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Altered dynamic interactions within frontostriatal circuits reflect disturbed craving processing in internet gaming disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 September 2020

Ningning Zeng ,
Min Wang Open the ORCID record for Min Wang [Opens in a new window] ,
Haohao Dong ,
Xiaoxia Du  and
Guang-Heng Dong Open the ORCID record for Guang-Heng Dong [Opens in a new window]
Ningning Zeng
Affiliation:
Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, The Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China Shenzhen key laboratory of Affective and Social Neuroscience, Center for Brain Disorders and Cognitive Science, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China
Min Wang
Affiliation:
Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, The Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China
Haohao Dong
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, People’s Republic of China
Xiaoxia Du
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance, East China Normal University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China
Guang-Heng Dong*
Affiliation:
Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, The Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China
*
*Author for correspondence: Guang-Heng Dong, PhD, Email: dongguangheng@hznu.edu.cn
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Abstract

Background

Individuals with internet gaming disorder (IGD) are generally characterized by impaired executive control, persistent game-craving, and excessive reward-seeking behaviors. However, the causal interactions within the frontostriatal circuits underlying these problematic behaviors remain unclear. Here, spectral dynamic causal modeling (spDCM) was implemented to explore this issue.

Methods

Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 317 online game players (148 IGD subjects and 169 recreational game users (RGUs)) were collected. Using independent component analysis, we determined six region of interests within frontostriatal circuits for further spDCM analysis, and further statistical analyses based on the parametric empirical Bayes framework were performed.

Results

Compared with RGUs, IGD subjects showed inhibitory effective connectivity from the right orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) to the right caudate and from the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to the left OFC; at the same time, excitatory effective connectivity was observed from the thalamus to the left OFC. Correlation analyses results showed that the directional connection from the right OFC to the right caudate was negatively associated with addiction severity.

Conclusions

These results suggest that the disrupted causal interactions between specific regions might contribute to dysfunctions within frontostriatal circuits in IGD, and the pathway from the right OFC to the right caudate could serve as a target for brain modulation in future IGD interventions.

Keywords

Internet gaming disordereffective connectivityfrontostriatal circuitsorbitofrontal cortexspectral dynamic causal modeling

Information

Type
Original Research
Information
CNS Spectrums , Volume 27 , Issue 1 , February 2022 , pp. 109 - 117
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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