Dongyu Liu

Background and aims: Individuals with close social relationships often exhibit similar levels of problematic smartphone use (PSU), suggesting that PSU may be interconnected through social influence. However, the underlying cognitive processes remain unclear. Methods: To address this gap, two studies were conducted to examine the role of social reward valuation in the mutual influence between friends' smartphone use behaviors. Social reward was manipulated by informing participants of their friends' preferences during joint leisure activity selections. Study 1 measured the subjective value of social reward by incorporating a parameter into a drift diffusion model. Study 2 further examined the effect of relationship duration on social reward valuation during joint leisure activity selections. Results: The results of Study 1 showed that individuals tended to change their own preferences when they differed from those of their friends, and this tendency could be explained by the subjective value they assigned to social rewards. Moreover, dyadic PSU moderated this process: greater similarity in friends' PSU predicted higher social reward valuation. The results in Study 2 showed that relationship duration was positively associated with social reward valuation and mediated the association between friends' PSU similarity and social reward valuation. Discussion and Conclusions: Taken together, these findings suggest that similarity in friends' PSU enhances the subjective value of social rewards, which in turn leads individuals to follow their friends' smartphone use behaviors. This influence was further associated with longer relationship duration.

To ensure the security of mobile payments, anti-fraud warning messages serve as a critical defensive interface between users and potential risks. The effectiveness of their design directly influences users’ risk perceptions and security-related behaviors. The present study employed eye-tracking technology to examine the effectiveness of warning messages in mobile payment transfer scenarios and the impact of specific warning design features on user decision-making. Experiment 1 utilized a 2 (warning message: present vs. absent) × 3 (potential risk level: high, medium, low) within-subject design to test the fundamental role of warning message presence. Results indicated that the presence of warning messages significantly prolonged participants’ reaction times when selecting the transfer option, suggesting a more cautious decision-making process. Building on Experiment 1, Experiment 2 employed a 2 (warning color: red vs. blue) × 2 (warning semantic type: imperative vs. reminder) × 3 (potential risk level: high, medium, low) within-subject design and incorporated eye-tracking technology to investigate the effects of these design variables and underlying attentional mechanisms. Red warnings and imperative semantics were both found to significantly increase the likelihood of transfer rejection, with these design advantages being particularly pronounced in high-risk contexts. These findings provide empirical evidence to guide mobile payment platforms in optimizing dynamically adaptive, context-sensitive anti-fraud warning designs.

Background and aims: Online shopping has become a primary form of consumption in daily life, inevitably accompanied by the emergence of problematic online shopping. Attentional bias towards online shopping cues influences individuals' online shopping behavior. This study examined attentional bias mechanisms in problematic online shoppers using two experiments. Methods: This study combines the dot-probe task and eye-tracking technology to explore attentional bias and temporal dynamics toward shopping-related cues among problematic online shoppers. Experiment 1 recruited 84 participants to investigate attentional bias toward proximal cues, while Experiment 2 recruited 76 participants to examine attentional bias toward distal cues. Results: The results of Experiment 1 showed that both problematic online shoppers and control individuals exhibited shorter first fixation latency, longer gaze duration, and total fixation duration toward proximal cues. And only problematic online shoppers exhibited slower first exit saccade velocity and average exit saccade velocity. The results of Experiment 2 indicated that problematic online shoppers exhibited longer gaze duration and total fixation duration, as well as faster first entry saccade velocity toward distal cues. Discussion and conclusions: In summary, problematic online shoppers exhibit similar attentional bias toward both shopping proximal and distal cues, which are presented as the vigilance-maintenance pattern. For problematic online shoppers, distal cues have gradually acquired incentive value comparable to that of proximal cues. However, it should be noted that control individuals also exhibited attentional bias toward proximal cues.

Aims: This study aimed to explore the brain activity characteristics of individuals with Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) during mobile gameplay, focusing on neural responses to positive and negative game events. The findings may enhance our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying IGD.Methods: Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was employed to measure hemodynamic responses (HbO/HbR) in the prefrontal cortex of both IGD participants and recreational gaming users (RGU), during solo and multiplayer mobile gameplay.Results: In solo mode, IGD participants exhibited stronger activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dLPFC), frontopolar area (FPA), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in response to positive events compared to RGU. Negative events led to reduced activation in the FPA among IGD participants. In multiplayer mode, IGD participants displayed lower activation in the dLPFC and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vLPFC), although overall brain response trends to positive and negative events were similar between IGD and RGU.Conclusions: This study suggests that individuals with IGD exhibit heightened sensitivity to rewards and diminished sensitivity to losses, along with potential impairments in the executive control network. These results contribute to a better understanding of the neural mechanisms of IGD and offer insights for developing targeted interventions aimed at addressing abnormal reward and loss processing.