Deficits in early-stage face perception in excessive internet users

Impaired social reward processing in individuals with Internet gaming disorder and its relationship with early face perception

Previous research has found that individuals with Internet gaming disorder (IGD) show different patterns of social function impairments in game-related and real-life social contexts. Impaired social reward processing may be the underlying mechanism according to the Social Motivation Theory. Thus, in this study, event-related potentials were recorded from 24 individuals with IGD and 24 healthy gamers during a social judgement task. We focused on reward positivity (RewP) elicited by game-related and real-life social rewards, and N170 elicited by game avatar faces and real faces. These indicators were used to explore the neurocognitive mechanism of impaired social reward processing in individuals with IGD and its relationship with early face perception. Results showed that (1) the RewP elicited by real-life social reward was considerably reduced in individuals with IGD relative to healthy gamers. (2) The N170 elicited by game avatar faces in individuals with IGD was larger than that elicited by real faces. However, the N170 was not associated with RewP in either group. (3) The score for IGD severity was correlated with the RewP elicited by real-life social reward and the N170 elicited by game avatar face. In conclusion, the present study suggests that the impaired social reward processing in individuals with IGD is mainly manifested in a decreased neural sensitivity to real-life social reward. Meanwhile, the reduced RewP elicited by real-life social reward and the enhanced N170 elicited by game avatar face might serve as potential biomarkers for IGD.

Systematic Review of Gaming and Neuropsychological Assessment of Social Cognition

Playing video games is associated with cognitive changes and possibly psychosocial difficulties. Problematic gaming occurs upon the loss of control over videogame playing; gaming disorder is considered a behavioral addiction in the 11th version of the International Classification of Diseases. Models used to understand behavioral addictions include cognition as an essential factor in the development, maintenance, and relapse of addiction. Nevertheless, some aspects of cognition, such as social cognition, remain underexplored, despite evidence of alterations in cognitive and social function among patients with problematic gaming. This review aimed to describe the current understanding of social cognition in individuals exposed to videogames. We included all studies assessing social cognition in participants of any age with a wide range of exposure to video games (from simple use of video games (such as at least two exposures) to problematic gaming, defined according to the included study). This wide range of exposure allowed us to explore the whole process from repeated exposure to addiction. We included only studies that used neuropsychological tasks to assess social cognition. Patient-reported outcomes that could be biased by subjective self-report data were not included. The search was conducted from inception to January 2022 in three databases (PubMed, PsycINFO, and Web of Science). The systematic search identified 39 studies that assessed facial emotion processing, empathy, theory of mind, social decision-making, aggressive behavior, and moral competence. In general, results have been mixed, and a number of questions remain unanswered. Nevertheless, several studies showed cerebral changes when processing facial emotion that were linked with problematic gaming, while no link was obtained between nonproblematic gaming and empathy alterations. The influences of cooperation patterns, theory of mind, moral competence, and gaming frequency were highlighted. Finally, there was substantial heterogeneity in the population assessed and the methods used.

The Study of Face Processing in Social Anxiety Disorder Based on Face-Specific N170 Component

Although previous studies showed that social anxiety disorder (SAD) exhibits the attentional bias for angry faces, few studies investigated effective face recognition combined with event-related potential (ERP) technique in SAD patients, especially the treatment effect. This study examines the differences in face processing in SAD patients before and after treatment and healthy control people (H-group). High-density EEG scans were registered in response to emotional schematic faces, particularly interested in the face processing N170 component. Analysis of N170 amplitude revealed a larger N170 for P-group-pre in response to inverted and upright stimuli than H-group in the right hemisphere. The result of the intragroup t-test showed that N170 was delayed for inverted relative to upright faces only in P-group-post and H-group but not in P-group-pre. Remarkably, the results of ANOVAs manifested that emotional expression cannot modulate N170 for SAD patients. Besides, the N170-based asymmetry index (AI) was introduced to analyze the left- and right-hemisphere dominance of N170 for three groups. It was found that, with the improvement of patients' treatment, the value of AI_{N170−base  d} presented a decreasing trend. These results together suggested that there was no inversion effect observed for patients with SAD. The change in the value of AI_{N170−base  d} can be used as potential electrophysiological markers for the diagnosis and treatment effects on patients with SAD.

