Frontostriatal circuits, resting state functional connectivity and cognitive control in internet gaming disorder

• Published in: Addiction biology Vol. 22; no. 3; pp. 813 - 822
• Main Authors: Yuan, Kai, Yu, Dahua, Cai, Chenxi, Feng, Dan, Li, Yangding, Bi, Yanzhi, Liu, Jixin, Zhang, Yi, Jin, Chenwang, Li, Linling, Qin, Wei, Tian, Jie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.05.2017
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Behavior, Addictive - complications; Behavior, Addictive - physiopathology; Brain Mapping - methods; Cognition Disorders - complications; Cognition Disorders - physiopathology; cognitive control; Corpus Striatum - diagnostic imaging; Corpus Striatum - physiopathology; Female; frontostriatal circuits; Humans; Internet; internet gaming disorder; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Male; mediation analysis; Neural Pathways - diagnostic imaging; Neural Pathways - physiopathology; resting‐state functional connectivity; striatum; Task analysis; Video Games - psychology; Young Adult; resting-state functional connectivity; cognitive control; mediation analysis; internet gaming disorder; striatum; frontostriatal circuits
• ISSN: 1355-6215; 1369-1600
• DOI: 10.1111/adb.12348

Converging evidence has identified cognitive control deficits in internet gaming disorder (IGD). Recently, mounting evidence had revealed that resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) and structural connectivity of frontostriatal circuits could modulate cognitive control in healthy individuals. Unfortunately, relatively little is known about the thoroughly circuit‐level characterization of the frontostriatal pathways (both the dorsal and ventral striatum) during resting‐state and their association with cognitive control in IGD. In the current study, the differences of striatum volume and RSFC networks were investigated between 43 young IGD individuals and 44 healthy controls. Meanwhile, cognitive control deficits were assessed by Stroop task performances. The neuroimaging findings were then correlated with the Stroop task behaviors. In IGD subjects, we demonstrated an increased volume of right caudate and nucleus accumbens (NAc) as well as reduced RSFC strength of dorsal prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)–caudate and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)–NAc. NAc volumes were positively correlated with internet addiction test scores in IGD. The caudate volume and DLPFC–caudate RSFC was correlated with the impaired cognitive control (more incongruent errors in Stroop task) in IGD. Consistent with substance use disorder (SUD) findings, we detected striatum volume and frontostriatal circuits RSFC differences between IGD and healthy controls, which provided evidence of some degree of the similarity between IGD and SUD. More importantly, the cognitive control deficits in IGD were correlated with the reduced frontostrital RSFC strength. It is hoped that our results could shed insight on the neurobiological mechanisms of IGD and suggest potential novel therapeutic targets for treatment. Reduced resting‐state functional connectivity between the right caudate and the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was negatively correlated with more errors during incongruent condition in Stroop task in IGD subjects.