Efficacy of emotional working memory training on cognitive emotion regulation and risky decision-making in university students with problematic internet use: a randomised controlled trial.

Authors

Soran Khataie, Sanaz Eyni, Farzad Nasiri

Published in

Cognition & emotion. Pages 1-14. Aug 12, 2026. Epub Aug 12, 2026.

Abstract

Problematic Internet Use (PIU) has been linked to emotional distress, cognitive impairments, and diminished academic performance among university students. The present randomised controlled trial examined the efficacy of emotional working memory training (eWMT) in enhancing cognitive emotion regulation strategies (CERS) and risky decision-making in individuals with PIU. Following baseline assessment, eligible participants were randomly assigned to either an experimental group (n = 15; eWMT) or a control group (n = 15; feature-matching training). Both groups completed 20 training sessions. Post-test and one-month follow-up results revealed that eWMT led to significant improvements in PIU symptoms, risky decision-making and reductions in maladaptive CERS, while no significant changes were observed for adaptive CERS. These findings highlight eWMT as a promising cognitive-affective intervention for improving executive and emotional regulation processes in students with PIU.

PMID:
42590932
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 13 Aug 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.