Regulation of Craving in Internet Gamers

Beijing Normal University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Internet Gaming Disorder

Treatments: Other: active tDCS on the dlPFC; Other: sham tDCS on the dlPFC

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03352973

IGDROC

Details and patient eligibility

About

This project aims to investigate (1) the behavioral and neural mechanisms of regulation of craving in Internet gamers; (2) effects of tDCS over the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) on craving and regulation of craving and aversive emotions in this population. (3) effects of tDCS over dlPFC on attentional bias towards gaming related cues.This project will be conducted in Beijing, China, based on a large sample of Internet gamers.

Full description

As with the experiment about tDCS effects on regulation of craving and aversive emotions, the experiment aims to test whether tDCS over dlPFC will enhance cognitive regulation of craving and aversive emotions. It is a within-subject, sham-controlled, double-blind design. Each participant receive both active and sham tDCS of dlPFC in a randomized order separated by one week. During both active and sham tDCS sessions, participants will perform regulation of craving (ROC) and emotion regulation (ER) tasks. In the ROC task, participants will be asked to downregulate and upregulate craving elicited by gaming pictures using cognitive reappraisal. In the ER task, participants will be asked to downregulate and upregulate aversive feelings elicited by negative pictures using cognitive reappraisal. During these tasks, self-report ratings and skin conductance responses (SCRs) will be recorded. The cognitive regulation ability is indexed by rating and SCRs differences between the up- and downregulation conditions.

As with the experiment about tDCS effects on attentional bias, the experiment aims to test whether tDCS over dlPFC will enhance inhibitory control of attentional bias towards gaming related cues. The inhibitory control of attentional bias will be measured by a cognitive task in which participants will perform a number classification task with gaming pictures and non-gaming pictures being distractors. The experiment is a within-subject, sham-controlled, double-blind design. Each participant will receive both active and sham tDCS of dlPFC in a randomized order separated by one week. After each tDCS session, participants will complete the cognitive task assessing inhibitory control of attentional bias. During the task, reaction times (RTs) wil be recorded. The attentional bias is indexed by RTs differences between trials with gaming pictures and trials with non-gaming pictures.

Enrollment: 20 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 30 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• engagement in a popular Internet game (Arena of Valor) for over 14 hours per week for a minimum of 6 months.

Exclusion criteria

• current or history of use of illegal substances and gambling;
• current or history of psychiatric or neurological illness;
• current use of psychotropic medications.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Basic Science

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Crossover Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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20 participants in 2 patient groups

active tDCS on the dlPFC

Experimental group

Description:

tDCS on the DLPFC Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) target will be identified by the baseline functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study for regulation of craving using a separate sample. During the intervention, each participant will receive an active transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) intervention on this DLPFC region (1.5 mA for 20 minutes).

Treatment:

Other: active tDCS on the dlPFC

sham tDCS on the dlPFC

Sham Comparator group

Description:

Each participant will also receive a sham tDCS intervention as a controlled condition. The sham tDCS only include a 30-s ramp up and a 30-s ramp down.

Treatment:

Other: sham tDCS on the dlPFC