Altered brain activities associated with cue reactivity during forced break in subjects with Internet gaming disorder

• Background: Studies have proven that forced break can elicit strong psychological cravings for addictive behaviors. This phenomenon could create an excellent situation to study the neural underpinnings of addiction. The current study explores brain features during a cue-reactivity task in Internet gaming disorder (IGD) when participants were forced to stop their gaming behaviors. Methods: Forty-nine IGD subjects and forty-nine matched recreational Internet game users (RGU) were asked to complete a cue-reactivity task when their ongoing gaming behaviors were forced to break. We compared their brain responses to gaming cues and tried to find specific features associated with IGD. Results: Compared with RGU, the IGD subjects showed decreased activation in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), parahippocampal gyrus, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Significant negative correlations were observed between self-reported gaming cravings and the baseline activation level (bate value) of the ACC, DLPFC, and parahippocampal gyrus. Conclusions: IGD subjects were unable to suppress their gaming cravings after unexpectedly forced break. This result could also explain why RGU subjects are able to play online games without developing dependence. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Datavetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Computer Sciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Craving

Decision-making

Executive control

Forced break

Internet gaming disorder

adult

anterior cingulate

Article

association

attentional bias

brain function

clinical article

clinical feature

controlled study

decision making

dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

executive function

female

game addiction

human

impulsiveness

male

parahippocampal gyrus

self report

task performance

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)