Association of Extensive Video Gaming and Cognitive Function Changes in Brain-Imaging Studies of Pro Gamers and Individuals With Gaming Disorder: Systematic Literature Review

Practical psychiatry: Taking gaming seriously - a primer for psychiatrists on gamers and gaming culture

OBJECTIVE

Up to three billion, of the eight billion people in the world, play videogames. Gaming is a significant global sociocultural influence. This primer will aid psychiatrists in understanding sociocultural milieux of gamers, who include patients and their communities.

METHOD

A rapid narrative review.

RESULTS

Benefits include expression of personality, identity and culture through social aspects of gaming. Improved physical health, neurocognition, self-efficacy and quality of life are associated with gaming in those with certain mental health disorders including schizophrenia. Harms may include in-game discrimination, disordered gaming, as well as encouragement of online gambling. There is no longitudinal association between violent games and youth aggression.

CONCLUSIONS

Psychiatrists should enquire about gaming as part of the sociocultural milieux of patients' lives, and the perceived mental health benefits and harms of gaming.

The vicious cycle of family dysfunction and problematic gaming and the mediating role of self-concept clarity among early adolescents: A within-person analysis using random intercept cross-lagged panel modeling

Backgrounds and aims

Family dysfunction is a significant risk factor for adolescent problematic gaming, yet few studies have investigated the bidirectional relations between changes in family dysfunction and adolescent problematic gaming and potential mediating mechanisms. This study thus examined the bidirectional relations between family dysfunction and adolescent problematic gaming and the mediating role of self-concept clarity within this relation.

Methods

Participants included 4,731 Chinese early adolescents (44.9% girls; M age = 10.91 years, SD = 0.72) who were surveyed at four time points 6 months apart.

Results

Random intercept cross-lagged panel modeling found (a) family dysfunction directly predicts increased problematic gaming, (b) adolescent problematic gaming directly predicts increased experience of family dysfunction, (c) family dysfunction indirectly predicts problematic gaming via self-concept clarity, and (d) adolescent problematic gaming indirectly predicts family dysfunction via self-concept clarity.

Discussion and conclusions

The present study suggests that adolescents may be trapped in a vicious cycle between family dysfunction and problematic gaming either directly or indirectly through impairing their self-concept clarity. Findings indicate fostering youth self-concept clarity is essential to break the vicious circle between dysfunctional experiences in the family and problematic gaming among adolescents.

Neuroimaging correlates of internet gaming disorder: Can we achieve the promise of translating understandings of brain functioning into clinical advances?

Objectives

Here we aimed to consider the neural factors associated with internet gaming disorder (IGD), as well as the associations between these factors and existing treatments for the disorder.

Methods

A narrative review was conducted.

Results

Pharmacological as well as psychological treatments for IGD may be associated with specific changes in multiple brain areas and circuits. In particular, fronto-striatal and subcortical regions and pathways appear relevant to IGD and its treatment.

Conclusions

Neuroimaging holds promise for identifying specific mechanisms underlying IGD interventions. However, to date, firm conclusions are difficult to draw and more research examining neural mechanisms of empirically supported treatments for IGD is needed.

Neuroimaging findings in adolescent gaming disorder: a systematic review

OBJECTIVES

Gaming disorder is a growing concern affecting adolescents, exacerbated by the impact of recent COVID-19 restrictions. The World Health Organization has recently included gaming disorder in the 11th International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). However, there is still an ongoing debate about the validity and reliability of the proposed clinical criteria, despite growing neurobiological evidence in this cohort. Systematic reviews in this area have focused mainly on adults or mixed adult/adolescent populations. Therefore, this systematic review explored the neuroimaging literature in adolescents (under 18 years old) with gaming disorder.

METHODS

Using PRISMA 2020 guidelines, 3288 primary studies were identified from PubMed, CINAHL Plus, PsycINFO and Web of Science. After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria (appropriate title, abstract, comparison group used within study, English-language, neuroimaging and mean age under 18), 24 studies were included in this review.

RESULTS

Functional and structural brain alterations in adolescent gaming disorder were noted across several imaging modalities, including electroencephalogram (EEG), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Compared with healthy controls, adolescents with gaming disorder demonstrated neurological changes comparable to substance addiction, namely impairments in emotional regulation, reward-seeking, inhibition and increased risky decision-making. Positive brain adaptations in the areas of visuospatial processing and memory were observed.

CONCLUSIONS

A number of key brain regions are affected in adolescent gaming disorder. These findings can help clinicians understand adolescent presentations with gaming disorder from a neurobiological perspective. Future studies should focus on forming a robust neurobiological and clinical framework for adolescent gaming disorder.

Action Video Gaming and Attention in Young Adults: A Systematic Review

OBJECTIVE

Existing research in action video games has increased in recent years due to the expansion of their use all over the world. Specifically, there is growing evidence about the positive development of the cognitive functions associated with the use of this kind of video game. Therefore, this work aims to explore the relationship between playing action video games and the development of attention span as well as the impact at the brain level from a functional perspective.

