Near-infrared spectroscopy-based study of the effects of gaming addiction disorders on brain cognitive control functions / 国际生物医学工程杂志

Objective:To explore the effects of game addiction disorders on brain cognitive control functions based on near-infrared spectroscopy.Methods:Thirteen subjects were screened according to the Online Game Addiction (OGA) Scale. The experimental paradigm was the stop-signal task. The relative concentration levels of oxyhemoglobin (HbO 2) and deoxyhemoglobin (Hb) in the prefrontal region of the brain during cognitive activity were collected using near-infrared spectroscopy to assess the cognitive control function of the subjects. Results:The game-addicted patients had lower keystroke accuracy in the stop-signal task than healthy subjects, and the difference was statistically significant ( P<0.05). Compared to healthy subjects, game-addicted patients had less activation in prefrontal areas and showed uncontrolled behavior and brain activity. Conclusions:Game addiction disorders impair brain cognitive control, which in turn triggers a weakening of cognitive control. The results of this study provide a reference for the prevention and treatment of game addiction.

Dynamic neural circuit disruptions associated with antisocial behaviors.

Antisocial behavior (ASB) is believed to have neural substrates; however, the association between ASB and functional brain networks remains unclear. The temporal variability of the functional connectivity (or dynamic FC) derived from resting-state functional MRI has been suggested as a useful metric for studying abnormal behaviors including ASB. This is the first study using low-frequency fluctuations of the dynamic FC to unravel potential system-level neural correlates with ASB. Specifically, we individually associated the dynamic FC patterns with the ASB scores (measured by Antisocial Process Screening Device) of the male offenders (age: 23.29 ± 3.36 years) based on machine learning. Results showed that the dynamic FCs were associated with individual ASB scores. Moreover, we found that it was mainly the inter-network dynamic FCs that were negatively associated with the ASB severity. Three major high-order cognitive functional networks and the sensorimotor network were found to be more associated with ASB. We further found that impaired behavior in the ASB subjects was mainly associated with decreased FC dynamics in these networks, which may explain why ASB subjects usually have impaired executive control and emotional processing functions. Our study shows that temporal variation of the FC could be a promising tool for ASB assessment, treatment, and prevention.

Mild to moderate partial sleep deprivation is associated with increased impulsivity and decreased positive affect in young adults.

The effects of mild-moderate partial sleep deprivation on affective and cognitive functioning were evaluated in a naturalistic home environment, mimicking short sleep typically caused by demands from work or society. A total of 52 healthy individuals aged 18-35 was included in an 11-day study protocol. Participants slept at home, and sleep patterns were observed using actigraphs and sleep diaries. After maintaining habitual sleep for 7 days, the participants were asked to sleep 2 hours less than their average sleep duration for the last three nights of the study protocol. A not-X continuous performance test was administered at 9 am (± 90 minutes) on days 1, 4, 8 (habitual sleep), 9 and 11 (sleep deprivation). Performance-based measures included response accuracy and speed. Participant-reported measures included how well the participants felt they performed and how exhausted they were from taking the test, as well as positive and negative affect. There was a significant change in reaction time, number of commission errors, subjective performance, subjective exertion, and positive affect across the visits. Specifically, there was a linear decrease in reaction time, performance, and positive affect throughout the study, and a significant quadratic trend for commissions and exertion (first decreasing, then increasing after sleep deprivation). The univariate tests for omissions and negative affect were not significant. We conclude that sleeping 1.5-2 hours less than usual leads to faster response speed, but more commission errors and decreased positive affect. This indicates that individuals become more impulsive and experience less positive affect after a period of short sleep.