Sexual preference for prepubescent children is associated with enhanced processing of child faces in juveniles

Child sexual abuse offences (CSOs) represent a severe ethical and socioeconomic burden for society. Juveniles with a sexual preference for prepubescent children (PP) commit a large percentage of CSOs, but have been widely neglected in neuroscience research. Aberrant neural responses to face stimuli have been observed in men with pedophilic interest. Thus far, it is unknown whether such aberrations exist already in PP. A passive face-viewing paradigm, including the presentation of child and adult faces, was deployed and high-density electroencephalography data were recorded. The study group comprised 25 PP and the control group involved 22 juveniles with age-adequate sexual preference. Attractiveness ratings and evoked brain responses were obtained for the face stimuli. An aberrant pattern of attractiveness ratings for child vs. adult faces was found in the PP group. Moreover, elevated occipital P1 amplitudes were observed for adult vs. child faces in both groups. At longer latency (340-426 ms), a stronger negative deflection to child vs. adult faces, which was source localized in higher visual, parietal and frontal regions, was specifically observed in the PP group. Our study provides evidence for enhanced neural processing of child face stimuli in PP, which might reflect elevated attention capture of face stimuli depicting members from the sexually preferred age group. This study expands our understanding of the neural foundations underlying sexual interest in prepubescent children and provides a promising path for the uncovering of objective biomarkers of sexual responsiveness to childlike body schemes in juveniles.

Automatic Processing Advantage of Cartoon Face in Internet Gaming Disorder: Evidence From P100, N170, P200, and MMN

Individuals with Internet gaming disorder (IGD) show deficits in face processing due to long-term Internet-game social activities based on cartoon faces in the popular online game "Strike of Kings." However, the abnormal neurocognitive mechanism of face recognition and processing in individuals with IGD has not been systematically explored. This study used event-related potential (ERP) methods and the reversed deviant-standard oddball paradigm to comprehensively compare four ERP components, namely, P100, N170, P200, and mismatch negativity (MMN), induced in the unconscious and automatic processing of realistic and cartoon faces in individuals with IGD. Results showed that, with respect to cartoon faces, individuals with IGD exhibited not only P100, P200 and MMN enhancements but also the absence of the N170 dominance effect in the left hemisphere. Our results also demonstrated that individuals with IGD had the advantages of early automatic perception of cartoon faces and automatic detection of changes in "cartoon" features. This study enhances our understanding of the mechanism of IGD from the neurocognitive perspective and provides candidate electrophysiological indicators for the clinical diagnosis of IGD.

Automatic detection advantage of network information among Internet addicts: behavioral and ERP evidence

Converging evidence has proved the attentional bias of Internet addicts (IAs) on network information. However, previous studies have neither explained how characteristics of network information are detected by IAs with priority nor proved whether this advantage is in line with the unconscious and automatic process. To answer the two questions, this study aims to investigate whether IAs prioritize automatic detection of network information from the behavior and cognitive neuroscience aspects. 15 severe IAs and 15 matching healthy controls were selected using Internet Addiction Test (IAT). Dot-probe task with mask was used in the behavioral experiment, while deviant-standard reverse oddball paradigm was used in the event-related potential (ERP) experiment to induce mismatch negativity (MMN). In the dot-probe task, when the probe location appeared on the Internet-related picture's position, the IAs had significantly shorter reaction time than do the controls; in the ERP experiment, when Internet-related picture appeared, MMN was significantly induced in the IAs relative to the controls. Both experiments show that IAs can automatically detect network information.

Impaired orienting in youth with Internet Addiction: Evidence from the Attention Network Task (ANT)

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

An important theory of attention suggests that there are three separate networks that execute discrete cognitive functions: alerting, orienting and conflict networks. Recent studies showed that there was a dysfunction of attention in Internet Addiction. In order to investigate the underlying mechanism of attention dysfunction in Internet Addiction, we recorded performance related to the Attentional Network Test (ANT) in youth.

METHODS

The ANT, a behavioral assay of the functional integrity of attention networks, was used to examine the performance in Internet Addiction and healthy controls.

RESULTS

Performance on the ANT clearly differentiated the participants with and without Internet Addiction in terms of mean reaction times (RTs). Compared with control group, the Internet Addiction group detected targets more slowly and this effect was evident only for spatial cue condition. The Internet Addiction group demonstrated deficits in the orienting network in terms of slower RT. There was no demonstration of a deficit in both the alerting and conflict network in Internet Addiction on this task.

