René Weber

Neural contributions to flow experience during video game playing

Video games are an exciting part of new media. Although game play has been intensively studied, the underlying neurobiology is still poorly understood. Flow theory is a well-established model developed to describe subjective game experience. In 13 healthy male subjects, we acquired fMRI data during free play of a video game and analyzed brain activity based on the game content. In accordance with flow theory, we extracted the following factors from the game content: (i) balance between ability and challenge; (ii) concentration and focus; (iii) direct feedback of action results; (iv) clear goals; and (v) control over the situation/activity. We suggest that flow is characterized by specific neural activation patterns and that the latter can be assessed-at least partially-by content factors contributing to the emergence of flow. Each of the content factors was characterized by specific and distinguishable brain activation patterns, encompassing reward-related midbrain structures, as well as cognitive and sensorimotor networks. The activation of sensory and motor networks in the conjunction analyses underpinned the central role of simulation for flow experience. Flow factors can be validated with functional brain imaging which can improve the understanding of human emotions and motivational processes during media entertainment.

They may be pixels, but they're MY pixels: developing a metric of character attachment in role-playing video games.

This paper proposes a new and reliable metric for measuring character attachment (CA), the connection felt by a video game player toward a video game character. Results of construct validity analyses indicate that the proposed CA scale has a significant relationship with self-esteem, addiction, game enjoyment, and time spent playing games; all of these relationships are predicted by theory. Additionally, CA levels for role-playing games differ significantly from CA levels of other character-driven games.

Testing Equivalence in Communication Research: Theory and Application

Although equivalence testing is preferred when a researchers goal is to support the null hypothesis (i.e., no substantial effect), equivalence tests are virtually unknown and unused in the communication field. This article provides the rationale for and theoretical background of equivalence testing and offers examples of equivalence tests for the independent and dependent groups t-test and tests of association using Pearsons coefficient or correlation. From a review of meta-analyses, we provide tables of commonly observed effect-sizes across subdisciplines and topic areas in communication and offer these as a guideline for choosing minimum substantial effects (Δ) in equivalence testing when no other information source is available. To facilitate the adoption of equivalence tests in future research, we provide easy-to-use custom dialogs for SPSS which greatly simplify their computation and application.

Facilitating Game Play: How Others Affect Performance at and Enjoyment of Video Games

The current study implements the drive theory of social facilitation to explain the influence of audience presence in video game play. This integration is an important one for research aiming to understand the experience of video game play, as the social aspect of video game play is a relevant dimension of the technology often ignored in research on gaming experiences. The study finds a significant positive association between non-gaming cognitive abilities (such as hand–eye coordination and mental rotation ability) and performance at a first-person shooter. Data also support the social facilitation hypothesis: Game play in the presence of a physical audience significantly predicts increased game performance. Social facilitation effects are only found for low-challenge games where the drive-inducing capacity of task challenge is minimized. Resultant influences on game enjoyment are less clear.

Repeated exposure to daytime soap opera and shifts in moral judgment toward social convention

This study examined the influence of prolonged exposure to soap opera on character dispositions and real-world moral judgments. Eight groups viewed from 0–7 weeks of soap opera prior to a final week after which participants completed measures of disposition towards show characters as well as perceptions of morality in real-world situations. Results demonstrated the effect of prolonged exposure on both the polarization of dispositions toward characters and a trend in moral judgments toward social convention. These findings highlight the role of disposition within social cognitive theory, and the importance of dispositional considerations in understanding learned morality.

Neural Predictors of Message Effectiveness during Counterarguing in Antidrug Campaigns

A substantial amount of research has focused on predicting the effectiveness of persuasive messages. However, characteristics of both the message itself and its receiver can impact theoretically predicted effects. For example, recent work published in this journal demonstrated that issue involvement modulates the relationship between message sensation value (MSV) and argument strength (AS). When exposed to anti-cannabis public service announcements (PSAs), high-drug-risk individuals rate these messages as having low effectiveness regardless of variation in MSV and AS. Accordingly, for high-risk individuals, MSV and AS lose their predictive power in message design; moreover, the all too common use of high MSV, high AS PSAs to dissuade drug use may be ineffective, as high-risk viewers are more likely to engage in counterarguing. In this paper, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the neural correlates of counterarguing. Subsequently, we employ a brain-as-predictor approach using neural activation and self-report data to predict message effectiveness in two independent samples. We demonstrate that by adding two neural predictors within the middle frontal gyrus and superior temporal gyrus to self-report data, the prediction accuracy of message effectiveness in high-drug-risk individuals during counterarguing can reach, and even surpass, the prediction accuracy for low-drug-risk individuals.

