Cargando…
Interference with Processing Negative Stimuli in Problematic Internet Users: Preliminary Evidence from an Emotional Stroop Task
Although it has been proposed that problematic Internet use (PIU) may represent a dysfunctional coping strategy in response to negative emotional states, there is a lack of experimental studies that directly test how individuals with PIU process emotional stimuli. In this study, we used an emotional...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2018
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6068893/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30021936 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jcm7070177 |
_version_ | 1783343371383734272 |
---|---|
author | Schimmenti, Adriano Starcevic, Vladan Gervasi, Alessia M. Deleuze, Jory Billieux, Joël |
author_facet | Schimmenti, Adriano Starcevic, Vladan Gervasi, Alessia M. Deleuze, Jory Billieux, Joël |
author_sort | Schimmenti, Adriano |
collection | PubMed |
description | Although it has been proposed that problematic Internet use (PIU) may represent a dysfunctional coping strategy in response to negative emotional states, there is a lack of experimental studies that directly test how individuals with PIU process emotional stimuli. In this study, we used an emotional Stroop task to examine the implicit bias toward positive and negative words in a sample of 100 individuals (54 females) who also completed questionnaires assessing PIU and current affect states. A significant interaction was observed between PIU and emotional Stroop effects (ESEs), with participants who displayed prominent PIU symptoms showing higher ESEs for negative words compared to other participants. No significant differences were found on the ESEs for positive words among participants. These findings suggest that PIU may be linked to a specific emotional interference with processing negative stimuli, thus supporting the view that PIU is a dysfunctional strategy to cope with negative affect. A potential treatment implication for individuals with PIU includes a need to enhance the capacity to process and regulate negative feelings. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6068893 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2018 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-60688932018-08-07 Interference with Processing Negative Stimuli in Problematic Internet Users: Preliminary Evidence from an Emotional Stroop Task Schimmenti, Adriano Starcevic, Vladan Gervasi, Alessia M. Deleuze, Jory Billieux, Joël J Clin Med Article Although it has been proposed that problematic Internet use (PIU) may represent a dysfunctional coping strategy in response to negative emotional states, there is a lack of experimental studies that directly test how individuals with PIU process emotional stimuli. In this study, we used an emotional Stroop task to examine the implicit bias toward positive and negative words in a sample of 100 individuals (54 females) who also completed questionnaires assessing PIU and current affect states. A significant interaction was observed between PIU and emotional Stroop effects (ESEs), with participants who displayed prominent PIU symptoms showing higher ESEs for negative words compared to other participants. No significant differences were found on the ESEs for positive words among participants. These findings suggest that PIU may be linked to a specific emotional interference with processing negative stimuli, thus supporting the view that PIU is a dysfunctional strategy to cope with negative affect. A potential treatment implication for individuals with PIU includes a need to enhance the capacity to process and regulate negative feelings. MDPI 2018-07-18 /pmc/articles/PMC6068893/ /pubmed/30021936 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jcm7070177 Text en © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Schimmenti, Adriano Starcevic, Vladan Gervasi, Alessia M. Deleuze, Jory Billieux, Joël Interference with Processing Negative Stimuli in Problematic Internet Users: Preliminary Evidence from an Emotional Stroop Task |
title | Interference with Processing Negative Stimuli in Problematic Internet Users: Preliminary Evidence from an Emotional Stroop Task |
title_full | Interference with Processing Negative Stimuli in Problematic Internet Users: Preliminary Evidence from an Emotional Stroop Task |
title_fullStr | Interference with Processing Negative Stimuli in Problematic Internet Users: Preliminary Evidence from an Emotional Stroop Task |
title_full_unstemmed | Interference with Processing Negative Stimuli in Problematic Internet Users: Preliminary Evidence from an Emotional Stroop Task |
title_short | Interference with Processing Negative Stimuli in Problematic Internet Users: Preliminary Evidence from an Emotional Stroop Task |
title_sort | interference with processing negative stimuli in problematic internet users: preliminary evidence from an emotional stroop task |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6068893/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30021936 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jcm7070177 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT schimmentiadriano interferencewithprocessingnegativestimuliinproblematicinternetuserspreliminaryevidencefromanemotionalstrooptask AT starcevicvladan interferencewithprocessingnegativestimuliinproblematicinternetuserspreliminaryevidencefromanemotionalstrooptask AT gervasialessiam interferencewithprocessingnegativestimuliinproblematicinternetuserspreliminaryevidencefromanemotionalstrooptask AT deleuzejory interferencewithprocessingnegativestimuliinproblematicinternetuserspreliminaryevidencefromanemotionalstrooptask AT billieuxjoel interferencewithprocessingnegativestimuliinproblematicinternetuserspreliminaryevidencefromanemotionalstrooptask |