North American Football Fans Show Neurofunctional Differences in Response to Violence: Implications for Public Health and Policy

While social and behavioral effects of violence in the media have been studied extensively, much less is known about how sports affect perceptions of violence. The current study examined neurofunctional differences between fans and non-fans of North American football (a contact sport) while viewing violent imagery. Participants viewed images of violence in both football and non-football settings while high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were acquired from their brains. Neurological activation was compared between these violence types and between groups. Fans of football show diminished activation in brain regions involved in pain perception and empathy such as the anterior cingulate cortex, fusiform gyrus, insula, and temporal pole when viewing violence in the context of football compared to more broadly violent images. Non-fans of football showed no such effect for the types of violent imagery and had higher activation levels than fans of football for the specified brain regions. These differences show that fans of football may perceive violence differently when it is in the context of football. These fan attitudes have potential policy implications for addressing the issue of concussions in North American football.