Brain researchFeb 20, 2013

How Playing Action Video Games May Change Visual and Emotional Processing

Longevity & Aging Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Apr 3, 2026

Abstract

10 hours of playing an action video game had differential effects on emotional processing in comparison to a non-action game and a no-contact control group.

Playing an action game increased the amplitude of brain responses to emotional faces, regardless of whether the faces were angry, happy, or neutral.
Attention allocation to happy faces decreased following action game play.
Playing a non-action game led to changes in brain activity that were more pronounced for emotional faces than for neutral faces.
Contrasting effects on visuospatial and emotional processing occurred in the same individuals after the same level of gaming experience.
Caution is advised when using action video games to enhance visual processing due to potential negative impacts on emotion processing.

Simplified

Playing action video games can have beneficial effects on visuospatial cognition and negative effects on social information processing. However, these two effects have not been demonstrated in the same individuals in a single study. The current study used event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to examine the effects of playing an action or non-action video game on the processing of emotion in facial expression. The data revealed that 10h of playing an action or non-action video game had differential effects on the ERPs relative to a no-contact control group. Playing an action game resulted in two effects: one that reflected an increase in the amplitude of the ERPs following training over the right frontal and posterior regions that was similar for angry, happy, and neutral faces; and one that reflected a reduction in the allocation of attention to happy faces. In contrast, playing a non-action game resulted in changes in slow wave activity over the central-parietal and frontal regions that were greater for targets (i.e., angry and happy faces) than for non-targets (i.e., neutral faces). These data demonstrate that the contrasting effects of action video games on visuospatial and emotion processing occur in the same individuals following the same level of gaming experience. This observation leads to the suggestion that caution should be exercised when using action video games to modify visual processing, as this experience could also have unintended effects on emotion processing.

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How Playing Action Video Games May Change Visual and Emotional Processing

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