title: General Deficit in Inhibitory Control of Excessive Smartphone Users: Evidence from an Event-Related Potential Study.
abstract: With the popularity of smartphones, the problem of excessive use has drawn increasing attention. However, it is not clear whether there is an inhibitory deficit in excessive smartphone users. Using a modified Go/NoGo task with three types of context (blank, neutral, and smartphone-related), the present study combined measures of behavior and electrophysiology [event-related potentials (ERPs)] to examine general and specific inhibitory control in an excessive smartphone use group and a normal use group. Results showed that participants in both groups had larger amplitude of N2 and P3 on NoGo trials than Go trials. NoGo N2, an ERP component associated with inhibitory control, was more negative in the excessive smartphone use group than the normal use group. These results suggest that in the early stage of inhibition processing, excessive smartphone users experience more conflicts and show a general deficit that does not depend on smartphone-related cues. Moreover, the study provides further neuroscience evidence of the physiological correlates of excessive smartphone use.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Research Center, School of Psychology, South China Normal University Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Jingwei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Psychology Research Center, School of Psychology, South China Normal University Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Yunsi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Psychology Research Center, School of Psychology, South China Normal University Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Chunmiao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mai
authors.affiliation: Psychology Research Center, School of Psychology, South China Normal UniversityGuangzhou, China; College of Applied Science and Technology, Hainan UniversityHainan, China.
authors.forename: Xiyun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Psychology Research Center, School of Psychology, South China Normal UniversityGuangzhou, China; Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal UniversityGuangzhou, China; Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal UniversityGuangzhou, China; School of Economics and Management and Scientific Laboratory of Economics Behaviors, South China Normal UniversityGuangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Qu
keywords: Go/NoGo task; cue-related; event-related potentials; response inhibition; smartphone overuse