Abstract
The surge in online gaming's popularity has raised concerns regarding excessive engagement particularly among younger generations. Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is increasingly recognized as a clinical concern, underscoring the necessity for early detection and intervention. Although facial expressions provide key emotional insights, their link to symptoms associated with internet gaming addiction remains largely unexplored. In this preliminary study, we investigated facial emotional expressions in response to internet gaming videos among 28 young adults who casually play online games, utilizing the automated facial expression recognition system for analysis. Participants watched internet gaming and neutral (nongaming) videos while their facial expressions were recorded. We measured the intensity of each facial expression (happy, sad, angry, surprised, scared, disgusted, and neutral) and explored their correlation with symptoms related to internet gaming addiction. Participants exhibited a higher intensity of neutral expression and a lower intensity of sad expression in internet gaming videos compared to neutral ones; however, the findings were only nominally significant and did not survive correction for multiple comparisons. Moreover, participants with higher symptoms of internet gaming addiction displayed reduced facial intensity of sadness in response to internet gaming videos. Additionally, we noted a positive correlation between the facial intensity of surprise and levels of gaming desire. Furthermore, the intensity of disgusted facial expressions showed a negative correlation with participants' familiarity levels with the online games. These preliminary and exploratory findings hold promise for deepening our understanding of individuals' emotional responses and internet gaming behavior. Future research with larger samples, including patients with IGD, will be crucial to validate these findings and to inform the development of preventive strategies and effective interventions in this field.