Internet Addiction And Impulse Control: ERP And Group Counseling

Internet addiction is a mental disorder emergering in recent years. There is not a widely accepted definition of it so far. Comparatively more researchers tend to define it as an impulsive behavior related in some way to the poor impulse control. But this definition is not yet supported by sufficient experimental evidences. In cognitive neuroscience, Go/NoGo paradigm is widely used in the study of impulse control as well as response-inhibition. With an investigation into the ERP(event-related potentials)of some internet addictive college students through a visual Go/NoGo paradigm, the present study attempts to offer experimental evidences in support of the definition of internet addiction as an impulsive behavior, and find out the ERP characteristics as well as the possibility of internet addicts having impairment of response inhibition. The study also aims to explore the effect on internet addicts of the reality therapy group counseling involving 10 two-hour interventions.The results are as follows:(1) The average reaction time to Go trial for the addiction group is shorter than for the control group, but there is not significant difference.(2)The commission error rate to NoGo trial for the addiction group is significantly higher than for the control group.(3) Both the addiction group and the control group exhibited greater N2 amplitudes in the NoGo condition compared to that in the Go condition.(4) The students with internet addiction manifested reduced NoGo–N2 amplitudes compared to the control group, but the difference is not significant.(5)The addiction group has shorter Go-N2 significant latency than the control group.(6)Topographical distributions of N2 and P3 in Go and NoGo conditions for both groups are different. (7)After group counseling, the addiction group significantly reduced their internet usage and improved their mental health.This study shows: (1)NoGo–N2 is a correlated component reflecting the frontal response-inhibition process. (2)Some evidences we got proved that college students with internet addiction have impairment of response inhibition. Thus internet addiction is related to impulse control. (3)The RT group counseling can effectively reduce their internet addiction and improve the mental health.