Internet Game Overuse Is Associated With an Alteration of Fronto-Striatal Functional Connectivity During Reward Feedback Processing (2018)

Weaker vmPFC connectivity with the caudate nucleus

The vmPFC is known to be involved in translating rewards to representations of subjective value (39, 42). It has reciprocal connections with the striatum for cognitive and affective/emotional functions (43, 44). Our findings reveal a dissociated functional coupling of the vmPFC with sub-regions of the striatum associated with IGO: weaker functional connectivity with the dorsal striatum (i.e., the caudate nucleus), and stronger connectivity with the ventral striatum (i.e., the NAcc).

The caudate nucleus is the target region of dopamine projection neurons in the substantia nigra, and is known to be involved in encoding action-outcome associations during reward learning (45). It is one of the brain regions where IGD-associated abnormalities have been widely reported in molecular (46), structural (47, 48), and functional studies (17). For example, young adults with internet addiction exhibit reduced dopamine D2 receptor availability in the bilateral dorsal caudate, and the severity of internet addiction measured by IAT scales is negatively associated with dopamine D2 receptor availability in the left caudate (46). Also, IGD individuals appear to have increased gray matter volume in the caudate, along with impaired cognitive control performance (47). Dong et al. (17) have reported reduced caudate activation in individuals with internet addiction during decision making in the context of “continuous” wins, suggesting insufficient attention to previous behavior selections and their outcomes.

Brain activations in response to positive feedback have been reported in both the caudate nucleus and vmPFC, especially when feedback contains information for future behavior (49). The anatomical strength of the caudate-vmPFC connection has been shown to predict the flexibility of goal-directed action (50). The impaired functional communication between the dorsal striatum and vmPFC found in the IGO group of this study implies that there should be abnormal decision making or failure of behavioral adjustment for monetary reward, particularly since similar findings have been reported for other types of addiction. For example, Lee et al. (51) reported reduced functional coupling between the dorsal striatum and orbitofrontal region surrounding the vmPFC during an Odd-Even-Pass task in individuals with alcohol dependence, in association with their persistent selection of maladaptive choices. However, we did not find a link between the weak vmPFC-dorsal striatum connectivity of IGO and learning performance for monetary reward.

Stronger vmPFC connectivity with the nucleus accumbens

In contrast to vmPFC-caudate nucleus connectivity, vmPFC-NAcc connectivity was enhanced in the IGO group. The NAcc, as one of the main components of the ventral striatum, has been suggested to be involved in assigning incentive salience to a rewarding stimulus. The vmPFC-NAcc circuit has been proposed to be a neuropathological mechanism of addiction (52). For example, there is increased functional connectivity between the ventral striatum and the vmPFC in heroin-dependent individuals during the resting state (53). An increased vmPFC-NAcc connectivity was also reported in alcohol-dependent young adults during reward processing, and individual differences in this connectivity were associated with the frequency of alcohol usage (54).

Our findings are in line with the conclusions of Volkow et al. (55), who proposed that addiction is related to “NOW” circuits, wherein elevated vmPFC/NAcc circuit favors choosing an immediate reward. The current finding of vmPFC-NAcc coupling in the IGO group is consistent with pathological changes in the neuronal mechanisms involved in reward value processing in substance addiction, particularly within the “wanting” circuits.

