Neuroscientists at the University of Vienna and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm studied whether playing violent video games causes a decrease in human empathy. Scientists had adult test volunteers continually play a violent video game for several weeks. Their empathic reactions to the pain of others were measured both before and after.
It turned out that violent video games had no discernible effect on the ability to empathise or the brain activity that supports it. These findings are published in the journal eLife.
The Austrian and Swedish scientists recruited 89 adult male test participants for the study. A crucial selection criterion was that the participants had little or no prior experience with violent video games. Assuring that the results were not impacted by prior experiences with video game violence.
In a preliminary experimental study, the test subjects’ basic level of empathy was assessed. Moreover, brain scans were utilized to capture how test subjects reacted to unpleasant electric shocks provided to a second person. Then the test subjects visited the study facility seven times to play a one-hour video game each.
Participants in the experimental group played a highly violent version of Grand Theft Auto V. Furthermore, they were to kill as many other game characters as possible. In the control group, all violence was eliminated from the game. The players were charged with photographing other characters. Following the video game phase, the test subjects were assessed again to see if their empathic responses had altered.
Violent Video Games had Zero Influence
Analysis of the data revealed that video game violence had no noticeable influence on the individuals’ empathic ability. The experimental group’s reactions to extreme images of violence were not statistically different from those of the people who were just required to snap photos. Furthermore, no significant differences were found in the activity of brain regions associated with empathy in previous investigations, such as the anterior insular and anterior midcingulate cortex.
According to the neuroscientist and statistician,
The conclusion cannot under any circumstances be that violent video games have now been definitively proven to be harmless. Our study lacks the data to support such statements.
A few hours of video game violence have no significant influence on the empathy of mentally healthy adult test subjects. We can clearly draw this conclusion. Our results therefore contradict those of previous studies in which negative effects were reported after just a few minutes of play.
