About This Project

Virtual reality (VR) video games are poised to become commercially available. Some parents are concerned such games may impact children's behavioral health. Yet little is known about this empirically. This project will fund commercial VR technology for Stetson's psychotechnology lab to allow us to study youth and VR technology experimentally. Using randomized experiments we plan to examine issues including aggression, stress reduction and cooperation.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

The effects, both positive and negative, of video game playing have been debated for decades (Anderson & Dill, 2000; Ferguson, 2015; Kanamori & Doi, 2016; Ybarra et al., 2008.) At present many controversies remain regarding video game effects and there has been an increasing push toward using preregistered experiments with standardized measures to attempt to clear up inconsistencies in prior research (see McCarthy et al., 2016, Przybylski, Weinstein & Murayama, 2017).

Virtual reality (VR) video games employing more immersive technology are just becoming commercially available. At present, very little research has examined VR video games that are commercially available. The proposed project would be one of the first to examine the behavioral effects of VR games in youth.

What is the significance of this project?

The impact of video games, including VR games, has been a "hot" topic for decades. Many scholars, policy makers and parents are concerned about the impact of video games on mood and aggression. Other scholars suggest video games may have more positive influences, such as reducing stress.

At present few studies have considered VR games, which are more immersive than traditional video games. It is anticipated that society will soon be asking questions about the potential impact of VR games and whether such games have more impact than traditional video games or other media such as television. Good data, using standardized methods and preregistered designs can assist policy makers and parents in understanding the impact of VR games.

What are the goals of the project?

This project will unfold across a number of preregistered randomized experimental designs over the next few years. Participants will include both young adults and teens (12-18.) In the first planned experiment we intend to attempt to replicate the results of Przybylski and colleagues (2014) regarding frustration and violent content in games as relates to aggression. In addition to replicating study #6 from this paper, we will extend the findings to VR games, both violent and nonviolent.

Future planned studies will include examinations of VR technology impact on stress reduction in youth, as well as cooperative behavior. All studies will be preregistered at osf.io, and will be published in peer-reviewed journals.