Citation

Stockdale L, Morrison R, Kmiecik M, Garbarino J, Silton R. Soc. Cogn. Affect. Neurosci. 2015; 10(10): 1373-1382.

Affiliation

Loyola University Chicago, Psychology Department rsilton@luc.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/scan/nsv025

PMID

25759472

Abstract

Media violence exposure causes increased aggression and decreased prosocial behavior, suggesting that media violence desensitizes people to the emotional experience of others. Alterations in emotional face processing following exposure to media violence may result in desensitization to others' emotional states. This study used scalp electroencephalography (EEG) methods to examine the link between exposure to violence and neural changes associated with emotional face processing. 25 participants were shown a violent or nonviolent film clip and then completed a gender discrimination stop-signal task using emotional faces. Media violence did not affect the early visual P100 component; however, decreased amplitude was observed in the N170 and P200 event-related potentials (ERPs) following the violent film, indicating that exposure to film violence leads to suppression of holistic face processing and implicit emotional processing. Participants who had just seen a violent film showed increased frontal N200/P300 amplitude. These results suggest that media violence exposure may desensitize people to emotional stimuli and thereby require fewer cognitive resources to inhibit behavior.

Language: en