False accusation of online games: Internet gaming can enhance the cognitive flexibility of adolescents

Abstract

This study examines differences in event-related potentials (ERP) during task switching according to the level of gaming addiction. High-risk, potential-risk, and general groups were recruited according to their Internet Addiction Scale results and total forty-five middle school boys aged 13?15 years participated in the study. The participants were asked to perform switching tasks consisting of size, value, and shape stimuli. The ERP analysis revealed greater N200 amplitudes in the high-risk and potential-risk groups compared with the general user group, suggesting that the participants with a greater involvement in Internet gaming have higher cognitive flexibility in resolving response-related cognitive interference during task-switching. In the analyses of P300, the potential-risk group exhibited higher amplitudes compared with the high-risk and general user groups at F3 region, and during the shape task, separately, which reflects enhanced cognitive flexibility of the potential-risk group to process the stimulus-related interference. The findings of this study suggest that the neural mechanisms for appropriate response inhibition and stimulus processing might operate differently depending on the level of addiction to Internet games.