. Swing ◽  
Douglas A. Gentile ◽  
Craig A. Anderson

Though video games can produce desirable learning outcomes, such as improved performance in school subjects, they also can produce undesirable outcomes, such as increased aggression. Some of the basic learning principles that make video games (particularly violent video games) effective at teaching are discussed in this chapter. A general learning model is presented to explain how video games can produce a variety of effects in their users. This model explains both the immediate, short term effects and cumulative, long term effects of video games. Implications of these principles are discussed in relation to education. The issue of addressing violent video games’ effects on aggression is also examined.

Author(s):  
Edward L. Swing ◽  
Douglas A. Gentile ◽  
Craig A. Anderson

Though video games can produce desirable learning outcomes, such as improved performance in school subjects, they also can produce undesirable outcomes, such as increased aggression. Some of the basic learning principles that make video games (particularly violent video games) effective at teaching are discussed in this chapter. A general learning model is presented to explain how video games can produce a variety of effects in their users. This model explains both the immediate, short term effects and cumulative, long term effects of video games. Implications of these principles are discussed in relation to education. The issue of addressing violent video games’ effects on aggression is also examined.


2014 ◽  
Vol 168 (5) ◽  
pp. 450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas A. Gentile ◽  
Dongdong Li ◽  
Angeline Khoo ◽  
Sara Prot ◽  
Craig A. Anderson

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewa Miedzobrodzka ◽  
Frederick Waiyaki ◽  
Jacek Buczny ◽  
Elly Konijn

Despite growing body of research on video games effect on enhanced cognitive functioning, a relationship between violent video game exposure (VVGE) and inhibitory control is still poorly understood. Investigating inhibitory control mechanisms in relation to VVGE may help to better explain processes underlying aggression. This holds especially for adolescent players, who often play M-rated violent video games, and whose ability to inhibit responses is still developing. In two studies performed in adolescent samples we examined how habitual VVGE may be related to inhibitory control (Study 1; N = 151) and whether inhibitory control can be affected by 30-minute violent video gameplay (Study 2; N = 63). Inhibitory control in both studies was measured with well-validated Stop-Signal Task. Results of the Study 1 showed that VVGE was related lower inhibitory control. Results of the experimental Study 2 supported a causal relationship: participants who played a violent video game showed reduced inhibitory control compared to those who played a non-violent game. Our findings bring new theoretical and empirical insights into violent video games research and highlight the importance of studying inhibitory control as a possible mechanism underlying aggression in adolescents. Based on the current correlational and experimental evidence, future studies should also investigate long-term effects on VVGE on development of inhibitory control in adolescents.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 559-559
Author(s):  
Sara Freed ◽  
Briana Sprague ◽  
Lesley Ross

Abstract Interventions using exercise video games, or exergames, have shown short-term cognitive and physical benefits to older adults, though long-term effects are less promising. Enjoyment of exergames may promote exergame use after the intervention period, though little work has examined older adults’ views of exergames before and after gameplay experience. We invited 20 older adults between 65 and 84 years of age (M=73.30, SD=5.95) to play two Xbox Kinect games, Just Dance and Kinect Sports Rivals, for twenty minutes. In our presentation, we will present qualitative and quantitative findings of this pilot study, including findings that older adults reported that they were not likely to play similar exergames in the future and that they did not find the exergames to be more fun compared to other ways of exercising. We will discuss implications for game design and research relevant to game developers, manufacturers, and researchers. Part of a symposium sponsored by Technology and Aging Interest Group.


Author(s):  
Lavinia McLean ◽  
Mark D. Griffiths

Research on video game playing has focused mainly on the effects of such games in relation to aggression and attitudes towards perpetrators and towards crime. The present research was designed to investigate gamers’ attitudes towards victims of crimes and incidents that were designed to mirror those portrayed in violent video games. Vignettes were used during interviews to explore 50 participants’ attitudes towards different types of victims. The results indicate that long-term playing of violent video games appears to be associated with more negative attitudes towards victims of crime. This is the first study to directly explore attitudes towards victims of crime, in relation to violent video game exposure. Compared to nonviolent video game players, the violent video game players in the study reported less positive attitudes towards the victims in the study and attributed more blame to the victims. The implications of this finding in the context of previous research on violent video games, and on attitudes are explored. Directions for future research in the area are also highlighted.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas A. Gentile ◽  
J. Ronald Gentile

Video games can have many effects on players, some of which could be intentional effects (e.g., games designed to train health compliance behaviors), and most of which are unintentional (e.g., violent games, stereotypes, gaming disorder). Some of these areas of research have been seen as controversial, but many of the controversies can be at least partially resolved by considering the learning mechanisms underlying the effects. We describe the General Learning Model in greater detail than has been provided elsewhere, including short-term and long-term mechanisms, processes of learning and forgetting, and moderators of learning. Video games use many of the best practices to train for both mastery and for transfer of learning. The implications for re-interpreting the literature on violent video games and gaming disorder, as well as for applied social psychology broadly defined, are discussed.


Author(s):  
Rosa Angela Fabio ◽  
Massimo Ingrassia ◽  
Marco Massa

The aim of the present study is to compare the short- and long-term effects of video-gaming by using the same measurements. More precisely, habitual and occasional video-gamers were compared so as to analyze the long-term effects. An ABABABA design was used to analyze the short-term effects. The first A refers to baseline measurements: Visual RT, Auditory RT, Aim trainer RT, Go/No-Go RT and N-Back RT. The first B refers to 30 min of gaming, the second A refers to the measurements used in the baseline, the second B refers to 60 min of a video game, the third A refers to the same measurements used in the baseline, the third B refers to a 30-min rest, and finally, the fourth A refers to the measurements used in the baseline. Seventy participants, twenty-nine habitual video-gamers and forty-one occasional video-gamers, participated in the study. The results showed a temporary improvement of cognitive functions (Visual RT, Auditory RT, Aim trainer RT, Go/No-Go RT and N-Back RT) in the short term and a strong enhancement of cognitive functions in the long term. The results are discussed in light of Flow Theory and the automatization process. Contribution of the study: The contribution of this research is to highlight that despite there being a transient enhancement of executive and cognitive functions through the use of mobile video games in the short-term period, with a decrease of performance after a 30-min rest, there is a strong increase of cognitive performance in the long-term period. Flow Theory and the automatization process together can explain this apparent inconsistency between the positive increase of long-term performance and the transient increase of short-term performance. One limitation of the present research is that it is not possible to distinguish whether the long-term enhancements can be attributed either to continued practice in the use of video games compared to non-gamers, or to the possibility that gamers are already predisposed to video game playing. Future research should address this issue.


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