Abstract
Recent work has revealed a relationship between pathological video game use and increased impulsivity among children and adolescents. A few studies have also demonstrated increased risk-taking outside of the video game environment following game play, but this work has largely focused on one genre of video games (i.e., racing). Motivated by these findings, the aim of the current study was to examine the relationship between pathological and non-pathological video game use, impulsivity, and risky decision making. The current study also investigated the relationship between experience with two of the most popular genres of video games [i.e., first-person shooter (FPS) and strategy] and risky decision making. Consistent with previous work, ~7% of the current sample of college-aged adults met criteria for pathological video game use. The number of hours spent gaming per week was associated with increased impulsivity on a self-report measure and on the temporal discounting (TD) task. This relationship was sensitive to the genre of video game; specifically, experience with FPS games was positively correlated with impulsivity, while experience with strategy games was negatively correlated with impulsivity. Hours per week and pathological symptoms predicted greater risk-taking in the risk task and the Iowa Gambling task, accompanied by worse overall performance, indicating that even when risky choices did not pay off, individuals who spent more time gaming and endorsed more symptoms of pathological gaming continued to make these choices. Based on these data, we suggest that the presence of pathological symptoms and the genre of video game (e.g., FPS, strategy) may be important factors in determining how the amount of game experience relates to impulsivity and risky-decision making.
Highlights
Past research has demonstrated that video games experience influences cognition and emotion in multiple ways (West and Bailey, 2013)
Greater video game experience is associated with decreased use of proactive cognitive control (Kronenberger et al, 2005; Mathews et al, 2005; Bailey et al, 2010), differences in the experience and expression of positive and negative affect (Bartholow et al, 2006; Kirsh and Mounts, 2007; Bailey et al, 2011), and an increase in the number of symptoms associated with ADHD, for individuals who demonstrate pathological video game play (PVP; Gentile, 2009; Gentile et al, 2011; Pawlikowski and Brand, 2011)
The current study extends upon existing evidence by examining the relationship between other genres of video games [i.e., first-person shooter (FPS) and strategy], PVP, and risky decision making in a gambling context
Summary
Past research has demonstrated that video games experience influences cognition and emotion in multiple ways (West and Bailey, 2013). Given the association between video game experience, PVP, and emotion and cognitive control, one could expect video game experience to have a detrimental effect on the efficacy of decision making In support of this hypothesis, a few studies have demonstrated that exposure to racing video games can influence real-world decision making related to driving behavior (Fischer et al, 2009; Beullens et al, 2011). The extent to which smokers discount delayed monetary gains is correlated with their daily nicotine intake (Reynolds et al, 2004; Ohmura et al, 2005) These findings indicate that substance abuse and problem gambling are positively associated with impulsive selection of immediate rewards, possibly as a result of weakened control over behavior
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