Although there was a negative correlation between vmPFC-NAcc functional connectivity and the correct-stay rate for monetary reward, caution should be exercised in interpreting this finding. Note that two individuals of the IGO group whose strengths of vmPFC-NAcc functional connectivity were highly enhanced during monetary reward delivery showed the lowest correct-stay rate. In particular, one participant in the IGO group could be identified as a statistical outlier [Cook’s Distance method; (56)]. The negative correlation originally found in the IGO group [r₍₁₆₎ = −0.516, p = 0.028] is no longer significant if this outlier is removed from the analysis [r₍₁₅₎=−0.233, p = 0.369]. Alternatively, we think this outlier is just the extreme example of this negative relationship, in which the participant with the most enhanced vmPFC-NAcc functional coupling for monetary reward would experience the greatest cognitive interference in reward feedback processing. This participant’s low performance was specific only to monetary reward (0.65: averaged correct-stay rate of IGO group = 0.941; SD = 0.094), not to symbolic reward (0.77: averaged correct-stay rate of IGO group = 0.822; SD = 0.179). This suggests that the outlier’s poor behavioral performance was not associated with a misunderstanding of task instructions or poor learning ability in general. Moreover, a similar trend of a negative relationship existed even in the normal control group [r₍₁₈₎ = −0.440, p = 0.052], indicating that the increased vmPFC-NAcc functional coupling was associated with poor learning performance for monetary reward, regardless of IGO problems. This interpretation is supported by a previous report that among healthy participants individuals with increased ventral striatum-vmPFC connectivity showed greater impulsive behavioral tendency during a delay discount task (57). The current finding of strengthened vmPFC-NAcc functional connectivity in the IGO group can be understood as a similar pathological mechanism of an increased salience within “wanting” circuits (58). In other words, the enhanced vmPFC-NAcc coupling for the reward incentive in IGO individuals may be related to a greater saliency response for reward, which may be a possible underlying mechanism of problematic internet overuse behavior for salient incentives.

Weaker VS connectivity with the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex

Our examination of task-based VS functional connectivity revealed that IGO individuals have weaker VS-dACC coupling relative to the control group. This reduced functional coupling between the ventral striatum and dACC is consistent with previous findings. Intrinsic connectivity of the ventral striatum-dACC has been shown to be associated with greater severity of nicotine (59) and cocaine addiction (60). Also, Crane et al. (61) have reported that the high-risk group in alcohol-use disorder (i.e., binge drinkers) have difficulty engaging this network during reward processing.

In the context of learning, the dACC has an important role in coding action-outcome associations, including integrating reward history to guide decisions for potential rewards (62, 63). It has also been suggested to be involved in signaling the need for attention during learning (64). Abnormalities in dACC function for feedback processing in IGD individuals have been reported. Yau et al. (65) noted that adolescents with problematic internet use have blunted feedback-related negativity and P300 amplitudes during risk-taking, suggesting abnormal ACC function in early and late feedback processing. Given that VS is also a critical brain region for reward-associated learning (66) as well as for reward processing (67), the functional coupling between VS and dACC must have a critical role in feedback learning, in which the outcome values for selected responses are updated. Therefore, altered VS-dACC functional coupling in the IGO group could indicate a difficulty in representing value signals attached to action-outcome relationships, which in turn could lead to learning problems, even though impaired learning performance was not observed for monetary reward.

Weaker VS connectivity with other cortical and subcortical regions

We found widespread abnormal functional couplings in the vlPFC, precuneus, and lingual gyrus in association with IGO. These regions are involved in various cognitive controls during feedback learning. For example, the vlPFC is known for guiding flexible goal-directed behavior by integrating motivation information from subcortical areas (68, 69). The precuneus and lingual gyrus are activated in response to monetary reward during reversal learning when a reward is given as a signal to reverse the roles (70). According to Dong et al. (71), there is reduced inferior frontal cortex activation in IGD individuals when making risky choices. The reduced functional connectivity between VS and the various cortical regions in the IGO group of the current study suggest impaired cognitive controls of feedback processing when a monetary reward is given as positive feedback.

We also found that the IGO group exhibited weaker VS functional connectivity with the pallidum during monetary reward processing. The pallidum receives efferent connections from the ventral striatum, especially from the NAcc, and sends a signal to the cortex via relays through the thalamus (72). The pallidum is mainly known to be associated with motor functions, but a role in reward processing has also been widely discussed (73). Zhai et al. (74) reported that IGD is associated with reduced white matter efficiency in the pallidum. The VS and pallidum are both implicated in the hedonic impact of addiction, which is thought to be mediated by opioid systems (75), we speculate that reduced VS-Pallidum functional connectivity in IGO individuals may reflect reduced hedonic pleasure for monetary reward. This interpretation is in line with a theoretical model of addiction that incorporates decreased hedonic set points (76).

Why are effects on functional connectivity only for monetary reward?

