Samsung Medical Center Ties Self-Efficacy to Gaming Disorder

A new EEG study from Samsung Medical Center points to a person’s belief in their own ability to handle challenges as a central feature of internet gaming disorder, separate from screen exposure. Researchers there found that adults diagnosed with the condition showed stronger brain responses to game-related images. They also reported significantly lower self-efficacy than healthy adults.

The findings were published Tuesday in Frontiers in Public Health, with researchers estimating global internet gaming disorder prevalence at about 6.7 percent, comparable to alcohol addiction, according to the Korea Bizwire report. the full EEG study on gaming disorder points the field toward behavioral interventions that build confidence alongside screen-time limits.

Who the Researchers Studied and How

The team examined 91 adults in total: 46 diagnosed with internet gaming disorder and 45 healthy controls. IGD patients ranged from 18 to 42 years old (39 men, 7 women), and healthy controls spanned 19 to 32 years old (31 men, 14 women). Diagnosis followed DSM-5 criteria, confirmed by an experienced psychiatrist at SMG-SNU Boramae Medical Center in Seoul. Patients were recruited from the addiction outpatient clinic at that hospital, while healthy participants answered an internet advertisement.

Participants completed a cue-reactivity task during EEG recording, with game-related images and neutral photographs presented while brain activity was monitored. Researchers measured a signal called late positive potentials (LPP), calculated from electrical activity at centro-parietal and parietal electrode sites within a 400 to 700 millisecond window after each image appeared. the June 24 report on Samsung’s findings notes that lower self-efficacy in IGD patients tracked with stronger electrical brain responses to game-related images.

• Global IGD prevalence: about 6.7%
• Total participants: 91 adults (46 with IGD, 45 healthy controls)
• Self-efficacy score, IGD patients: 24.5 points
• Self-efficacy score, healthy adults: 30.3 points
• EEG measurement window: 400 to 700 milliseconds after image onset

Stronger Reactions When Game Cues Appear

The wire service reports that patients with gaming disorder displayed stronger neural responses in the central and parietal regions of the brain when shown game images. Elevated activity showed up in the postcentral gyrus, an area that integrates visual information with physical actions. Researchers said this pattern suggests that prolonged gaming may reinforce automatic behavioral patterns, causing the body to react to gaming cues before conscious self-control can intervene. The underlying paper, published in Frontiers in Public Health, draws a more cautious statistical picture. It reports a significant Electrode by Group interaction at centro-parietal sites, with nominal differences at the CP3 and CP1 electrodes that did not survive correction for multiple comparisons.

In plain terms, the strongest group-level brain differences were small once statistical safeguards were applied. What did hold up statistically was the link between brain responses and individual self-efficacy scores. Across the parietal electrode sites P3, P1, Pz, P2 and P4, lower self-efficacy correlated with stronger LPP amplitudes, the team found.

That correlation survived adjustment for depression and anxiety scores and correction for multiple comparisons. It points to self-efficacy as the variable that best tracks how strongly the brain reacts to gaming cues.

The Self-Efficacy Gap

The self-efficacy scores told a parallel story to the brain data. Adults with internet gaming disorder averaged 24.5 points compared with 30.3 points on the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale. Measures of interpersonal relationships also differed significantly between the two groups, with patients reporting worse connection with others. Self-efficacy refers to a person’s belief in their capacity to execute behaviors needed to produce specific achievements. The construct has long shown up in research on substance use disorders, where weaker confidence in handling stress tracks with heavier use.

The findings suggest that positive experiences that enhance self-efficacy, along with healthy lifestyle management, may help prevent and manage internet gaming disorder.

The words came from Professor Choi Jung-seok, a psychiatrist at Samsung Medical Center who led the study, speaking in the Korea Bizwire report on the findings. That wire service frames the research as the first to objectively demonstrate the relationship between self-efficacy and brain responses in gaming disorder patients using EEG measurements. The team sits inside the hospital’s Department of Psychiatry, and the work was published Tuesday in Frontiers in Public Health.

