ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Hum. Neurosci.
Sec. Brain Imaging and Stimulation
This article is part of the Research TopicNeuroscience of addiction: Bridging neurobiological insights with treatment innovations Volume IIView all articles
Sex-dominant differences in resting-state EEG microstates among young adults at risk for smartphone addiction
Provisionally accepted
- Taihe Hospital, Shiyan, China
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Background: smartphone addiction (SA) is increasing, yet sex-sensitive neurophysiological markers for assessment and follow-up remain limited.Methods: In a balanced 2×2 design (sex × group; N=120), young adults underwent resting-state EEG. Microstates A–D were extracted at GFP peaks using polarity-insensitive k-means (k=4). Individual metrics (mean duration, occurrence, coverage, GEV) were compared via two-way ANOVA with FDR control (q=0.05).Results: Sex effects exceeded group effects. Females showed higher microstate C metrics—duration: F(1,116)=12.84, p=0.001, ηp²=0.100; coverage: F(1,116)=14.21, p<0.001, ηp²=0.109; occurrence: F(1,116)=9.02, p=0.003, ηp²=0.072—whereas males showed higher microstate D metrics—coverage: F(1,116)=7.01, p=0.009, ηp²=0.057; occurrence: F (1,116)=16.82, p<0.001, ηp²=0.127; duration did not differ (p>0.05). These patterns remained FDR-significant under q=0.05.Conclusions: Resting EEG microstates reveal sex-dominant dynamics linked to salience (C) and dorsal attention (D) processes in SA with high impulsivity, supporting sex-sensitive screening and follow-up as a complement to questionnaires.
Keywords: EEG microstates, impulsivity, resting state, sex differences, Smartphone addiction
Received: 27 Sep 2025; Accepted: 19 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Chen, Zeng, Liu, Yu, Yang and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Qin Liu
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