Institute of Psychology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Radiology, Erasmus MC - University Medical Center Rotterdam, P.O. Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Behavioral Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
IVO Addiction Research Institute, Heemraadssingel 194, 3021 DM Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Erasmus MC - University Medical Center Rotterdam, P.O. Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Psychiatry Res. 2015 Mar 30;231(3):262-8. doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2015.01.004. Epub 2015 Jan 15.
A small proportion of video game players develop uncontrolled gaming behavior. A dysfunctional cognitive control circuit may explain this excessive behavior. Therefore, the current study investigated whether problem gamers are characterized by deficits in various aspects of cognitive control (inhibitory control, error processing, attentional control) by measuring brain activation using functional magnetic resonance imaging during Go-NoGo and Stroop task performance. In addition, both impulsivity and attentional control were measured using self-reports. Participants comprised 18 problem gamers who were compared with 16 matched casual gaming controls. Results indicate significantly increased self-reported impulsivity levels and decreased inhibitory control accompanied by reduced brain activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and right inferior parietal lobe (IPL) in problem gamers relative to controls. Significant hypoactivation in the left IFG in problem gamers was also observed during Stroop task performance, but groups did not differ on behavioral and self-reported measures of attentional control. No evidence was found for reduced error processing in problem gamers. In conclusion, the current study provides evidence for reduced inhibitory control in problem gamers, while attentional control and error processing were mostly intact. These findings implicate that reduced inhibitory control and elevated impulsivity may constitute a neurocognitive weakness in problem gamers.
一小部分视频游戏玩家会出现不受控制的游戏行为。功能失调的认知控制回路可能解释了这种过度行为。因此，本研究通过在执行 Go-NoGo 和 Stroop 任务期间使用功能磁共振成像测量大脑激活，来调查问题玩家是否在认知控制的各个方面（抑制控制、错误处理、注意力控制）存在缺陷。此外，还通过自我报告来测量冲动性和注意力控制。参与者包括 18 名问题玩家和 16 名匹配的休闲游戏对照者。结果表明，与对照组相比，问题玩家的自我报告冲动水平显著升高，抑制控制能力下降，左额下回（IFG）和右顶下小叶（IPL）的大脑激活减少。在执行 Stroop 任务时，问题玩家的左 IFG 也观察到明显的低激活，但在注意力控制和自我报告的行为测量方面，两组没有差异。在问题玩家中没有发现错误处理减少的证据。总之，本研究为问题玩家的抑制控制能力下降提供了证据，而注意力控制和错误处理基本完好。这些发现表明，抑制控制能力下降和冲动性升高可能是问题玩家的一种神经认知弱点。
