Brain Structures Associated with Internet Addiction Tendency in Adolescent Online Game Players.

Nannan Pan,Xin Qi,Xiaodong Li,Yongxin Yang,Guijin Du,Quan Zhang,Xin Du,Yang Zhang

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00067

Abstract

With the development of the Internet, an increasing number of adolescents play online game excessively, which leads to adverse effects on individuals and society. Previous studies have demonstrated altered gray-matter volume (GMV) in individuals with Internet gaming disorder (IGD), but the relationship between the tendency to IGD and the GMV across whole brain is still unclear in adolescents. In the present study, anatomical imaging with high resolution was performed on 67 male adolescents who played online game; and Young’s Internet addiction test (IAT) was conducted to test the tendency to IGD. FMRIB Software Library (FSL) was used to calculate the voxel-based correlations between the GMV and the IAT score after controlling for the age and years of education. The GMVs of the bilateral postcentral gyri (postCG), the bilateral precentral gyri (preCG), the right precuneus, the left posterior midcingulate cortex (pMCC), the left inferior parietal lobe (IPL), and the right middle frontal gyrus (MFG) were negatively correlated with the IAT score. The correlation still existed between the IAT score and the GMVs of the bilateral postCG, the left preCG, the left pMCC, and the right MFG after controlling for the total time of playing online game. When the participants were divided into two groups according to the IAT score, the GMVs of these IAT-related brain regions were lower in high IAT score subgroup (IAT score >50) than in low IAT score subgroup (IAT score ≤50). Our results suggested that the GMVs of brain regions involved in sensorimotor process and cognitive control were associated with the IGD tendency. These findings may lead to new targets for preventing and treating the IGD.

Highlights

In the past decades, the Internet played an important role in our life
Voxel-wise correlation analysis revealed that the gray-matter volume (GMV) of the bilateral postcentral gyri, the bilateral precentral gyri, the right precuneus, the left posterior midcingulate cortex, the left inferior parietal lobe (IPL), and the right middle frontal gyrus (MFG) were significantly correlated to the Internet addiction test (IAT) score (Figure 1; Table 2)
After the total time of playing online game was added as a nuisance covariate, the correlation still existed between the IAT and the GMV of the bilateral postcentral gyri (postCG), the left precentral gyri (preCG), the left posterior midcingulate cortex (pMCC), and the right MFG (Figure 3; Table 3)

Summary

Introduction

The Internet played an important role in our life. more and more adolescents surf the Internet and play online game excessively, which result in adverse effects on adolescents themselves and society. Previous structural studies have found that individuals with IGD had Structural Correlation to IGD Tendency structural abnormalities in gray matter (GM), such as decreased gray-matter volume (GMV) or GM density in multiple cortical and subcortical areas [6,7,8,9,10,11], and increased GMV in frontal and temporal regions [8, 12] These studies suggested that multiple brain areas in the frontal, temporal, parietal, and subcortical regions such as ventral striatum were associated with IA, which contributed to the understanding of the neuromechanisms of IA. Investigation of the structural correlations in online game players with different levels of tendency to IGD, the individuals with IGD diagnosis, is necessary

Methods

Results

Conclusion