Delineating adaptive esports involvement from maladaptive gaming: a self-regulation perspective.

The last decade has witnessed the rise of electronic sports (esports), yet little is known about how involvement in intensive esports relates to self-regulatory processes, such as executive functioning (EF). In this paper, we review the evidence on EF in problematic and non-problematic video-game use. We also consider research on EF in traditional sports athletes, as well as in 'exercise addiction'. The focus of the review is on two core components of EF, namely response inhibition and cognitive flexibility. The available evidence suggests that EF is a reliable marker for indexing specific types of sport and video-gaming expertise, but does not appear to consistently delineate maladaptive from adaptive video-game involvement. Future research avenues on EF that characterize esport players are suggested to advance this area

On the pitfalls of conceptualizing excessive physical exercise as an addictive disorder: Commentary on Dinardi et al. (2021).

This commentary challenges some of the proposals made in the opinion paper entitled "The expanded interactional model of exercise addiction" by Dinardi, Egorov, and Szabo (2021). We first question the usefulness of the (expanded) interactional model of exercise addiction to determine the psychological processes underlying distress and functional impairment in excessive physical exercise. We then consider the authors' use of the Self-Determination Theory to model exercise addiction, which risks the misclassification of strenuous, but adaptive, patterns of physical exercise as exercise addiction. We finally address broader concerns regarding the idea that maladaptive exercising could be conceptualized as an addictive disorder

Identifying the psychological processes delineating non-harmful from problematic binge-watching: A machine learning analytical approach

As on-demand streaming technology rapidly expanded, binge-watching (i.e., watching multiple episodes of TV series back-to-back) has become a widespread activity, and substantial research has been conducted to explore its potential harmfulness. There is, however, a need for differentiating non-harmful and problematic binge-watching. This is the first study using a machine learning analytical strategy to further investigate the distinct psychological predictors of these two binge-watching patterns. A total of 4275 TV series viewers completed an online survey assessing sociodemographic variables, binge-watching engagement, and relevant predictor variables (i.e., viewing motivations, impulsivity facets, and affect). In one set of analyses, we modeled intensity of non-harmful involvement in binge-watching as the dependent variable, while in a following set of analyses, we modeled intensity of problematic involvement in binge-watching as the dependent variable. Emotional enhancement motivation, followed by enrichment and social motivations, were the most important variables in modeling non-harmful involvement. Coping/escapism motivation, followed by urgency and lack of perseverance (two impulsivity traits), were found as the most important predictors of problematic involvement. These findings indicate that non-harmful involvement is characterized by positive reinforcement triggered by TV series watching, while problematic involvement is linked to negative reinforcement motives and impulsivity traits

How does response inhibition influence decision-making when gambling? (dataset)

Behavioural data, skin-conductance data, eye movement data, and R scripts (analyses) for eight behavioural experiments.Dataset relating to 'How does response inhibition influence decision-making when gambling?’research paper published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. The paper is available in ORE: http://hdl.handle.net/10871/15841Behavioural data, skin-conductance data, eye movement data, and R scripts (analyses) for eight behavioural experiments. Experiment documentation is included as well.​ This data is related to the article 'How does response inhibition influence decision-making when gambling?' published in Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied.Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)European Research Council (ERC)Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)British Academy/Leverhulme Gran

Altered orbitofrontal sulcogyral patterns in gambling disorder: a multicenter study

