Abstract
BackgroundMany studies have found an interesting issue in the Internet gaming disorder (IGD): males are always observed to be the majority. However, there are little research to exploring the differences in the neural mechanisms between males and females in decision-making process among people with IGD. Therefore, explore the reward/loss processing between different gender with IGD could help in understanding the underlying neural mechanism of IGD.MethodsData from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) were collected from 111 subjects (IGD: 29 males, 25 females; recreational internet game user (RGU): 36 males, 21 females) while they were performing a card-guessing task. We collected and compared their brain features when facing the win and loss conditions in different groups.ResultsFor winning conditions, IGD group showed hypoactivity in the lingual gyrus than RGU group, male players showed hyperactivity in the left caudate nucleus, bilateral cingulate gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus (MFG), right precuneus and inferior parietal lobule relative to the females. And significant sex-by-group interactions results showed higher brain activities in the thalamus, parahippocampal gyrus and lower brain activities in Inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) were observed in males with IGD than females. For losing conditions, IGD group showed hypoactivity in the left lingual gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus and right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) compared to the RGU group, male players showed hyperactive left caudate nucleus and hypoactive right middle occipital gyrus relative to females. And significant sex-by-group interactions results showed that compared to females with IGD, males with IGD showed decreased brain activities in the IFG and lingual gyrus.ConclusionsFirst, there appeared to be no difference in reward processing between the IGD and RGU group, but IGD showed less sensitivity to loss. Secondly, male players showed more sensitivity to rewards and less sensitivity to losses. Last but not least, males and females showed opposite activation patterns in IGD degree and rewards/losses processing. And male IGD subjects are more sensitive to reward and less sensitive to loss than females, which might be the reason for the gender different rates on IGD.
Highlights
Many studies have found an interesting issue in the Internet gaming disorder (IGD): males are always observed to be the majority
Another study presented participants with game-related stimuli and asked them to complete a simple cognitive task, the results showed that male players reported stronger craving for game stimuli than female players, increased brain activations in the striatum and the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) which are involved in reward processing were observed in male player [29]
The results showed that: In the face of reward, IGD group and recreational internet game user (RGU) group have no significant difference in reward processing
Summary
Many studies have found an interesting issue in the Internet gaming disorder (IGD): males are always observed to be the majority. There are little research to exploring the differences in the neural mechanisms between males and females in decision-making process among people with IGD. Explore the reward/loss processing between different gender with IGD could help in understanding the underlying neural mechanism of IGD. Some people develop an internet gaming disorder (IGD) due to their excessive and uncontrolled gaming behaviors. IGD refers to a mental disorder in which excessive and recurrent use of online games and impairs the physical and psychological functions of the individual [1, 2]. The decision-making deficits of IGD individuals was associated with the imbalanced coordination between reward seeking and executive function [8]. It is very important to study the decisionmaking process of IGD, which is contribute to understand and intervene IGD behavior
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