Reduced reactivity to fear conditioning and pain tests in persons
involved in violent video gaming is influenced by adverse childhood
experiences
Abstract
Videogaming, including violent video gaming, has become very common and
lockdown measures of the COVID-19 pandemic even increased the prevalence
rates. In this study we examined if violent videogaming is associated
with more adverse childhood experiences and if it impairs pain
processing and fear conditioning. We tested three groups of participants
(violent video gamers, nonviolent video gamers, and non-gamers) and
examined fear conditioning as well as pain perception during functional
magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Violent video gamers displayed
significantly higher pain thresholds as well as pain tolerance for
electric stimulation, pressure pain stimulation, and cold pressor pain
measurements compared to nonviolent video gamers and non-gamers. This
relationship was moderated by adverse childhood experiences, especially
physical neglect. Brain images acquired during the fear conditioning
fMRI task showed that violent video gamers display significantly less
differential brain activation to stimuli signaling pain versus no pain
in the anterior cingulate cortex, the juxtapositional lobule cortex, and
the paracingulate gyrus compared to non-gamers. There was also a
significant negative correlation between adverse childhood experiences
and activation in the precuneus and the intracalcarine cortex for
signals of pain versus safety. The results of this study imply that
violent video gaming is related to reduced processing of pain and
signals of pain in a fear learning task, dependent of adverse childhood
experiences. These mechanisms need to be examined in more detail and
these data could be helpful in preventing the onset and adverse
consequences of violent video gaming.