Disturbed craving regulation to gaming cues in internet gaming disorder: Implications for uncontrolled gaming behaviors

BACKGROUND

The ability to control craving for games is very important to abstain from Internet gaming disorder (IGD) and abundant clinical evidence has suggested that craving dysregulation is the essential pathogenesis for IGD. However, the neural mechanism underlying this feature remains unclear.

METHODS

Subjective evaluation and fMRI data from 44 participants (IGD participants: 21; recreational Internet game users (RGUs): 23) were collected while they were performing a regulation of craving task. We analyzed and compared their brain features while they regulated cravings to gaming stimuli.

RESULTS

Compared to RGUs, IGD participants showed enhanced brain activation in the right anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), orbitofrontal cortex and middle temporal gyrus and in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and thalamus during the regulation of craving task. Generalized psychophysiological interaction (gPPI) analysis revealed that IGD participants showed decreased functional connectivity between the right PCC and right inferior parietal lobule compared to that in RGU participants.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggested that deficits of craving regulation in IGD participant were associated with the imbalanced coordination between the reward network and the executive network. Enhanced game-seeking motivation and disturbed executive control are responsible for craving dysregulation in IGD participants. These findings suggest a biological mechanism for IGD that may help in finding potential interventions.

Investigating properties of imagery-induced flash-forwards and the effect of eye movements on the experience of desire and craving in gamers

Vivid and emotionally laden imagery is a symptom across a wide range of psychiatric disorders. Flash-forwards describe the mental simulation of anticipated future events which might also be relevant in the context of gaming disorder. The aim of this laboratory study was to investigate flash-forwards and the experience of desires and craving in gamers, and to examine the effect of eye movements on their vividness and related desires. A sample of 77 gamers formed a mental picture of themselves gaming in the future and rated the vividness and emotionality of this imagination, and their current desire and craving for gaming. Thereafter, one half of the gamers conducted a dual task (i.e., horizontal eye movements while retrieving the picture), whereas the other half let their eyes rest on the middle of the computer screen while retrieving the picture (non-dual task). Vividness of the flash-forward and intensity of desire and craving were again measured after the dual or non-dual task. In the overall sample, more imagery-related desire correlated positively with associated positive affect and vividness of flash-forwards. However, in a subsample of problematic gamers, flash-forwards are experienced less vivid and less pleasurable with increasing symptom severity. Eye movements while retrieving the flash-forwards led to significantly decreased ratings of imagery-related desire intensity, which was not the case for the non-dual condition. Results suggest different properties of flash-forwards between recreational and problematic gamers. Moreover, an attention-demanding task taxing the working memory seems beneficial for reducing desires related to imagery-induced flash-forwards.