Differential neurophysiological correlates of information processing in Internet gaming disorder and alcohol use disorder measured by event-related potentials

Minkyung Park,Yeon Jin Kim,Dai Jin Kim,Jung-Seok Choi

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-09679-z

Abstract

Internet gaming disorder (IGD) shares clinical and neuropsychological features with alcohol use disorder (AUD), but few studies have identified the neurophysiological characteristics of IGD. We investigated the N100 and P300 event-related potentials (ERPs) in patients with IGD to compare them with those of patients with AUD and healthy controls (HCs). Twenty-six patients with IGD, 22 patients with AUD, and 29 HCs participated in this study. ERPs were acquired from young male adults during an auditory oddball task. Between-group differences in N100 and P300 were investigated separately using repeated-measures analysis of variance. Correlations between the ERP values and neurocognitive functioning of each group were examined. Both the IGD and AUD groups showed reduced P300 amplitudes at the midline central and parietal area compared with the HCs. The IGD exhibited reduced N100 amplitudes at the midline frontal area compared with the HCs. The reduced P300 were correlated with a higher spatial span error rate in the IGD. The reduced N100 and P300 were not correlated with Internet addiction severity scores in the IGD. These results indicate that IGD have abnormalities in the P300 comparable to those in AUD. Moreover, the reduction in N100 could be considered a candidate trait marker for IGD.

Highlights

Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is defined as excessive or uncontrolled Internet gaming activity that may lead to severe impairment in psychological and social functioning[1]
The post hoc test corrected using the Bonferroni adjustment for multiple comparisons revealed that patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) had lower estimated IQ scores than did healthy controls (HCs) (p = 0.003), but no differences were observed between other groups (AUD vs. IGD, p = 0.108, IGD vs. HCs, p = 0.566)
The remaining neurocognitive data were not correlated with the P300 or N100 values in either patient group. This is the first study to explore the neurophysiological features of auditory information processing and their relationships with neurocognitive functions in patients with IGD and AUD and HCs. We found that both the IGD and AUD groups showed reduced P300 amplitudes at the midline central and parietal area compared with the HCs, and the IGD exhibited reduced N100 amplitudes at the midline frontal area compared with the HCs

Summary

Introduction

Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is defined as excessive or uncontrolled Internet gaming activity that may lead to severe impairment in psychological and social functioning[1]. Previous studies have reported that patients with IGD and alcohol use disorder (AUD), which is one of the most common SUDs, are similar in terms of emotional, temperamental, and personality traits[8]. These characteristics include craving, compulsive engagement, diminished ability to control behavior, failures to regulate impulses, tolerance, withdrawal, and adverse psychosocial consequences[9]. Abstinent patients with AUD are widely known to exhibit lower P300 amplitudes compared with HCs in response to deviant stimuli[23] This finding of dysfunctional brain activity in patients with AUD emerged from data from patients >30-years-old who were suffering from chronic alcoholism. The inconsistent findings reported by auditory and visual ERP studies may be attributed to the effects of different levels of sensitivity to the task modalities[31]

Methods

Results

Conclusion