FOR 2974:  Affective and cognitive mechanisms of specific Internet-use disorders (ACSID)

• Subject Area: Social and Behavioural Sciences
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 411232260

In the ICD-11, the World Health Organization currently recognizes two disorders due to addictive behaviors, which can be further specified as predominantly online: gambling and gaming disorders. Other potentially problematic online behaviors beyond gambling and gaming are debated in both academia and society, in particular problematic social network use, pornography use, and buying-shopping behaviors. Problematic pornography use is principally included within the diagnosis “compulsive sexual behavior disorder” (classified as an impulse control disorder), and buying-shopping disorder is an example (in the coding tool) of “other specified impulse control disorders”. However, based on meta-level criteria developed by an international consortium, we consider the following specific Internet-use disorders (IUD) to be most appropriately understood as disorders due to addictive behaviors, predominantly online: gaming disorder, pornography use disorder, buying-shopping disorder, and social network use disorder. These will be focused on in the second funding period of the FOR2974 (as in the first funding period). The mechanisms underlying the development and maintenance of specific IUDs remain unclear. The FOR2974 continuously aims to foster the understanding of the psychological mechanisms and neurobiological correlates of specific IUDs in order to inform treatment, policy, and public health. We still use the I-PACE (Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution) model as the main theoretical framework to investigate the involvement of the theoretically argued (bio)psychological processes, in particular affective and cognitive mechanisms, in the development and maintenance of the aforementioned predominantly online addictive behaviors. In the second funding period, we will (again) use a cross-sectional comparison of individuals with recreational/non-problematic use, risky use, and pathological use of specific Internet applications, together with a six-month follow-up investigation. Additionally, we plan to recruit approximately 50% of the FOR2974 cohort of the first funding period again, to achieve a three-year longitudinal study addressing potential changes in affective and cognitive mechanisms over the course of IUDs. As in the first funding period, one central characteristic of the FOR2974 is the investigation of over 1,200 participants at several sites using the same core battery of experimental paradigms, neuropsychological tasks, questionnaires, biomarkers, and a follow-up survey. The architecture of the proposed research projects ranges from fundamental processes to ecological aspects towards clinical application. This allows us to contribute to a better scientific understanding of the psychological processes of IUD, but we will also contribute to clinical applications by including proof-of-concept studies showing which affective and cognitive mechanisms should be targeted more intensively to optimize treatment.

• DFG Programme: Research Units

Projects

• Coordination Funds (Applicant Brand, Matthias )
• P2: Devaluation of reward value in gaming disorder and buying-shopping disorder – psychological mechanisms and proof-of-concept study (Applicants Müller, Astrid ;  Steins-Löber, Sabine )
• RP1: Comprehensive model testing, comparison of cohorts, and longitudinal approach (Applicant Brand, Matthias )
• RP3: Shift from reward-driven to compulsive behaviors: The role of reduced punishment sensitivity in gaming disorder and pornography use disorder (Applicants Antons, Stephanie ;  Stark, Rudolf Maria )
• RP4: Automatic and habit-like cue-reactivity responses in gaming disorder and pornography use disorder: Effects of acute stress and cue devaluation on subjective, behavioral, psychophysiological, and neural correlates (Applicants Antons, Stephanie ;  Diers, Martin ;  Wolf, Oliver Tobias )
• RP5: Daily stress, attentional bias, and inhibitory control in buying-shopping disorder and social network use disorder (Applicants Müller, Astrid ;  Wegmann, Elisa ;  Wolf, Oliver Tobias )
• RP7: Assessment of in-game craving and inherent factors in gaming and online gambling in semi-natural settings and biofeedback-guided cue exposure training (Applicants Steins-Löber, Sabine ;  Wölfling, Klaus )
• RP8: Emotional working memory training and cognitive bias modification in social network use disorder and gaming disorder (Applicants Rumpf, Hans-Jürgen ;  Wegmann, Elisa )
• RP10: Cue reactivity and craving in buying-shopping disorder and social network use disorder: Neural correlates, attentional bias, and media-specific features (Applicants Brand, Matthias ;  Krämer, Nicole ;  Stark, Rudolf Maria )
• RP11: Sex-/gender-related aspects in affective and cognitive mechanisms of gaming disorder and pornography use disorder (Applicants Krämer, Nicole ;  Müller, Silke M. ;  Steins-Löber, Sabine )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Matthias Brand