Project Details
Projekt
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
Subject Area
General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
Personality Psychology, Clinical and Medical Psychology, Methodology
Personality Psychology, Clinical and Medical Psychology, Methodology
Term
since 2020
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 411232260
Cue reactivity and craving are core concepts in research on addictive behaviors. Cue reactivity may evolve into automatic and habit-like responses from early stages to later (pathological) stages of addictive behaviors. Stress might act as a catalyst of automatic/habitual neural processing and as a trigger for cue reactivity. Habits are operationalized as behavioral or psychological responses that are non- or less goal-directed and persist even when devalued. Individual differences in general habit-learning abilities might represent a predisposing factor for the development of cue reactivity. On the neurotransmitter level, increased bias towards habits may be explained by individual differences in glutamate metabolites within the dorsal striatum. To date, no study has systematically examined the degree of habitual responses to cues and possible modulators in behavioral addictions. We will address individual and situational characteristics such as acute stress responsivity, stress susceptibility, biases towards learning habits, and glutamate metabolism within the putamen (habit network) as modulators of mental habits of cue reactivity in gaming disorder (GD) and pornography use disorder (PUD). The study will consist of three sessions: 1) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), 2) ecological momentary assessment (EMA), 3) laboratory (LAB). Acute stress, as a catalyst of habitual neural cue-reactivity processing, will be investigated using the ScanSTRESS-C and a control condition followed by a cue-reactivity paradigm. For correlation analyses, high variance in GD/PUD symptom severity in each group (stress/no-stress x gaming/pornography) is targeted (N = 132; 66 per behavior, all male). Additionally, glutamate levels in the putamen will be assessed as an indicator of biases towards habits. Within the EMA, daily gaming/pornography use in combination with perceived daily stress, craving, mood, and cortisol response will be assessed. In the LAB session, we will apply a contingency degradation task, as well as a cue-reactivity and devaluation task, as indicators of a general behavioral bias towards habits and the degree of habitual cue reactivity. For the EMA and LAB part, we will use a mixed-methods, cross-sectional, within-between-subjects design with six groups (N = 132; 22 per group: individuals with 1) gaming disorder, 2) risky use of games, 3) pornography use disorder, 4) risky use of pornography, 5) control participants with non-problematic gaming, and 6) control participants with non-problematic pornography use). The research focus of RP4 on cue reactivity and stress is strongly linked to RP5 (focus on stress) and RP10 (focus on cue reactivity). Further synergistic effects are expected with RP2, RP3, RP7, and RP11.
DFG Programme
Research Units
