Comparison of Cold Executive Functions in People Addicted to Computer Games, Drug Addictsand Normal People

With the increasing use of computers and the Internet, computer game addiction has been suggested as a new psychiatric disorder. Much evidence has shown that at the level of neural circuits, computer game addiction is similar to drug addiction, although there are very few studies comparing brain functions. The present study aimed to compare cold executive functions between people addicted to gaming, patients addicted to drugs (Heroin and methamphetamine), and normal people.

The sample consisted of 180 men (45 subjects in 4 groups of heroin-addicted patients, methamphetamine-addicted patients, people addicted to computer games, and normal people) who were selected by the available sampling method. N-back test, continuous performance test, and Passat test were used to determine visual working memory, sustained attention, and auditory working memory. Multivariate variance analysis and univariate variance analysis were used for data analysis.

The results showed that the values of visual working memory, sustained attention, and auditory visual working memory in substance-dependent groups were significantly lower compared to normal and game-dependent groups.

It seems that the game-dependent group is completely similar to the normal group in terms of cold executive functions, and there is no similarity between the game-dependent group and the substance-dependent groups.