The relationship between excessive Instagram use and the emotional attentional blink elicited with positive affective and Instagram-related stimuli – an ERP study

Background and Aims Theoretical arguments and empirical evidence suggest that problematic use of social media (PUSM) is characterized by sensitized cue reactivity. However, no study to date has investigated cue reactivity in PUSM when the social-media-related cues are task-irrelevant. The present study aims to examine cue reactivity to social-media (i.e., Instagram)-related visual stimuli across varying levels of problematic Instagram use severity. Methods 90 participants of varying nationalities completed an emotional attentional blink (EAB) task with neutral, pleasant, and Instagram-related images. For a subset of participants, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during the EAB task. Self-report measures for the degree of problematic Instagram use, motives for Instagram use, depression, anxiety, and stress were collected using scales validated in English and Italian. Results Higher problematic Instagram use was not correlated to lower response accuracy in the task for pleasant and Instagram-related stimuli compared to neutral stimuli. Behavioral and electrophysiological data supported the notion that the EAB had a different shape in the Instagram condition compared to the pleasant and neutral conditions. Pleasant and Instagram-related stimuli elicited larger ERP negativity (150 – 300 ms) compared to neutral stimuli, and pleasant stimuli elicited larger ERP positivity (400 – 600 ms). Only ERP positivity correlated to response accuracy in the behavioral task. Discussion Instagram-related stimuli are able to capture attention in a task for which their presentation is task-irrelevant, regardless of the level of problematic Instagram use. Pleasant and Instagram-related stimuli may be more difficult to disengage from than neutral stimuli, and although it may not be category-specific, problematic Instagram use may predict lower response accuracy in general in dynamic attention tasks.