For monetary reward only, the IGO group showed altered functional connectivity’s, with either weaker stronger or stronger patterns. During feedback learning, participants were aware that a correct response could result in either a monetary or a symbolic reward. Because they had not been informed about which learning stimulus was to be followed by a monetary, as opposed to symbolic reward, the delivery of a monetary reward would have had greater motivational saliency relative to a symbolic reward. That these effects were confined to the IGO group suggests that this saliency had more impact on IGO individuals than controls.

In spite of the functional connectivity effects observed in IGO individuals for monetary reward, we did not detect a learning impairment for monetary reward in the IGO group relative to controls. One possible reason for this could be a ceiling effect. In this feedback learning paradigm, where each feedback was given based on a deterministic stimulus-outcome contingency, the average correct-stay rate for monetary reward was very high in both groups (IGO group: M = 0.94, SD = 0.09; control group: M = 0.95, SD = 0.04). Consequently, it would be difficult to resolve any learning impairment for learning from monetary reward, even in the IGO group. Another possibility is that IGO individuals might rely on other compensatory cognitive resources to learn the S-R associations, resulting in performance similar to the controls. However, we found no evidence to support the compensatory hypothesis, because most of the functional networks investigated were weaker in the IGO group than in controls. For the only instance of increased functional connectivity in the IGO group (i.e., vmPFC-NAcc coupling), the relationship with the behavioral performance was the opposite of expectation: individuals with stronger vmPFC-NAcc coupling for monetary reward exhibited a reduced tendency to choose the same response in subsequent occasions. Thus, if there is a compensatory mechanism for overcoming learning impairment for reward feedback in IGO, it must exist outside of the vmPFC or VS coupling networks. Finally, we should consider the possibility that compensatory mechanisms of IGO occur not during the time of feedback processing, as investigated in the current study, but during the inter-trial interval (working memory strategy) or during stimulus presentation/response selection. Consistent with this idea, a previous report (1) suggests that IGO individuals recruited a working memory strategy specifically for monetary reward in order to compensate for their reward learning impairment.

Caveats and limitations

Although we observed different functional connectivity patterns of VS and vmPFC in the IGO group, the degree of these abnormalities was not associated with the severity of symptoms of internet gaming addiction. The abnormalities found in the functional networks involved in reward information processing could result from the heavy use of internet gaming of the IGO individuals. However, this possibility has not been supported by our data, since we couldn’t find any correlation between the time being spent on gaming and the connectivity strengths. An alternative possibility is that the severity of addiction may not show a linear relationship with the degree of abnormalities in reward processing. Another is that individuals with certain inherent, pre-existing functional network features may be more likely to fall into gaming overuse problems. For example, casual gaming activity may become problematic for those who are relatively inefficient in processing cognitive/attentional demands to control the environment when experiencing pleasure for highly salient rewards, putting such otherwise normal individuals at risk for IGD. Longitudinal studies will be needed to address the long-term effects of internet gaming usage or risk factors in information processing.

Depression and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been implicated in reward processing (77, 78), both of which are also well-known psychiatric comorbidities of IGD (79). The changes in functional connectivity patterns we observed in the IGO group were not associated with any of the comorbidities of IGD, such as depression or impulsivity. Since group differences for monetary reward were observed in functional brain networks known to be involved in saliency and cognitive control of reward, it is reasonable to assume that these differences are related to reward information processing. Therefore, the differences in information processing for monetary reward are likely critical IGD features that can occur independently from personality traits or emotional disorders.

It is important to discuss a couple of limitations of this report. Our IGO group consisted of young males who were considered “at risk” of IGD. One must use caution in generalizing our findings to IGO females, or to males or females clinically diagnosed with IGD (80). Another issue is our use of a fixed inter-stimulus interval between the learning stimuli and feedback display, as is typical of S-R association learning paradigms. This fixed interval could have caused the imaging data for feedback-related activation to be affected by residual activity from the feedback anticipation period (i.e., cue presentation or response initiation). Indeed, a previous study examining the reward prediction error in IGD revealed blunted VS activation during cue processing (81). Finally, one should keep in mind that the functional connectivity approach does not reveal direct or causal relationships between two regions, even though some of our interpretations have been informed by specific anatomical interconnections found in animal studies.