Child Studies in Asia-Pacific Contexts www.e-csac.org 2015. Vol. 5, No. 2, 63-81 http://dx.doi.org/10.5723/csac.2015.5.2.063 Child Studies in Asia-Pacific Contexts, 2015, 5(2) 63 According to a report by Newzoo, a global game market research company, there were 1,231 million people who played video games worldwide in 2013 (Global Games Market Report). Given the popularity and prevalence of video games, social scientists have put forth great effort into understanding the potential effects of this type of media entertainment. With game players 17 or younger representing 29% of all those who play (ESA, 2014) video games, the effects are of particular concern for adolescents because they may be easily influenced by game content during a particular time in their lives that marks rapid physical and cognitive growth, thereby influencing developmental changes (Anderson, Gentile, & Buckley, 2007). Negative Outcomes of Video Games The effects of violent video game content and aggression has been a primary focus of investigators, due to concerns that gratuitous violence and the interactive nature of gaming may lead to increased negative outcomes outside of the game environment (Anderson et al, 2010). Meta-analytic findings show mixed results concerning the effects of playing games with violent content. Some find results indicating strong evidence that violent video game exposure is associated with increased aggressive affect, behavior, cognition, and physiological measures, (Anderson & Bushman, 2001; Anderson, 2004; Anderson et al., 2010). Others show the effect of video game violence on aggression is minimal to non-existent (Ferguson Links to Prosocial Factors and Alpha Asymmetry in Adolescents during Violent and Non-Violent Video Game Play Joann Lianekhammy Ronald Werner-Wilson * University of Kentucky The present study examined electrical brain activations in participants playing three different video games. Forty-five adolescents between the ages of 13-17 (M=14.3 years, SD=1.5) were randomly assigned to play either a violent game, non-violent game, or brain training game. Electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded during video game play. Following game play, participants completed a questionnaire measuring prosocial personality. Results show an association between prosocial personality factors and differential patterns of brain activation in game groups. Adolescents with higher empathy playing the brain training game were positively correlated with frontal asymmetry scores, while empathy scores for those in non-violent and violent game groups were negatively linked to frontal asymmetric activation scores. Those with higher scores in helpfulness in the non-violent game group showed a positive association to left hemisphere activation. Implications behind these findings are discussed in the manuscript. Keywords: prosocial, empathy, helpfulness, violent video game, non-violent video game * Corresponding Author: Ronald Werner-Wilson, Department of Food Sciences, University of Kentucky, 315 Funkhouser Building, Lexington, Kentucky 40506, USA. Email: ronald.werner- wilson@uky.edu