Brain Imaging in Communication Research: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Evaluating fMRI Studies

Core communication research questions are increasingly being investigated using brain imaging techniques. A majority of these studies apply a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) approach. This trend raises two important questions that we address in this article. First, under what conditions can fMRI methodology increase knowledge and refine communication theory? Second, how can editors, reviewers, and readers of communication journals discriminate sound and relevant fMRI research from unsound or irrelevant fMRI research? To address these questions, we first discuss what can and cannot be accomplished with fMRI. Subsequently, we provide a pragmatic introduction to fMRI data collection and analysis for social-science-oriented communication scholars. We include practical guidelines and a checklist for reporting and evaluating fMRI studies.

Soap Opera Exposure and Enjoyment: A Longitudinal Test of Disposition Theory

Dramas appeal is driven in part by dispositions toward story characters and the deservingness of fortunes that befall them. This article reports the results of longitudinal research testing disposition theorys ability to predict viewer responses to daytime soap opera. A student sample completed a survey asking them to evaluate characters over 10 successive weeks. Measures of character morality and positive/negative outcomes for behaviors were used to predict the results of both viewer enjoyment and official Nielsen ratings in representative independent surveys covering the same 10 weeks. Consistent with disposition theory logic, an a priori specified interaction of character morality and behavioral outcome valence—the Disposition Vector Model—predicted higher Nielsen ratings and increased viewer enjoyment when benefaction/debasement befell characters morally deserving of these outcomes. Although well supported in short-term studies, to our knowledge this is the first study to support disposition theory over extended exposure to soap operas and predicting results in independent data sources.

Predicting media appeal from instinctive moral values

Zillmanns moral sanction theory defines morality subcultures for entertainment as groups of media viewers who evaluate character actions with shared value systems. However, the theory provides no a priori means to identify these shared value systems. The model of intuitive morality and exemplars incorporates a theoretical framework for identifying and testing the factors from which these shared value systems emerge. This study applies the models framework, based on 5 “moral domains” from moral foundations theory, to test the influence of shared value systems on character perceptions and narrative appeal. A within-subject experiment varied violation of these five domains (care, fairness, ingroup loyalty, authority, and purity) and narrative resolutions (positive or negative outcomes) in 10 short narrative scenarios. The 5 domains predicted character perceptions and narrative appeal. The results are discussed in terms of the utility of these domains for understanding the reciprocal relationship between audience values and media response.

Neural networks underlying affective states in a multimodal virtual environment: contributions to boredom

The interaction of low perceptual stimulation or goal-directed behavior with a negative subjective evaluation may lead to boredom. This contribution to boredom may shed light on its neural correlates, which are poorly characterized so far. A video game served as simulation of free interactive behavior without interruption of the game’s narrative. Thirteen male German volunteers played a first-person shooter game (Tactical Ops: Assault on Terror) during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Two independent coders performed the time-based analysis of the audio-visual game content. Boredom was operationalized as interaction of prolonged absence of goal-directed behavior with lowered affect in the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). A decrease of positive affect (PA) correlated with response amplitudes in bilateral insular clusters extending into the amygdala to prolonged inactive phases in a game play and an increase in negative affect (NA) was associated with higher responses in bilateral ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Precuneus and hippocampus responses were negatively correlated with changes in NA. We describe for the first time neural contributions to boredom, using a video game as complex virtual environment. Further our study confirmed that PA and NA are separable constructs, reflected by distinct neural patterns. PA may be associated with afferent limbic activity whereas NA with affective control.