Influence of abstinence on automatic detection bias to gaming cues in individuals with Internet gaming disorder: Evidence from visual mismatch negativity

• Published in: Psychophysiology Vol. 59; no. 3; pp. e13973 - n/a
• Main Authors: Zheng, Yang, He, Jinbo, Nie, Yufeng, Fan, Liyan, Zhang, Jintao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.03.2022
• Subjects: Abstinence; Addictions; Adult; automatic detection bias; Behavior, Addictive; Bias; Brain; Craving; Cues; Emotions; ERPs; Evoked Potentials - physiology; Female; gaming cues; Humans; Immunoglobulin D; Internet Addiction Disorder; Internet gaming disorder; Male; Mismatch negativity; Video Games; visual mismatch negativity; Young Adult; ERPs; abstinence; visual mismatch negativity; gaming cues; Internet gaming disorder; automatic detection bias
• ISSN: 0048-5772; 1469-8986; 1469-8986; 1540-5958
• DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13973

Internet gaming disorder (IGD) has been classified by the DSM‐5 as a condition for further study, and many studies have shown that the occurrence and maintenance of IGD and the automatic detection bias to gaming cues of individuals with IGD may be significantly related. However, whether abstinence, a common intervention method in behavioral addiction, can adjust the automatic detection bias in individuals with IGD and its underlying neural mechanisms is unclear. In this study, we investigated the effects of 7 days of abstinence from gaming on automatic detection bias, negative affect and craving in individuals with IGD with event‐related potential technology. A total of 50 IGD subjects were recruited in this study and randomly divided into abstinence and control groups. Visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) was induced using a standard‐deviant reversed oddball paradigm, and differences in automatic detection bias, negative affect, and craving between the two groups were recorded and compared at baseline, day 3, and day 7. The results showed that compared with baseline, vMMN, negative affect and craving were significantly enhanced on day 3 and significantly diminished on day 7 in the abstinence group but not in the control group, and the changes in vMMN were significantly correlated with changes in negative affect and craving in both groups. This study demonstrates that abstinence can restore automatic detection bias in individuals with IGD and that abstinence has to last for 7 days to have a significant effect, while recovery may be related to the negative affect and craving. This study examined the effects of abstinence on early cognitive processing in Internet gaming disorder (IGD). We found that individuals with IGD had a reduced automatic detection bias for gaming cues after 7 days of abstinence compared with baseline, which was correlated with negative affect and craving.