title: Imbalanced functional link between executive control network and reward network explain the online-game seeking behaviors in Internet gaming disorder.
abstract: Literatures have shown that Internet gaming disorder (IGD) subjects show impaired executive control and enhanced reward sensitivities than healthy controls. However, how these two networks jointly affect the valuation process and drive IGD subjects' online-game-seeking behaviors remains unknown. Thirty-five IGD and 36 healthy controls underwent a resting-states scan in the MRI scanner. Functional connectivity (FC) was examined within control and reward network seeds regions, respectively. Nucleus accumbens (NAcc) was selected as the node to find the interactions between these two networks. IGD subjects show decreased FC in the executive control network and increased FC in the reward network when comparing with the healthy controls. When examining the correlations between the NAcc and the executive control/reward networks, the link between the NAcc - executive control network is negatively related with the link between NAcc - reward network. The changes (decrease/increase) in IGD subjects' brain synchrony in control/reward networks suggest the inefficient/overly processing within neural circuitry underlying these processes. The inverse proportion between control network and reward network in IGD suggest that impairments in executive control lead to inefficient inhibition of enhanced cravings to excessive online game playing. This might shed light on the mechanistic understanding of IGD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, PR China.
authors.forename: Guangheng
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, U.K.
authors.forename: Yanbo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Medical School of Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, PR China.
authors.forename: Chunming
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance, East China Normal University, Shanghai, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiaoxia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Du
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016739:Behavior, Addictive; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D056344:Executive Function; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders; D010988:Play and Playthings / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult