With the exciting realism that comes with today’s generation of video games – as well as our advanced television sets and audio equipment – it’s quite difficult for the average kid or young adult to refrain from playing a video game filled with violence, blood and adventure. It may come with consequences, though.
A new study has found that after gamers play for hours at a time face the possibility of hearing screams, explosions and music in their heads, even when they have finished playing the game at hand. Study respondents noted that they heard characters’ voices, sound effects and music as they performed daily routines after very long sessions.
Known as “game transfer phenomena,” researchers utilized written accounts from 1,244 users on video game forums. Scientists say these players’ behaviors, cognition and perceptions are somewhat manipulated by images they see while playing a game.
The most common audible experiences following a gaming session are breathing, bullets, beeping, explosions, lasers and vehicles. One respondent even heard the word “death” being whispered in their mind for days, while another individual reported hearing “go, go, go” when they were in a train station.
Study participants found these noises to be “maddening,” “disconcerting,” “annoying” and “scary.” These individuals also suffered from a lack of sleep.
“These experiences can sometimes result in illogical thoughts and behaviours,” said Angelica Ortiz De Gortari, a psychology researcher in Nottingham Trent University’s School of Social Sciences, in a statement. “It’s important to help gamers understand their experiences since re-experiencing sounds and voices may provoke distress, especially when associated with dangerous situations in the game.”
De Gortari said that this research study supports previous findings of game transfer phenomena. This means that long bouts of video game playing can initiate “pseudo-hallucinatory-like experiences.”
For instance, a 2005 paper found that additional cortisol was produced in the body when techno music was played in violent video games, which then caused physiological stress response, while another study discovered physiological arousal when more realistic blood and screams were inserted into video games.
Researcher Professor Mark Griffiths told the Press Association that this syndrome appears to be rather common among avid gamers.
“Game transfer phenomena appears to be commonplace among excessive gamers and most of these phenomena are short-lasting, temporary, and resolve of their own accord,” said Griffiths. “For some gamers, the phenomena are conditioned responses; therefore, the best way for the tiny minority that may have longer lasting phenomena is to simply cut down the amount they play.”
In other words, perhaps it would be wise to reduce the amount of hours sitting in front of the television playing immersive games like Dead Space, Grand Theft Auto, Medal of Honor, Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed.
The findings were published in the International Journal of Cyber Behaviour, Psychology and Learning.
