Sains Malaysiana 49(11)(2020): 2773-2783

http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/jsm-2020-4911-16

Validation of Emotional Stimuli Flashcards for Conducting ‘Response to Reward’ fMRI Study among Malaysian Undergraduates

(Pengesahan Kad Imbasan Rangsangan Emosi untuk Menjalankan Kajian ‘Tindak Balas terhadap Ganjaran’ fMRI dalam Kalangan Mahasiswa Malaysia)

NISHA SYED NASSER^1,2, HAMED SHARIFAT¹, AIDA ABDUL RASHID², SUZANA AB HAMID², EZAMIN ABDUL RAHIM², MAZLYFARINA MOHAMAD³, ROHIT TYAGI⁴, SITI IRMA FADHILAH ISMAIL⁵, CHING SIEW MOOI⁶ & SUBAPRIYA SUPPIAH^1,2*

¹Centre for Diagnostic Nuclear Imaging, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, 43400 UPM Serdang, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia

²Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, 43400 UPM Serdang, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia

³Center for Diagnostic, Therapeutic & Investigative Studies, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, 50300 Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory, Malaysia

⁴Aerobe Pte. Ltd., Singapore

⁵Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

⁶Department of Family Medicine,Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

Received: 16 August 2019/Accepted: 17 May 2020

ABSTRACT

Problematic Instagram Use (PIGU) is a specific Internet addiction disorder observed among the youth of today. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can objectively assess regional brain activation in response to addiction-specific rewards, e.g. viewing picture flashcards. Pictures that were uploaded onto Instagram by users with PIGU issue have often been associated with risky behaviors in their efforts to gain more 'Likes'. Thus, it was hypothesized that individuals with PIGU issue are more drawn to negative emotional cues. To date, no literature on addiction-specific cues found on the local database. The objective of this study was to conduct an out-of-scanner validation study to create a database of pictures with negative emotional cues that evoke responses of arousal among individuals with PIGU issue. Forty-four Malaysian undergraduates (20 undergraduates in the PIGU group, 24 undergraduates in the control group) were randomly recruited as the subjects in the present study. They were grouped into PIGU or control groups based on the evaluation using the Smartphone-Addiction-Scale-Malay version (SAS-M) and modified Instagram Addiction Test (IGAT) and whether they fulfilled the definition of addiction according to Lin et al. (2016). They were administered with 200 content-specific pictures that were multidimensional, i.e. arousal (excitation or relaxation effects), approach-avoidance (motivational direction) and emotional valence (positive or negative feelings) to describe their perceptions on the psychological properties of the pictures using a 9-point Likert scale. The results showed that the subjects with PIGU issue, who viewed the negative emotional cues, demonstrated significant positive correlations between arousal and valence (z = 4.834, p < .001, effect size = 0.69) and arousal and avoidance-approach (z = 4.625, p < .001, effect size = 0.66) as compared to the controls and were more frequently aroused by negative emotional type of stimuli. As a conclusion, a database of validated, addiction-specific pictures can be developed to potentiate any future cue-induced response to reward fMRI studies for assessing PIGU.

Keywords: Addiction; affective ratings; cravings; picture database; reward

ABSTRAK

Penggunaan Instagram yang Bermasalah (PIGU) adalah sejenis gangguan khusus ketagihan Internet dalam kalangan belia masa kini.  Pengimejan resonans magnet kefungsian (fMRI) dapat menilai pengaktifan otak serantau sebagai tindak balas terhadap ganjaran khusus ketagihan, contohnya melihat gambar kad imbasan. Gambar yang dimuatnaik dalam aplikasi Instagram oleh pengguna yang mempunyai isu PIGU sering dikaitkan dengan kelakuan berisiko dalam usaha mereka mengaut ‘Likes’, maka hipotesis kami ialah individu yang mempunyai isu PIGU akan lebih tertarik kepada gambar rangsangan emosi negatif. Sehingga kini, tidak terdapat mana-mana pangkalan data tempatan dengan set gambar-gambar ketagihan yang berkaitan dengan PIGU yang boleh menimbulkan rasa teruja. Objektif kajian ini ialah untuk menjalankan kajian pengesahan di luar mesin MRI untuk mewujudkan pangkalan data gambar yang membawa isyarat emosi negatif yang dapat merangsangkan individu yang mempunyai isu PIGU. Empat-puluh-empat pelajar siswazah Malaysia (20 siswazah dalam kumpulan PIGU, 24 siswazah dalam kumpulan kawalan) telah dipilih melalui persampelan rawak mudah sebagai subjek dalam kajian ini. Penarafan persepsi dilakukan berdasarkan (kesan teruja atau relaks), dan pendekatan-menghindari (motivasi pergerakan) dan valensi (emosi positif atau negatif). Keputusan kajian menunjukkan subjek yang mempunyai isu PIGU mempunyai korelasi positif yang signifikan terhadap rangsangan dan valensi (z = 4.834, p < .001, saiz kesan = 0.69) dan pendekatan rangsangan dan menghindari (z = 4.625, p < .001, saiz kesan = 0.66) berbanding subjek kawalan apabila melihat gambar emosi negatif. Kesimpulannya, pangkalan data gambar-gambar khusus ketagihan yang disahkan dapat menimbulkan keinginan dan motivasi untuk mendekati individu yang mempunyai isu PIGU yang dapat dikaji menggunakan fMRI pada masa hadapan.

Kata kunci: Ganjaran; keghairahan; ketagihan; pangkalan data; penilaian affektif

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*Corresponding author; email: subapriya@upm.edu.my