1. Internet Addiction and The
Brain
EITANNEUMARK
EMILY PAUP

2. Agenda
 Background
 Survey
 Internet Addiction Forbes article
 Microstructure Abnormalities in Adolescents with
Internet Addiction Disorder
 The Relationships Between Internet Addiction,
Subjective Vitality, and Subjective Happiness
 Discussion

3. What is IAD?
 Internet overuse to a point where it interferes with
daily life

4. Do you have IAD?
 (1) Do you feel absorbed in the Internet (remember previous
online activity or the desired next online session)?
 (2) Do you feel satisfied with Internet use if you increase your
amount of online time?
 (3) Have you failed to control, reduce, or quit Internet use
repeatedly?
 (4) Do you feel nervous, temperamental, depressed, or sensitive
when trying to reduce or quit Internet use?
 (5) Do you stay online longer than originally intended?
 (6) Have you taken the risk of losing a significant relationship,
job, educational or career opportunity because of the Internet?
 (7) Have you lied to your family members, therapist, or others to
hide the truth of your involvement with the Internet?
 (8) Do you use the Internet as a way of escaping from problems
or of relieving an anxious mood (e.g., feelings of helplessness,
guilty, anxiety, or depression)?

5. General Information From Article
 IAD leads to decreased volume in certain brain
regions, many similar brain regions implicated in
other addictions (gambling, substances, etc.)
 Affected areas also crucial to emotional processing,
executive thinking skills and attention, cognitive
control
 People with IAD may have other significant
problems in life

6. Discussion Question
Should Internet Addiction
Disorder be included in the
DSM-V?

7. Previous Research
 Neural substrates of online gaming addiction:
 Right orbitofrontal cortex (rOFC), right nucleus accumbens, bilateral anterior
cingulate cortex (ACC), medial frontal cortex (MFC), dorsolateral prefrontal
cortex (DLPFC)
 IAD in Chinese youths:
 14% incidence rate, 24 million youths total
 Adolescents with IAD shown to have more impulsivity, lowered inhibition ability
 Brain abnormalities:
 Lower grey matter density in lACC, left posterior cingulate cortex, left insula, left
lingual gyrus
 Increased regional homogeneity in right cingulate gyrus, bilateral
parahippocampus
 Treatments:
 Regimented schedules, strict discipline, electric shock therapy

8. Discussion Question
What are other possible
treatments for IAD?

9. Microstructure Abnormalities in Adolescents
with Internet Addiction Disorder
 Chinese study looking at possible brain
abnormalities with IAD
 Freshman and Sophomore in college aged
 18 healthy controls, spent less than 2 hours a day
 18 in experiment condition, pre-screened to see
whether they have IAD or not (spent 10.2 +/- 2.6
hours per day online gaming)
 Talked to parents and friends on phone to confirm
internet habits

10. Subjects

11. Brain Imaging Methods
 Voxel Based Morphometry
 Used to look at variances in grey matter by region
 Diffusion Tensor Imaging
 MRI technique measuring restricted diffusion of water
 Produces neural tract images
 Calculated Fractional Anisotrophy in each voxel to look at
level of diffusion
 Range of FA: 0-1
 Smaller FA Value  more diffusion, less coherence

12. Results VBM
 Decreased grey matter volume
 Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), supplementary motor
area (SMA), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), cerebellum, left rostral
anterior cingulate cortex (rACC)
 Negative correlation with gray matter & months
addicted to internet
 Right DLPFC, the left rACC and the right SMA
 No higher grey matter regions when compared to
healthy subjects

14. Implications
 DLPFC and rACC largely important for cognitive control
 DLPFC responsible for top-down regulatory processes of cognitive
control
 Cognitive Control
 Neural mechanisms for actively maintaining information such as
goals, instructions, plans, or events for short periods of time & using
the information to appropriately guide and control behavior
 Deactivation in rACC shown in heroin and cocaine users
 Long term drug addiction leads to decreased cognitive control
 Conflict-monitoring hypothesis
 Response conflict is signaled by the rACC, recruits DLPFC for future
performance

15. Implications cont…
 Orbitofrontalcortex contributes to goal-directed
behavior
 Integrated with subcorticalareas associated with motivational
behavior and reward processing
 Assessing significance of stimuli and selecting behavior to
obtain desired outcome
 SMA important for selecting to execute/inhibit
behaviors
 Cerebellum: higher order cognitive functions
 Working memory and inhibiting inappropriate behavior

16. Results DTI
 Enhanced FA in posterior limb of the interior
capsule (PLIC)
 Internal capsule = white matter separating the caudate nucleus
and the thalamus from the putamen&globuspallidus
 Reduced FA in parahippocampalgyrus (PHG)
 Positive correlation between FA in PLIC and
duration of IAD

18. Implications
 Parahippocampalgyrus
 Involved in memory encoding and retrieval, processing sensory info,
cognitive and emotional recognition, maintenance of working
memory
 Working memory
 Lower FA number could cause all aspects of PHG to be impaired-
especially WM
 Abnormal white matter amounts could also account for deficits
 Enhanced value in PLIC
 Repetitive motor actions while online (mouse clicking, etc..) could
change structure
 Interference with cognitive and executive functions, tracts
connecting frontal and subcortical brain regions go through IC

19. Limitations
 Small sample size
 All freshman & sophomores in college
 All Chinese citizens
 Structural abnormalities could result from IAD, but
could also be the cause
 Need further studies to determine difference

20. The Internet, Subjective Happiness, and
Subjective Vitality
 Three Parameters
 Subjective Happiness
 Psychological state of well-being, joy, and contentment
 Subjective Vitality
 Subjective experience of being full of energy and alive
 Internet addiction
 Subjects
 328 Turkish university students, ages 17-30

21. Results
 Internet addiction negatively predicted vitality and
happiness
 Vitality mediated relationship between internet
addiction and happiness
 If you have high vitality, can still be addicted to the internet
and be happy
 If individuals increase vitality, may decrease internet addiction

22. Conclusion
 IAD is a fairly new concept, most research has been
tailored towards young people
 Look at long-term effects of IAD
 Colleges should encourage healthy and timely use of
the internet
 Too much time spent on the internet can be greatly
problematic
 Still a problem with much to explore

23. Do you think the addictive
powers of the Internet
parallel the addictive powers
of substances?

24. Any questions?