Association of television violence exposure with executive functioning and white matter volume in young adult males. Brain Cogn 2014 Jul;88:26-34
Date
05/20/2014Pubmed ID
24836970DOI
10.1016/j.bandc.2014.04.010Scopus ID
2-s2.0-84900835413 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 16 CitationsAbstract
Prior research has indicated that self-reported violent media exposure is associated with poorer performance on some neuropsychological tests in adolescents. This study aimed to examine the relationship of executive functioning to violent television viewing in healthy young adult males and examine how brain structure is associated with media exposure measures. Sixty-five healthy adult males (ages 18-29) with minimal video game experience estimated their television viewing habits over the past year and, during the subsequent week, recorded television viewing time and characteristics in a daily media diary. Participants then completed a battery of neuropsychological laboratory tests quantifying executive functions and underwent a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. Aggregate measures of executive functioning were not associated with measures of overall television viewing (any content type) during the past week or year. However, the amount of television viewing of violent content only, as indicated by both past-year and daily diary measures, was associated with poorer scores on an aggregate score of inhibition, interference control and attention, with no relationship to a composite working memory score. In addition, violent television exposure, as measured with daily media diaries, was associated with reduced frontoparietal white matter volume. Future longitudinal work is necessary to resolve whether individuals with poor executive function and slower white matter growth are more drawn to violent programming, or if extensive media violence exposure modifies cognitive control mechanisms mediated primarily via prefrontal cortex. Impaired inhibitory mechanisms may be related to reported increases in aggression with higher media violence exposure.
Author List
Hummer TA, Kronenberger WG, Wang Y, Anderson CC, Mathews VPAuthors
Vincent Mathews MD Chair, Professor in the Radiology department at Medical College of WisconsinYang Wang MD Professor in the Radiology department at Medical College of Wisconsin
MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AdolescentAdult
Brain
Executive Function
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Neuroimaging
Neuropsychological Tests
Stroop Test
Surveys and Questionnaires
Television
Violence
White Matter
Young Adult
