The relationship between short-video addiction tendency and inhibitory control in university students: ERP evidence from a Go/No-go task

Objective This study aimed to examine the relationship between short-video addiction tendency and inhibitory control performance among university students. Method Based on the preset screening criteria of the Smartphone Addiction Inventory (SPAI) and the adapted Internet Addiction Test (IAT), candidate participants were screened, and 30 university students with higher short-video addiction tendency were finally included in the addiction group, while 31 university students were included in the control group. All participants completed a Go/No-go task, and behavioral indicators and event-related potential (ERP) data were collected simultaneously. Independent-samples t tests, Holm-Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons, and repeated-measures analysis of variance were used to compare the differences between the two groups in reaction time, accuracy, false alarm rate, and the mean amplitudes of the N2 and P3 components. Results At the behavioral level, the addiction group showed numerically lower accuracy and higher false alarm rate than the control group, but after Holm-Bonferroni correction, the group differences in behavioral indicators did not reach statistical significance. In the ERP results, the mean amplitude of the N2 component was significantly more negative in the control group than in the addiction group, while no significant group difference was found in the mean amplitude of P3. Conclusion Individuals with short-video addiction tendency showed certain trends in behavioral inhibition-related indicators, but the behavioral evidence should still be interpreted with caution. The ERP results preliminarily suggest that short-video addiction tendency may be related to insufficient conflict monitoring or control initiation in the early stage of inhibitory control.