The gray matter volume in superior frontal gyrus mediates the impact of reflection on emotion in Internet gaming addicts

Chenggong Wang; Zhenyu Zhang; Liping Che; Yuyan Wu; Haoyue Qian; Xiuyan Guo

doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2021.111269

The gray matter volume in superior frontal gyrus mediates the impact of reflection on emotion in Internet gaming addicts

Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging. 2021 Apr 30:310:111269. doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2021.111269. Epub 2021 Feb 22.

Authors

Chenggong Wang¹, Zhenyu Zhang², Liping Che³, Yuyan Wu⁴, Haoyue Qian⁵, Xiuyan Guo⁶

Affiliations

¹ School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
² School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China.
³ Business School, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, China.
⁴ School of Physics and Electronic Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance, Department of Physics, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
⁵ School of Physics and Electronic Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance, Department of Physics, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China. Electronic address: hhpryqian@yeah.net.
⁶ School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance, Department of Physics, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China; National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.

PMID: 33657478
DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2021.111269

Abstract

Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is becoming a prevalent mental health concern around the world. However, the relationship among brain gray matter volume (GMV), emotion induced by decision-making and the level of reflection in IGD participants has not been fully elucidated to date. The current study aimed to explore this issue by combining a sequential decision task and voxel-based morphometry. Twenty-six IGD participants and 28 demographically matched healthy controls were recruited. After collecting Rumination-Reflection questionnaire data and high-resolution T1-weighted MRI data, participants were asked to complete a sequential decision task. The results demonstrated that compared to healthy controls, IGD participants exhibited significantly decreased GMV in the superior frontal gyrus (SFG). Moreover, GMV in the SFG of IGD participants fully mediated the impact of reflection level on the emotion of loss outcome during the sequential decision task. These results indicate that IGD is associated with reduced GMV in the SFG, and this structural change in IGD contributes to a particular relationship between the level of reflection and regret emotion for loss outcome in the sequential decision task.

Keywords: Emotion; Gray matter volume; Internet gaming disorder; Superior frontal gyrus; Voxel-based morphometry.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Behavior, Addictive* / diagnostic imaging
Emotions
Gray Matter / diagnostic imaging
Humans
Internet
Prefrontal Cortex
Video Games*