The FMRI Study On The Stroop Effect Of The Online Game Master Without Internet Addiction Disorder

Objective:Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)to investigate the characteristics of brain activation and behavioral findings in the online game masters when they performed stroop test. Methods:Ten cases of online game masters (the master group) and ten cases without access to the online games(the control group) were enrolled. FMRI were taken when color-word congruent condition(CC) and incongruent condition(IC) conditions of an event-related design with a classic stroop color-word paradigm were presented. Using statistical parametric activation maps (SPM8) and SPSS software, images and behavioral data were analyzed. Results:Behavioral analysis showed, in the control group, the average response time (908±146ms) under IC was longer than that (772±139ms) of under CC, the differences reached statistical significance (P=0.002, P<0.05); in the master group, the average response time (935±103ms) under IC was also longer than that (792±88ms) of under CC, the differences also reached statistical significance (P=0.000, P<0.05). In the control group, more activated brain areas under IC-CC condition included:frontal lobe (left middle frontal gyrus; bilateral inferior frontal gyrus;left medial frontal gyrus); right anterior ACC(Anterior Cingulate Gyrus); parietal lobe; In the master group, more activated brain areas under IC-CC condition included:frontal lobe (right superior frontal gyrus; bilateral middle frontal gyrus; bilateral inferior frontal gyrus; right medial frontal gyrus); right middle ACC; left posterior cingulate; parietal lobe(right superior parietal lobule);occipital lobe; anterior lobe(left culmen); posterior lobe(right cerebellar tonsil). Compared with the control group, right middle ACC appeared more activation under IC-CC condition in the master group. Conclusion:The results suggest that there are obvious stroop effect in behavioral response time in both the master group and control group; compared with normal controls, the online game masters have different neural response network to stroop test, especially, requiring more right middle ACC activation to complete the task of attention monitor and evaluation of conflict.