Current models of addiction biology highlight altered neural responses to non-drug rewards as a central feature of addiction. However, given that drugs of abuse can directly impact reward-related dopamine circuitry, it is difficult to determine the extent to which reward processing alterations are a trait feature of individuals with addictions, or primarily a consequence of exogenous drug exposure. Examining individuals with behavioral addictions is one promising approach for disentangling neural features of addiction from the direct effects of substance exposure. The current fMRI study compared neural responses during monetary reward processing between drug naïve young adults with a behavioral addiction, internet gaming disorder (IGD; n = 22), and healthy controls (n = 27) using a monetary incentive delay task. Relative to controls, individuals with IGD exhibited blunted caudate activity associated with loss magnitude at the outcome stage, but did not differ from controls in neural activity at other stages. These findings suggest that decreased loss sensitivity might be a critical feature of IGD, whereas alterations in gain processing may be less characteristic of individuals with IGD, relative to those with substance use disorders. Therefore, classic theories of altered reward processing in substance use disorders should be translated to behavioral addictions with caution.

中文翻译：

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患有行为成瘾的未吸毒青少年的金钱奖励处理是否会改变？网络游戏障碍的调查结果。


目前的成瘾生物学模型强调，对非药物奖励的神经反应改变是成瘾的核心特征。然而，鉴于滥用药物可以直接影响与奖励相关的多巴胺回路，因此很难确定奖励处理改变在多大程度上是成瘾个体的特征特征，或者主要是外源性药物暴露的结果。检查行为成瘾的个体是一种很有前途的方法，可以将成瘾的神经特征与物质暴露的直接影响分开。目前的功能磁共振成像研究使用货币激励延迟任务，比较了患有行为成瘾、网络游戏障碍（IGD；n = 22）和健康对照组（n = 27）的未曾吸毒的年轻人在货币奖励处理过程中的神经反应。相对于对照组，患有 IGD 的个体在结果阶段表现出与损失程度相关的尾状核活动迟缓，但在其他阶段的神经活动与对照组没有差异。这些发现表明，损失敏感性降低可能是 IGD 的一个关键特征，而与物质使用障碍患者相比，IGD 患者的增益处理改变可能不太具有特征。因此，物质使用障碍中奖励处理改变的经典理论应该谨慎地转化为行为成瘾。