Cerebellar-mediated imbalance of multiple neural circuits in internet gaming disorder: A multi-voxel pattern and granger causality analysis.

OBJECTIVE

At present, research on the neural mechanism of Internet gaming disorder (IGD) has predominantly concentrated on the prefrontal-striatal pathway, with the regulatory role of the cerebellum remaining to be systematically elucidated.

METHODS

Using multimodal MRI in 66 IGD subjects and 46 recreational game users, we integrated multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) and Granger causality analysis (GCA).

RESULTS

We found that the high discriminative hubs of IGD included the right superior parietal gyrus, cerebellar Crus I/II, and lobule VIIb. Further GCA studies revealed a reduction in the bidirectional connections of the right superior parietal gyrus back to the bilateral lingual gyrus and the left middle temporal gyrus; the effective connectivity from the right middle frontal gyrus to the Crus I/II were decreased; Moreover, efferent connections from the right cerebellar lobule VIIb to the left superior occipital gyrus, right precentral and postcentral gyrus were increased.

CONCLUSION

The study establishes the cerebellar lobule VIIb as the multimodal hub for IGD. The cerebellum mediates the imbalance of multiple neural circuits in patients with IGD, including visual-spatial dissociation, diminished goal-directed control, and habitual behavioral reinforcement. This finding elucidates the distinctive unique neural characteristics of IGD and provides a precise positioning basis for the neuro-regulatory treatment of IGD.