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Updated: Jun 6, 2025
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation for Online Gamers
Published on: November 9, 2019
Resting-state EEG microstate analysis of internet gaming disorder and alcohol use disorder
Ji Sun Kim1, Young Wook Song2, Sungkean Kim2,3
1Department of Psychiatry, Soonchunhyang University Cheonan Hospital, Cheonan, Republic of Korea.
Introduction:
To investigate the neurophysiological aspects of addiction, the microstate characteristics of internet gaming disorder (IGD), alcohol use disorder (AUD), and healthy control (HC) groups were compared using resting-state electroencephalography (EEG).
Methods:
In total, 199 young adults (75 patients with IGD, 57 patients with AUD, and 67 HCs) participated in this study. We conducted EEG microstate analysis among the groups and also compared the obtained parameters with the results of psychological assessments.
Results:
The global explained variance, occurrence, and coverage of microstate C were significantly lower in the AUD group than in the IGD group. Additionally, rates of transition from microstates A, B, and D to C were significantly lower in the AUD group than in the IGD group, whereas rates of transition from microstate A to B were lower in the IGD group compared to HCs. Furthermore, the occurrence of microstate C and transition from microstate B to C were negatively correlated with the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification and Behavioural Inhibition Scale score.
Conclusion:
There were significant differences in microstate characteristics among the groups, which correlated with the psychological scores. These findings suggest that microstate features can be used as neuromarkers in clinical settings to differentiate between addictive disorders and evaluate the pathophysiology of AUD and IGD.
