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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...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Schimmenti, Adriano, Starcevic, Vladan, Gervasi, Alessia M., Deleuze, Jory, Billieux, Joël
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
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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.
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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
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