Attention Control Features And Cognitive Neural Mechanisms Of University Students With Smartphone Addiction

Many studies have identified the degree of smartphone addiction related to attention control.Attention control is a critical cognitive function consisting of switching and inhibitory control.However,the attention control features and cognitive neural mechanisms of university students with smartphone addiction are still undetected.The present study explored the relationship between smartphone addiction and attention control and examined the subcomponent of attention control——switching and inhibitory control by behavioural and event-related potential indicators,respectively.In the first study,a smartphone addiction and attention control questionnaire survey included 421 Chinese college students.In the second study,we conducted a switching task and investigated the difference in switch features between the smartphone addiction and control groups.The smartphone addiction and control group were defined by the cut-off point of the short version scale of smartphone addiction(SAS-SV).The experiment adopted a 2(subject groups: smartphone addicts,no addicts)× 2(task type: switch,repeat)mixed design.In the third study,we conducted a combined behaviour and event-related potentials(ERP)assessment to explore the inhibition control feature between smartphone addicts and the control by the adapted Go/Nogo task.Students rated smartphone-related pictures for familiar and emotional levels,and these pictures were adopted as smartphone-related cue materials.The neutral cue materials were selected from the Chinese Affective Picture System and the International Affective Picture System.The way of screening participants was the same as in the second study.The experiment adopted a 2(subject groups: smartphone addicts,no addicts)× 2(cue type:smartphone-related,no-related)× 2(trial type: Go,Nogo)mixed design.Nogo-N2 and Nogo-P3,two ERP components associated with inhibitory control,as cognitive neural indicators.The main results are as follows:The results of study 1 show that the degree of smartphone addiction is negative with attention control ability.The results of study 2 found that there is no significant difference in the switching feature between smartphone addicts and the control.The results of study 3 indicated no difference in the inhibition control feature between smartphone addicts and the control at the behavioural level.However,on the neurobiological aspect,a weaker Nogo-P3 amplitude than controls on smartphone-related cues implied we observed a deficit in inhibitory control when addiction cues were present.These results indicate the deficient attentional control ability of college students with smartphone addiction,but it is not the overall deficit.The subcomponent of attentional control,the switching feature,remains intact,while the inhibitory control feature has a deficit.Specifically,we observed a deficit at the late stage of inhibitory control when smartphone-related cues were present.