Neurofeedback for Internet Gaming Addiction

July 28, 2024 updated by: University of Macau

Real-time Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Neurofeedback Treatment for Young Adults With Internet Gaming Addiction

The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the therapeutic potential of real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) neurofeedback in alleviating internet gaming disorder (IGD) symptoms by training individuals with such symptoms to down-regulate the activity in their reward-processing-related midbrain regions.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

20

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Macau
      • Taipa, Macau, 99078
        • Centre for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, University of Macau

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Meet at least five of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders fifth edition (DSM-5) criteria for IGD and score 38 or above on the Internet Addiction Test (IAT)
  • First language is Chinese (Mandarin)
  • Right-handed
  • Have played the mobile game "King of Glory" for more than 3 years
  • Ability to give informed consent
  • Normal or corrected-to-normal vision

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Any primary diagnosis of a current psychological or neurological disorder
  • Any history of psychological or neurological disorder
  • Any MRI contraindication
  • Currently on a psychotropic medication
  • Any history of substance dependence
  • Any history of brain injury or surgery

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Experimental neurofeedback intervention
In an approximately 30-minute training session, participants receive activity feedback from a midbrain region involved in reward processing and gaming addiction. Feedback will be presented in the form of a thermometer/bar in the middle of the screen and updated every two seconds. They will be trained to down-regulate the activity in this region with the help of this feedback using cognitive strategies. This down-regulation training is believed to be beneficial to addictive behaviors by the investigators.
Device: Neurofeedback training
Neurofeedback training is a type of non-invasive brain modulation technique that enables individuals to self-regulate brain activity patterns by providing them feedback on specific activity measures. Effective self-regulation is often linked to changes in cognition, behavior, and clinical symptoms.
Sham Comparator: Sham feedback intervention
In an approximately 30-minute training session, participants receive activity feedback from a brain region irrelevant to reward processing or gaming addictive behavior. The feedback presentation form and task instructions will be the same as for the experimental group. Based on the functional role of the feedback region, the investigators do not believe this feedback training will change the addictive behaviors of the participants who receive this intervention.
Device: Sham feedback training
A controlled form of neurofeedback training that provides feedback irrelevant to the targeted mental process.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Change from Baseline in self-reported urge for internet gaming as assessed by Visual Analog Scales (1 to 100)
Time Frame: Up to 30 days after the intervention session
Up to 30 days after the intervention session

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in reward-related activity during exposure to internet gaming videos
Time Frame: Up to 3 days
Participants will complete cue-reactivity tasks in which they are exposed to video clips captured from the dependent mobile game before and after the intervention. Functional MRI data will be collected to measure their pre- to post-intervention changes in the brain reward processing pathways.
Up to 3 days
Change in inhibitory response in the affective Go/Nogo task
Time Frame: Up to 3 days
This task that uses affective Chinese characters as stimuli will be used to examine changes in inhibitory control performance as well as changes in brain activity associated with this cognitive process pre- to post-intervention.
Up to 3 days

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Macau

Investigators

  • Study Director: Zhen Yuan, Ph.D, University of Macau

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

October 15, 2023

Primary Completion (Actual)

February 20, 2024

Study Completion (Actual)

March 1, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 31, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 29, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

October 2, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

July 30, 2024

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 28, 2024

Last Verified

September 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • BSERE23-APP004-ICI

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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