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Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation for Online Gamers
Published on: November 9, 2019
Effects of social rewards on risky decision-making among individuals with internet gaming disorder
Xiaoyu Wang1, Mingxue Chen1, Jinbo He1
1Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Wuhan, 430079, China; Key Laboratory of Human Development and Mental Health of Hubei Province, School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430079, China; School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430079, China.
Background And Objectives:
People with Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) tend to make risky decisions regarding monetary rewards, but it remains unclear whether they also make risky decisions regarding social rewards. Therefore, this study aims to explore if social rewards (both game-related and real-life) can influence their risky decision-making.
Methods:
In this study, 35 individuals with IGD (18 men) and 35 healthy controls (HC) (18 men) participated in an adapted Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), in which social rewards rather than monetary rewards served as incentives to explore their risk preferences.
Results:
(1) individuals with IGD had significantly higher risk preferences than the HC in both game-related and real-life social rewards. (2) Individuals with IGD had significantly higher risk preferences under game-related social rewards than real-life social rewards. However, there was no difference between the conditions for the HC. (3) IGD-20 scores of individuals with IGD were significantly positively correlated with risk preferences under game-related social rewards, while they were significantly negatively correlated with risk preferences under real-life social rewards.
Limitations:
Interpretation of findings is limited to college samples and may not generalize to other populations.
Conclusions:
Findings suggest that individuals with IGD make risky decisions regarding social rewards, especially in game-related social rewards. Meanwhile, their risky preferences for different social rewards are associated with the severity of IGD.
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