Where the Two Connect

The convergence of brain data and self-report data gives the finding its pull. Patients with low self-efficacy showed stronger electrical responses to gaming cues than patients with higher self-efficacy.

The underlying paper sketches a possible mechanism. Self-efficacy is linked to motivational regulation. Lower self-efficacy may reflect reduced top-down regulatory control of motivation in response to addiction-related cues.

Cue-induced motivational urge in addictive behaviors is connected to the brain’s mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic pathway, the team’s paper notes. When regulatory systems are weaker, automatic brain reactions to game imagery appear to run hotter. That framing points to a behavioral intervention that goes beyond restricting play. Strengthening a person’s belief in their ability to handle challenges could, in principle, blunt the automatic brain response that pulls them back toward gaming.

The study does not test such an intervention directly. It points instead to where one could be designed.

What It Could Mean for Treatment

Treatment for gaming disorder has historically focused on cutting access: parental controls, app timers, platform bans. The new research adds a second lever. The Korea Bizwire report argues the findings point to behavioral interventions aimed at helping individuals build confidence through attainable goals and everyday accomplishments.

A teenager who can’t stop playing might respond to a coach, teacher, or therapist who helps them set and meet small offline goals, building the same sense of competence that an in-game achievement ladder provides. The same logic shows up across adjacent digital dependencies. A the parallel read on phone dependency draws a similar line between learned behavior and clinical addiction. Researchers cited in the report estimate global IGD prevalence sits at about 6.7 percent, comparable to alcohol addiction.

Smartphone ubiquity and increasingly sophisticated games have made the condition a growing public health concern. Behavioral tools that build small real-world wins have not yet been tested in a randomized trial for gaming disorder, leaving the field with one promising lead and no clinical proof.

The Limits of a Single Study

The study is small, with 91 adults at one medical center in Seoul. Age ranges differ between the IGD group (18 to 42) and the healthy control group (19 to 32), so age cannot be cleanly separated from diagnosis. Most participants are also men: 39 of 46 in the IGD group and 31 of 45 in the control group, leaving relatively few women in either cohort. The LPP signal in the centro-parietal region that the team identified may yet serve as a preliminary neurophysiological correlate for self-efficacy in gaming disorder, a marker future studies could use to track intervention effects.

The clearer statistical finding is the within-group correlation between self-efficacy and brain response, not a clean separation between patients and controls. Internet gaming disorder remains a condition for further study in the DSM-5-TR, with formal recognition in ICD-11 but ongoing debate about diagnostic criteria. Choi’s team has not yet run a clinical trial testing whether self-efficacy interventions actually change gaming behavior.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did the Samsung Medical Center study find about gaming disorder?

Researchers found that adults with internet gaming disorder showed stronger brain responses to game-related images and reported lower self-efficacy than healthy adults, with the two measures linked within the patient group.

How does self-efficacy connect to internet gaming disorder?

Self-efficacy is a person’s belief in their capacity to handle challenges. In the study, IGD patients scored an average of 24.5 on a self-efficacy scale versus 30.3 for healthy controls, and lower scores tracked with stronger brain reactions to gaming cues.

How large was the study, and who took part?

The team examined 91 adults: 46 diagnosed with internet gaming disorder (39 men, 7 women, ages 18-42) and 45 healthy controls (31 men, 14 women, ages 19-32). Recruitment happened at SMG-SNU Boramae Medical Center in Seoul.

Does this mean screen time limits do not work?

The study does not test screen time limits. It suggests that building self-efficacy, alongside healthy lifestyle habits, may help prevent or manage gaming disorder. Most current treatment already involves restricting play.

What is the global picture for internet gaming disorder?

Researchers cited in the Korea Bizwire report estimate its global prevalence at about 6.7 percent, a level comparable to alcohol addiction. Internet gaming disorder is included in the DSM-5-TR as a condition for further study and recognized in ICD-11.