Core networks related disrupted effective connectivity and relationship with sleep disturbances in internet gaming disorder

IF 2.9 3区心理学 Q2 BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

Behavioural Brain Research Pub Date : 2026-03-12 Epub Date: 2025-12-31 DOI:10.1016/j.bbr.2025.116023

Longyao Ma , Bohui Mei , Xinqi Li , Mengzhe Zhang , Hui Zhang , Jiawen Tian , Hongyu Zhang , Yan Lang , Yarui Wei , Shaoqiang Han , Jingliang Cheng , Yong Zhang

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is characterized by increased gaming cravings and sleep disturbances. However, previous studies mainly focused on the relationship between undirected connections among brain regions and IGD features, and rarely reported on directed connections among networks.

Methods

This study, based on 66 male IGD subjects and 53 healthy controls (HCs), assessed the effective connectivity (EC) differences of intra- and inter-networks for each subject using spectral dynamic causal modeling from eight interest regions (ROI) in the default mode (DMN), salience (SN), executive control (ECN), and cerebellum networks. The Parametric Empirical Bayes (PEB) framework was used to identify the difference between the two groups. In addition, the mediating role of significant differential EC between IGD severity and sleep quality was further explored.

Results

This study observed that four brain networks across HC and IGD subjects showed similarities EC patterns. Compared IGD subjects to healthy controls, abnormal EC in the bottom-up (cerebellum-SN-DMN-ECN) loop was most significantly altered. More importantly, mediation analysis showed that the EC from the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) to the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) partially mediated the impact of IGD severity on sleep quality.

Conclusions

This study revealed the disrupted neural causality among DMN, SN, ECN, and cerebellum in IGD subjects and emphasized the potential of DMN-SN interaction in studying sleep disturbances in IGD, which amplify the pathophysiological mechanisms and explain the pathological gaming behaviors of IGD subjects.

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核心网络的有效连接中断与网络游戏障碍患者睡眠障碍的关系

网络游戏障碍（IGD）的特征是对游戏的渴望增加和睡眠障碍。然而，以往的研究主要集中在脑区域间的无向连接与IGD特征之间的关系，很少有关于网络间定向连接的报道。方法本研究以66名男性IGD受试者和53名健康对照（hc）为研究对象，采用光谱动态因果模型，从默认模式（DMN）、显著性（SN）、执行控制（ECN）和小脑网络的8个兴趣区（ROI）评估每个受试者内部和内部网络的有效连通性（EC）差异。使用参数经验贝叶斯（PEB）框架来识别两组之间的差异。此外，我们还进一步探讨了显著差异EC在IGD严重程度与睡眠质量之间的中介作用。结果研究发现，HC和IGD受试者的四个脑网络具有相似的脑电模式。与健康对照相比，IGD受试者中自下而上（小脑- sn - dmn - ecn）回路异常EC的改变最为显著。更重要的是，中介分析表明，从内侧前额叶皮层（MPFC）到前扣带皮层（ACC）的EC部分介导了IGD严重程度对睡眠质量的影响。结论本研究揭示了IGD患者DMN、SN、ECN和小脑之间的神经因果关系的破坏，并强调了DMN-SN相互作用在研究IGD睡眠障碍中的潜力，其放大了IGD患者的病理生理机制，解释了IGD患者的病理性游戏行为。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Behavioural Brain Research 医学-行为科学

CiteScore

5.60

自引率

0.00%

发文量

383

审稿时长

61 days

期刊介绍： Behavioural Brain Research is an international, interdisciplinary journal dedicated to the publication of articles in the field of behavioural neuroscience, broadly defined. Contributions from the entire range of disciplines that comprise the neurosciences, behavioural sciences or cognitive sciences are appropriate, as long as the goal is to delineate the neural mechanisms underlying behaviour. Thus, studies may range from neurophysiological, neuroanatomical, neurochemical or neuropharmacological analysis of brain-behaviour relations, including the use of molecular genetic or behavioural genetic approaches, to studies that involve the use of brain imaging techniques, to neuroethological studies. Reports of original research, of major methodological advances, or of novel conceptual approaches are all encouraged. The journal will also consider critical reviews on selected topics.