Effects Of Material Types And Emotional Information On Working Memory Of Pathological Internet Users

With the development of science and technology,the Internet is constantly innovating,and the following behavior of pathological Internet use(also known as Internet Addiction)has gradually become a social problem attracting attention.Many studies have shown that pathological Internet use may negatively affect individuals’cognitive processing ability,especially working memory ability,and may damage their working memory certainly.However,some studies have shown that online game players could improve their hand-eye coordination ability due to their long-term online experience,so their ability of working memory is better than the normal persons.Then can pathological Internet users have better abllity of working memory as a result of their long online experience just like the online gamers?This is a question worth thinking about.Some studies have found that when testing individuals’ working memory with the classical N-back experimental paradigm,the results are different due to the material types.The researchers suggest that this may be because of the different material types result in the different types of working memory.For example,vocabulary represent the semantic working memory,while pictures represent the visual working memory.So how does the material types affect the individual’s working memory,and the specific internal influence mechanism is also worth paying attention to.In addition,some studies have shown that pathological Internet users are easily disturbed by emotional information,especially negative emotional information,they have the attentional bias towards negative information.Morever,negative emotional information could also influence individual cognitive processing certainly.Therefore,will pathological Internet users have different performance on the working memory ability of negative information because of this characteristic?That is,whether different emotional stimulus with different valence have different effects on the working memory of pathological network users?We need to do further research.Finally,previous studies on pathological Internet use mainly focus on traditional psychology,while there are relatively few studies on neuropsychological aspects such as the brain mechanism of working memory.Therefore,this study would use the N-back experimental paradigm,combined with the near infrared imaging technology(fNIRS),makes a research about the influence of material types and emotional stimulus to the working memory capacity of pathological Internet users,and with the near infrared equipment for real-time monitoring,recording,and comparing the individual brain for oxygenated under different conditions.In order to further enrich the research on the working memory of pathological Internet users,it also provides theoretical guidance for the prevention and intervention of pathological Internet user.In this study,24 pathological Internet users and 26 normal subjects were selected through relevant questionnaires.The experiment use 2(group:pathological Internet use group;the Control group)×2(Material type:vocabulary;Picture)×2(load capacity:0-back;2-back)×3(emitional valence:positive;negative;neutral),a four-factor mixed design.In order to prevent the fatigue effect of the subjects and to facilitate the operation,the experiment was divided into two parts according to material type.The first part is the N-back task of emotional words.The second part is the N-back task of emotional pictures.The two experiments contained two load levels and three emotional valences.Except for the differences in vocabulary and picture materials,other experimental processes were the same.The results showed:(1)Compared with the control group,pathological Internet users had shorter reaction time and higher accuracy,but there was no significant statistical significance.(2)Compared with the control group,the pathological Internet users showed lower brain activation.Combined with behavioral data,pathological Internet users performed better on relatively simple working memory tasks,in which the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the Frontopolar area may be the dominant brain regions for the cognitive processing of simple tasks.(3)Compared with pictures,individuals react faster to words and have a higher correct rate;However,compared with the semantic working memory(words material),the individual’s visual working memory(picture material)was more sensitive to the change of load level,and the change range was larger.(4)The higher the load level,the longer the response time,and the lower the accuracy.(5)Pathological Internet users consume less cognitive resources during cognitive processing of negative emotional information,which is manifested as less change in the concentration of oxygenated hemoglobin in the brain and lower brain activation.In conclusion,at the simple tasks(0-back,2-back),long-term Internet experience may improve the working memory ability of pathological Internet users certainly.Moreover,material types and emotional information do have different effects on the working memory ability of pathological Internet users.This study provides a valuable reference to realize the cognitive executive ability and its internal influencing mechanism of pathological Internet users,understand the influence of materials and emotions on their cognitive executive ability,know the mechanism of the prefrontal cortex of pathological Internet users.Meanwhile,it also provides some theoretical guidance for the prevention and intervention of pathological Internet use and other addictive behaviors.