ISSN 0439-755X
CN 11-1911/B

Acta Psychologica Sinica ›› 2021, Vol. 53 ›› Issue (6): 639-650.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2021.00639

• Reports of Empirical Studies • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Processing priority for avatar reference in online games: Evidence from behavioral and ERPs studies

CAO Min1, XIE Heping2, SUN Lijun3, ZHANG Dongjing4, KONG Fanchang1, ZHOU Zongkui1()   

  1. 1Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education; School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
    2School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210097, China
    3School of Psychology, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang 453003, China
    4School of Marxism, HuaZhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China;
  • Received:2020-05-21 Published:2021-06-25 Online:2021-04-29
  • Contact: ZHOU Zongkui E-mail:zhouzk@mail.ccnu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the national cultural celebrities and “four batch” talent project: the major achievements cultivation project of the youth network social interaction and China basic education quality monitoring Collaborative Innovation Center(2019-04-003-BZPK01)

Abstract:

The R/K paradigm and the ERPs were used to investigate the processing advantage of avatar reference in online games. In Experiment 1, R/K paradigm was used to compare the memory performance of 40 players under different reference conditions. The results showed that the total recognition accuracy, R response recognition accuracy and discrimination of avatar reference were significantly better than those of other references. In Experiment 2, ERPs was used to investigate 20 players’ neural mechanism of avatar reference. The results showed that processing avatar names induced larger P2 (160~260 ms) and P3 (370~600 ms) amplitudes than familiar names, and shorter P3 latency than foreign familiar names. The results showed that players not only noticed avatar-related information more quickly than other information, but also processed avatar-related information more precisely and deeply. To sum up, whether it is memory results or processing time process, there are online game avatar reference processing advantage.

Key words: online games, avatar reference, processing priority, ERPs.