METHODS

Articles were searched in Scopus, Pubmed, and Web of Science. A total of 196 studies were retrieved, among which 13 studies were systematically reviewed.

RESULTS

The review has shown that playing action video games can improve cognitive functions, including attention, with reaction time and processing speed being the aspects that would most benefit from such practice, as well as the development of focused, sustained, and divided attention. Also, there are functional brain changes.

CONCLUSION

It is necessary to deepen the understanding of the association between playing action video games and the development of attention.

A Bibliometric Analysis of Research into Internet Gaming Disorders in Korea

After the concept of "Internet addiction" was first proposed in 2004, "Internet gaming disorder" (IGD) was included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as a disorder requiring further research. IGD is prevalent in South Korea, and many studies have been conducted on the disorder. Previous studies have helped in understanding various aspects of IGD, but a comprehensive understanding of the research trends is required to identify research gaps. Therefore, we conducted a bibliometric review of all published IGD studies in South Korea. For the identification of articles, the Web of Science database was used. Data analysis was performed using Biblioshiny. A total of 330 publications were included in the analysis. The average number of citations per document was 17.12. These publications were written by a total of 658 authors, and the number of coauthors per document was 5.07. The years with the most publications were 2018 (n = 57), 2017 (n = 45), and 2019 (n = 40). The top three journals containing publications were the Journal of Behavioral Addictions (n = 46), Frontiers in Psychiatry (n = 19), and Psychiatry Investigation (n = 14). In a keyword analysis (apart from "IGD", "internet addiction", and "addiction"), the keywords "adolescent" (n = 31), "self-control" (n = 11), and "impulsivity" (n = 11) were included. T. This bibliometric analysis explores and summarizes the publications on IGD in South Korea. The results are expected to provide researchers with insights for further studies into IGD.

Exploring Internet gaming disorder: an updated perspective of empirical evidence (from 2016 to 2021)

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Since the acceptance of Internet gaming disorder (IGD) as a "disorder due to addictive behaviors", research has proliferated exponentially. The present review focuses on the conceptualization of IGD, its diagnosis and assessment, associated factors and existing prevention and treatment plans to address it.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

The discrepancies between the diagnostic criteria for IGD proposed by the two central diagnostic entities, as well as the questioning of their clinical validity, have generated multiple proposals for the diagnosis and psychometric evaluation of IGD. Likewise, there have been numerous suggestions to prevent this pathology, with the involvement of governments, the gaming industry and health institutions. Finally, multiple treatment plans have been proposed, both pharmacological and psychological, although only the efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy has been tested. It is essential, therefore, to delve deeper into this disorder by addressing the central limitations of the current literature.

Effects of Media Multitasking and Video Gaming on Cognitive Functions and Their Neural Bases in Adolescents and Young Adults

Abstract. The increasing use of digital technology among adolescents and young adults has led to concerns about possible detrimental effects on cognitive and brain functions. Indeed, as reviewed here, according to behavioral and brain-imaging studies, excessive media multitasking (i.e., using different digital media in parallel) may lead to enhanced distractibility and problems in maintaining attention. However, frequent video gaming may be beneficial for the development of working memory, task switching, and attention skills. All these cognitive skills depend on executive cognitive functions. Still scant but gradually cumulating brain-imaging results suggest that the negative effects of frequent media multitasking and the positive effects of frequent video gaming on cognitive skills in adolescents and young adults are mediated by effects on the frontal lobes, implicated in executive cognitive functions and still developing even through early adulthood.

Video Game Addictive Symptom Level, Use Intensity, and Hedonic Experience: An Empirical Analysis of a Novel Survey Instrument (Preprint)

Background

The effects of behavioral addiction to video games has received increasing attention in the literature, given increased use intensity among subgroups of video game players.

Objective

This study seeks to empirically determine the relationship between intensity of video gaming and hedonic experience of the player.

Methods

We conducted a survey of 835 individuals who regularly play video games to determine the relationship between intensity of use and hedonic experience. We divided the sample into quartiles by self-reported video game addictive symptom level (from the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale) and conducted polynomial regressions separately for each quartile.

Results

We found that the higher video game addictive symptom level groups experienced a U-shaped (curvilinear) relationship between hedonic experience and intensity of play, whereas groups with lower video game addictive symptom levels exhibited no such relationship. The coefficients for the highest addictive symptom level group (quartile 4) for marginal effects for hours played per week and hours played per week squared were significantly negative (P=.005) and significantly positive (P=.004), respectively.

Conclusions

Our results are consistent with sensitization and tolerance theories, which suggest that high-symptom groups experience frustration and disappointment until they achieve excessive dopamine release, at which point their hedonic experience is expected to improve with additional play. Conversely, low-symptom groups experience no such fall-and-rise pattern. This result is consistent with the outcome that members of the latter group play the game for the direct experience, such that their hedonic experience is more directly related to events occurring in the game than to the increasingly elusive pursuit of excessive dopamine release. We also find that high-symptom groups spend substantially more time and money to support video game use and are much more likely to engage in video game use at the expense of other important activities, such as working, sleeping, and eating.