CONCLUSIONS

The youth with Internet Addiction demonstrated deficits in the orienting network but normal functioning of the alerting and conflict attention networks.

Impaired Empathy Processing in Individuals with Internet Addiction Disorder: An Event-Related Potential Study

Internet addiction disorder (IAD) is associated with deficits in social communication and avoidance of social contact. It has been hypothesized that people with IAD may have an impaired capacity for empathy. The purpose of the current study was to examine the processing of empathy for others' pain in IADs. Event-related potentials produced in response to pictures showing others in painful and non-painful situations were recorded in 16 IAD subjects and 16 healthy controls (HCs). The N1, P2, N2, P3, and late positive potential components were compared between the two groups. Robust picture × group interactions were observed for N2 and P3. The painful pictures elicited larger N2 and P3 amplitudes than the non-painful pictures did only in the HC group but not in the IAD group. The results of this study suggest that both of the early automatic and of the later cognitive processes of pain empathy may be impaired in IADs. This study provides psychophysical evidence of empathy deficits in association with IAD. Further studies combining multidimensional measurements of empathy are needed to confirm these findings.

Cognitive behavioural therapy attenuates the enhanced early facial stimuli processing in social anxiety disorders: an ERP investigation

Background

Previous studies of patients with social anxiety have demonstrated abnormal early processing of facial stimuli in social contexts. In other words, patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) tend to exhibit enhanced early facial processing when compared to healthy controls. Few studies have examined the temporal electrophysiological event-related potential (ERP)-indexed profiles when an individual with SAD compares faces to objects in SAD. Systematic comparisons of ERPs to facial/object stimuli before and after therapy are also lacking. We used a passive visual detection paradigm with upright and inverted faces/objects, which are known to elicit early P1 and N170 components, to study abnormal early face processing and subsequent improvements in this measure in patients with SAD.

Methods

Seventeen patients with SAD and 17 matched control participants performed a passive visual detection paradigm task while undergoing EEG. The healthy controls were compared to patients with SAD pre-therapy to test the hypothesis that patients with SAD have early hypervigilance to facial cues. We compared patients with SAD before and after therapy to test the hypothesis that the early hypervigilance to facial cues in patients with SAD can be alleviated.

Results

Compared to healthy control (HC) participants, patients with SAD had more robust P1–N170 slope but no amplitude effects in response to both upright and inverted faces and objects. Interestingly, we found that patients with SAD had reduced P1 responses to all objects and faces after therapy, but had selectively reduced N170 responses to faces, and especially inverted faces. Interestingly, the slope from P1 to N170 in patients with SAD was flatter post-therapy than pre-therapy. Furthermore, the amplitude of N170 evoked by the facial stimuli was correlated with scores on the interaction anxiousness scale (IAS) after therapy.

Conclusions

Our results did not provide electrophysiological support for the early hypervigilance hypothesis in SAD to faces, but confirm that cognitive-behavioural therapy can reduce the early visual processing of faces. These findings have potentially important therapeutic implications in the assessment and treatment of social anxiety.

Trial registration HEBDQ2014021

Unconscious Processing of Facial Expressions in Individuals with Internet Gaming Disorder

Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) is characterized by impairments in social communication and the avoidance of social contact. Facial expression processing is the basis of social communication. However, few studies have investigated how individuals with IGD process facial expressions, and whether they have deficits in emotional facial processing remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to explore these two issues by investigating the time course of emotional facial processing in individuals with IGD. A backward masking task was used to investigate the differences between individuals with IGD and normal controls (NC) in the processing of subliminally presented facial expressions (sad, happy, and neutral) with event-related potentials (ERPs). The behavioral results showed that individuals with IGD are slower than NC in response to both sad and neutral expressions in the sad–neutral context. The ERP results showed that individuals with IGD exhibit decreased amplitudes in ERP component N170 (an index of early face processing) in response to neutral expressions compared to happy expressions in the happy–neutral expressions context, which might be due to their expectancies for positive emotional content. The NC, on the other hand, exhibited comparable N170 amplitudes in response to both happy and neutral expressions in the happy–neutral expressions context, as well as sad and neutral expressions in the sad–neutral expressions context. Both individuals with IGD and NC showed comparable ERP amplitudes during the processing of sad expressions and neutral expressions. The present study revealed that individuals with IGD have different unconscious neutral facial processing patterns compared with normal individuals and suggested that individuals with IGD may expect more positive emotion in the happy–neutral expressions context.