Altered Regional Cerebral Glucose Metabolism in Internet Game Overusers: A ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography Study

Abstract

Introduction: Internet game overuse is an emerging disorder and features diminished impulse control and poor reward-processing. In an attempt to understand the neurobiological bases of Internet game overuse, we investigated the differences in regional cerebral glucose metabolism at resting state between young individuals with Internet game overuse and those with normal use using 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography study.Methods: Twenty right-handed male participants (9 normal users: 24.7±2.4 years of age, 11 overusers: 23.5±2.9 years of age) participated. A trait measure of impulsivity was also completed after scanning.Results: Internet game overusers showed greater impulsiveness than the normal users and there was a positive correlation between the severity of Internet game overuse and impulsiveness. Imaging data showed that the overusers had increased glucose metabolism in the right middle orbitofrontal gyrus, left caudate nucleus, and right insula, and decreased metabolism in the bilateral postcentral gyrus, left precentrai gyrus, and bilateral occipital regions compared to normal users.Conclusion: Internet game overuse may be associated with abnormal neurobiological mechanisms in the orbitofrontal cortex, striatum, and sensory regions, which are implicated in impulse control, reward processing, and somatic representation of previous experiences. Our results support the idea that Internet game overuse shares psychological and neural mechanisms with other types of impulse control disorders and substance/non-substance-related addiction.

Impulsivity in Internet Addiction: A Comparison with Pathological Gambling

“…18 Cao et al 18 reported that impulsivity was positively correlated with Internet addiction, supporting the hypothesis that impulsivity is a risk factor for developing Internet addiction. Park et al 33 reported that those who overused Internet games showed greater impulsivity than did normal users, and noted a positive correlation between the severity of the overuse and impulsivity. Those who overused Internet games had abnormal glucose metabolism in the brain regions associated with impulse control, suggesting that overuse of Internet games shares psychological and neural mechanisms with other types of impulse control disorders and addictions.…”

“…Those who overused Internet games had abnormal glucose metabolism in the brain regions associated with impulse control, suggesting that overuse of Internet games shares psychological and neural mechanisms with other types of impulse control disorders and addictions. 33 Based on previous reports, Internet addiction has been considered an impulse control disorder. Our current findings also indicated that patients diagnosed with Internet addiction were characterized by higher levels of trait impulsivity than were healthy controls and by levels of trait impulsivity which were comparable to those of patients diagnosed with pathological gambling.…”

Changes in brain activity in response to problem solving during the abstinence from online game play

“…Specially, the complex calculation task was designed to measure executive function, goal maintaining, response inhibition and error monitoring, as excessive internet game users are known to exhibit dysfunctions in their regulatory control and selective attention (H. S. Park et al, 2010). The simple calculation task was designed to compare the subject's brain activity during the performance of two different tasks.…”

Dependência de jogos eletrônicos: a possibilidade de um novo diagnóstico psiquiátrico

“…Autores comentam que é possível o jogador desenvolver comportamentos violentos [71][72][73] ou impulsivos 74 , mesmo quando o usuário não esteja diante de um jogo com características de violência explícita 75,76 . Isso se deve, principalmente, àqueles que jogam de forma excessiva, já caracterizando aspectos de dependência.…”