Abstract
Excessive smartphone use is a phenomenon related to maladaptive smartphone use, leading to negative consequences. This study set out with the aim of assessing the effects of excessive smartphone use on behavioral and neural responses during facial emotional processing. We examined 25 excessive smartphone users and 27 normal control users using functional MRI during facial emotion processing and investigated Behavioral Inhibition System/Behavioral Activation System (BIS/BAS). The excessive smartphone use group (SP) showed neural deactivation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) during the presentation of an angry face and emotional transition compared to that of the normal control group (NC). Additionally, the SP revealed neural deactivation of the superior temporal sulcus and temporo-parietal junction related to social interaction during emotional transition compared to the NC. We found that BAS-Reward Responsiveness level was correlated with behavioral responses during repeated happy faces related to emotional reward in SP compared to NC. It can thus be suggested that excessive smartphone use is likely to fail on cognitive control during emotional processing, and this impairment might be influenced on emotional processing related to social interaction.
Highlights
Over the past decade, smartphones have become a necessity for people’s daily lives with the development of technology
The two groups did not differ in age, K-WAIS, and the main usage of smartphones, whereas the time of smartphone use per week, t(50) = 4.67, p < 0.001, the time of major smartphone use per week, t(50) = 3.47, p < 0.005, and Smartphone Addiction Proneness Scale (SAPS) scores, t(50) = 4.55, p < 0.001 were significantly different
The aim of this study was to identify the behavioral differences between the smartphone use group (SP) and normal control group (NC), and the altered brain activation of the prefrontal and cingulate cortex associated with cognitive control in SP compared to that of NC during facial emotion processing
Summary
Smartphones have become a necessity for people’s daily lives with the development of technology. It would be suggested that individual’s emotion influence on excessive smartphone use associated with social interaction. Internet addiction criteria of DSM 5 have included social isolation, and previous studies related to Internet addiction, Internet gaming addiction, and smartphone addiction have considered important role of social interaction or interpersonal relationship on addiction[11,22,23]. According to Gray’s theory, the BIS/BAS systems are theoretical biopsychological systems related to personality traits involving sensitivity toward stimuli associated with negative and positive reinforcement and regulation of motivational behavior[27,28,29]. It can be supposed that individual personality traits in excessive smartphone use have an influence on behavioral and neural response for social reward cue
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