Gambling disorder is a serious psychiatric condition characterized by decision-making and reward processing impairments that are associated with dysfunctional brain activity in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). However, it remains unclear whether OFC functional abnormalities in gambling disorder are accompanied by structural abnormalities. We addressed this question by examining the organization of sulci and gyri in the OFC. This organization is in place very early and stable across life, such that OFC sulcogyral patterns (classified into Types I, II, and III) can be regarded as potential pre-morbid markers of pathological conditions. We gathered structural brain data from nine existing studies, reaching a total of 165 individuals with gambling disorder and 159 healthy controls. Our results, supported by both frequentist and Bayesian statistics, show that the distribution of OFC sulcogyral patterns is skewed in individuals with gambling disorder, with an increased prevalence of Type II pattern compared with healthy controls. Examination of gambling severity did not reveal any significant relationship between OFC sulcogyral patterns and disease severity. Altogether, our results provide evidence for a skewed distribution of OFC sulcogyral patterns in gambling disorder and suggest that pattern Type II might represent a pre-morbid structural brain marker of the disease. It will be important to investigate more closely the functional implications of these structural abnormalities in future work.Y.L. was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31600929) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (010914380002). G.S. was supported by a Veni grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (Grant No. 016.155.218). J.J. was supported by the Academy of Finland (Grant No. 295580), the Finnish Medical Foundation, and the Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies. V.K. was supported by the Academy of Finland (Grant No. 256836) and the Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies. S.G. and H.R.S. were supported by the Danish Council for Independent Research in Social Sciences through a grant to Thomas Ramsøy (“Decision Neuroscience Project”; Grant No. 0601-01361B) and by the Lundbeck Foundation through a Grant of Excellence (“ContAct”; Grant No. R59 A5399). A.G. was supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) HE2597/15–1, HE2597/15–2, and DFG Graduiertenkolleg 1589/2 “Sensory Computation in Neural Systems”. N.R.-S. was supported by a research grant by the Senatsverwaltung für Gesundheit und Soziales, Berlin, Germany (Grant No. 002–2008/I B 35). C.M.R.d.L. and J.C.P. were supported by a grant from the Spanish Government (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Secretaría de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación; Convocatoria 2017 de Proyectos I+D de Excelencia, Spain; co-funded by the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional, FEDER, European Union; Grant No. PSI2017–85488-P). J.-C. D. was supported by “LABEX ANR-11-LABEX-0042” of Université de Lyon within the program Investissements d’Avenir (ANR-11-IDEX-007) operated by the French National Research Agency and by a grant from the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (Grant No. DPA20140629796)

Ginseng and ginkgo biloba effects on cognition as modulated by cardiovascular reactivity: a randomised trial

Background There is some evidence to suggest that ginseng and Ginkgo biloba can improve cognitive performance, however, very little is known about the mechanisms associated with such improvement. Here, we tested whether cardiovascular reactivity to a task is associated with cognitive improvement. Methodology/Principal findings Using a double-blind, placebo controlled, crossover design, participants (N = 24) received two doses of Panax Ginseng (500, 1000 mg) or Ginkgo Biloba (120, 240 mg) (N = 24), and underwent a series of cognitive tests while systolic, diastolic, and heart rate readings were taken. Ginkgo Biloba improved aspects of executive functioning (Stroop and Berg tasks) in females but not in males. Ginseng had no effect on cognition. Ginkgo biloba in females reversed the initial (i.e. placebo) increase in cardiovascular reactivity (systolic and diastolic readings increased compared to baseline) to cognitive tasks. This effect (reversal) was most notable after those tasks (Stroop and Iowa) that elicited the greatest cardiovascular reactivity during placebo. In males, although ginkgo also decreased cardiovascular readings, it did so from an initial (placebo) blunted response (i.e. decrease or no change from baseline) to cognitive tasks. Ginseng, on the contrary, increased cardiovascular readings compared to placebo. Conclusions/Significance These results suggest that cardiovascular reactivity may be a mechanism by which ginkgo but not ginseng, in females is associated with certain forms of cognitive improvement

Perspectives on adaptive and maladaptive involvement into esports.

Electronic sports, or esports, refer to organized video-gaming activities involving individuals or teams of individuals competing for prize money and prestige. Over the last decade, there has been a major expansion in the number of national and international tournaments and an exponential increase in the worldwide popularity of esports. Like other competitive sports, many esports participants invest a great deal of time and resources into the pursuit of achieving success. In addition, those who spectate or follow esports matches and the wider competitive scene may make significant time and financial investments (e.g., betting on matches) in these activities. In this context, it is important to understand how esports engagement can be a healthy or productive recreational activity, as well as the conditions under which esports engagement may become excessive and harmfu