EAGER: A Biocultural Study of the Functional Genomics of Intensive Internet Use

EAGER：密集互联网使用的功能基因组学的生物文化研究

• 批准号: 1600448
• 负责人: Jeffrey Snodgrass
• 金额: $ 3.35万
• 依托单位: Colorado State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-01-01 至 2017-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1600448&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Biocultural; Study; Functional; Genomics

This project, directed by Dr. Jeffrey Snodgrass of Colorado State University and Dr. Henri Dengah of Utah State University, will investigate effects of intensive internet activity on mental and physical health. People around the globe spend increasing amounts of time online, sometimes in alternative "virtual worlds" where they learn a common culture and come to share beliefs and practices. Online communities may become so important to participants that they eclipse offline social commitments. The researchers wish to investigate the possibility that such "internet addiction," characterized by excessive or poorly controlled behaviors, preoccupations, and urges regarding computer use and internet access, leads to psychological distress or impairment and that this is discernible not only in behavior but also in the genome. Previous scientific research on internet addiction has focused on human neurobiology, giving little attention to sociocultural and environmental factors. In contrast, the present research will combine cross-cultural anthropological methods with methods from functional genomics to examine whether cultural learning and social involvement (in virtual worlds or elsewhere) can reach deep down to shape fundamental health processes. Findings from this research will complement neurobiological approaches and contribute critical information to public debates about addictive behaviors, a pressing public health and social problem.The researchers will combine cultural consonance, social network, and functional genomic analyses to examine how online environments become embodied in the minds and bodies of internet users. They will focus on young adults (18-32 years of age), a group known to be active virtual world participants and susceptible to addictive behaviors. In the first phase of the study, researchers will collect dried blood spot data to assess whether intensive internet use, as measured by responses to an earlier online survey, is associated with altered functional genomes, and if their gene expression profiles mirror profiles of other psycho-socially distressed populations. The blood spots will be analyzed via microarrays of RNA up/down transcription regulation in leukocytes. This will provide insight into the biological reality of internet-related stress and addiction processes previously documented culturally and psychologically via ethnographic methods and informant self-reports. In the second phase, the researchers will expand the context of this investigation to Brazil and India to explore whether culture-specific offline norms and practices might shape problem internet use patterns in ways that impact individual users' mental and physical health. Together, these two phases will combine to produce a radically interdisciplinary, innovative, and potentially transformative approach to understanding the appeal and effects of online virtual worlds, problematic internet use, and health differences. The research will produce a deeper understanding of how sociocultural and biological processes combine in these technological contexts to shape human health and well-being. This exploratory project will also set the stage for future collaborative research between social scientists and molecular biologists to answer basic questions about how culturally mediated worlds become literally embodied.

该项目由科罗拉多州立大学的 Jeffrey Snodgrass 博士和犹他州立大学的 Henri Dengah 博士领导，将研究密集的互联网活动对身心健康的影响。全球各地的人们在网上花费的时间越来越多，有时是在另类的“虚拟世界”中，他们在那里学习共同的文化并分享信仰和实践。在线社区对于参与者来说可能变得如此重要，以至于超越了线下的社会承诺。研究人员希望调查这种“网络成瘾”的可能性，其特征是对计算机使用和互联网访问的过度或控制不良的行为、成见和冲动，导致心理困扰或损害，这不仅在行为中而且在基因组中都可以看出。以往关于网络成瘾的科学研究主要集中在人类神经生物学上，很少关注社会文化和环境因素。相比之下，目前的研究将跨文化人类学方法与功能基因组学方法相结合，以检验文化学习和社会参与（在虚拟世界或其他地方）是否可以深入到塑造基本的健康过程。这项研究的结果将补充神经生物学方法，并为有关成瘾行为、紧迫的公共卫生和社会问题的公众辩论提供关键信息。研究人员将结合文化共鸣、社交网络和功能基因组分析来研究在线环境如何在互联网用户的思想和身体中体现。他们将重点关注年轻人（18-32 岁），这是一个活跃的虚拟世界参与者且容易上瘾行为的群体。在该研究的第一阶段，研究人员将收集干血点数据，以评估密集的互联网使用（通过对早期在线调查的反应来衡量）是否与功能基因组的改变有关，以及他们的基因表达谱是否反映了其他心理社会困扰人群的概况。将通过白细胞中 RNA 上/下转录调控的微阵列对血点进行分析。这将有助于深入了解先前通过人种学方法和知情者自我报告在文化和心理上记录的与互联网相关的压力和成瘾过程的生物学现实。在第二阶段，研究人员将把调查范围扩大到巴西和印度，探讨特定文化的线下规范和做法是否可能以影响个人用户身心健康的方式塑造问题的互联网使用模式。这两个阶段将结合起来，产生一种根本性的跨学科、创新和潜在变革的方法，以了解在线虚拟世界的吸引力和影响、有问题的互联网使用和健康差异。该研究将更深入地了解社会文化和生物过程如何在这些技术背景下结合起来塑造人类的健康和福祉。这个探索性项目还将为社会科学家和分子生物学家之间的未来合作研究奠定基础，以回答有关文化介导的世界如何真正体现的基本问题。