How Danmaku influences college students’ attitudes toward characters in TV series: evidence from ERPs

This study examines how Time-sync Danmaku Comment (Danmaku) affects college students’ attitudes toward characters in TV series using the Implicit Association Test (IAT) and Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) technique. It is based on the hypothesis related to Opinion Climate. The behavioral data found that Danmaku had limited effects on viewers’ attitudinal tendency and strength. First, regardless of Danmaku attitudes, the participants’ tendency toward positive character did not change significantly, while their attitudes toward negative character became significantly positive. Second, the two groups of participants only showed marginal significance in the differences in the strength of their attitudes toward positive character, which was supported by N2 component. Specifically, the congruent group showed stronger cognitive conflict than the other group. This difference indicates potential asymmetry in viewers’ attitudinal evaluations of positive and negative characters at the physiological level, which means they may have a cognitive processing bias toward positive character. This study argues that the opinion climate has only a limited influence on the formation of attitudes and that attitudinal shifts are not always intrinsic drivers of the transformation from the opinion climate to an individual’s conformity. The opinion climate may contribute more to superficial, unstable, and irrational conformity at the behavioral level.