Abstract
WeChat represents one of the most popular smartphone-based applications for communication. Although the application provides several useful features that simplify daily life, a growing number of users spend excessive amounts of time on the application. This may lead to interferences with everyday life and even to addictive patterns of use. In the context of the ongoing discussion on Internet Communication Disorder (ICD), the present study aimed to better characterize the addictive potential of communication applications, using WeChat as an example, by examining associations between individual variations in tendencies towards WeChat addiction and brain structural variations in fronto-striatal-limbic brain regions. To this end levels of addictive tendencies, frequency of use and structural MRI data were assessed in n = 61 healthy participants. Higher tendencies towards WeChat addiction were associated with smaller gray matter volumes of the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, a key region for monitoring and regulatory control in neural networks underlying addictive behaviors. Moreover, a higher frequency of the paying function was associated with smaller nucleus accumbens volumes. Findings were robust after controlling for levels of anxiety and depression. The present results are in line with previous findings in substance and behavioral addictions, and suggest a similar neurobiological basis in ICD.
Highlights
In the first quarter of 2017 49.7% of the world population had access to the Internet
The present study aimed to investigate associations between individual variations in the levels of WeChat addiction with gray matter volumes of the amygdala, nucleus accumbens (NAc) and and subregions of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)
A similar relationship between higher levels of addictive symptoms or more excessive patterns of use and volume reductions in these regions has been repeatedly reported in substance addiction[44] as well as behavioral addictions including generalized Internet addiction[47] and Internet gaming disorder[67,68]
Summary
In the first quarter of 2017 49.7% of the world population had access to the Internet. Studies employing structural brain imaging revealed initial evidence for an association between escalating social media use and decreased volumes of the nucleus accumbens (NAc)[34,35] (see He et al.36), a key reward processing node in the ventral striatum, and the amygdala[35,36] (see Montag et al.[34]) Smaller volumes of these regions have been previously associated with the development and maintenance of substance addiction[19,37,38], with preclinical data emphasizing an important contribution of neuroplastic changes in these regions to pathological changes in motivational, impulsive and habitual behaviors that drive addiction[39,40,41,42]. Studies in patients with mental disorders emphasize the importance of subregion-specific anatomical changes of the ACC in disorders characterized by deficient cognitive and emotional functioning, such as depression and anxiety disorders[55,56,57]
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