RESUMO
Insider threat from individuals operating within an organization presents a significant source of violations of information security. Our previous research has used scalp recorded event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and the Information Security Paradigm (ISP) to identify the neural correlates of decision-making processes related to violations of information security. In the current study, we sought to expand this research by examining the effects of two variables that were drawn from the broader decision-making literature (i.e., the benefactor and delay of a reward) on ERPs measured in the ISP. In the ISP we varied whether Josh-a hypothetical IT specialist-or a significant other was the benefactor of a violation, and whether the benefit of a violation was received after a short or long delay. The choice data revealed that individuals were less likely to endorse an unethical action than a control action. The electrophysiological data revealed ERPs that differentiated ethical scenarios from control scenarios between 200 and 2,000 ms after onset of the decision prompt, distributed over the occipital, central, and lateral frontal regions of the scalp. These ERPs were insensitive to the benefactor and delay of the reward. In contrast, there was slow wave activity over the frontal-polar region that was sensitive to both variables. The current findings provide evidence for separable neural systems that are either generally related to ethical decision-making in the ISP or are sensitive to the benefactor or delay of a reward resulting from an unethical decision.
RESUMO
The widespread adoption of smartphones has been associated with the emergence of problematic smartphone use. Problematic smartphone use is consistently associated with increased levels of depression and lower self-control, and pathological technology use more generally may be associated with reduced activity in the reward system, an effect that is also observed in depression and with poor self-control. The current study sought to examine the association between problematic smartphone use and event-related potentials (ERPs) related to reward processing, and to determine whether reward processing, depressive symptoms and self-control have shared or unique influences on problematic smartphone use. The sample was drawn from a university student population (N = 94, age M = 19.34, SD = 1.23 years, 67 female, 25 male, 1 gender non-conforming, 1 unidentified). Participants performed a gambling task while EEG was recorded and completed measures of smartphone pathology, depressive symptoms and self-control. The ERP data revealed that increasing problematic smartphone use was associated with reduced ERP amplitude for gains and losses when individuals were the agent of choice, but not when the computer chose. This may reflect a selective association between problematic smartphone use and neural prediction errors. Regression analyses revealed that reward processing, depressive symptoms and self-control were predictors of problematic smartphone use, possibly revealing multiple pathways to problematic smartphone use.
