Excessive smartphone use is associated with reduced strength of key brain networks responsible for cognitive control and executive functions, a study shows. Psychiatric research: neuroimaging. This reduction in neural activity may have important implications for understanding digital device addiction.
The motivation for this large-scale study arose from growing concerns about the impact smartphones have on our mental health and daily lives. The topic of smartphone overuse has received a lot of attention in recent years, with several studies highlighting its negative effects on physical, mental, and social well-being. The researchers sought to explore this question further by examining the relationship between excessive smartphone use and brain activity, particularly in cognitive areas such as attention, decision-making, and memory.
Researchers carefully selected 39 participants for the study based on specific criteria, including age, language ability, and presence of neurological or psychiatric disorders. Participants were divided into two groups: excessive smartphone users and a control group, based on their scores on the Smartphone Addiction Scale, a widely known tool to measure smartphone addiction. Each participant underwent a battery of assessments, including the Smartphone Addiction Inventory and other psychological measures, to assess various aspects of smartphone addiction and mental health.
At the heart of the study is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) while participants engage in a variety of tasks designed to test cognitive functions such as attention (flanker task), memory (n-back task), etc. was used to capture detailed images of brain activity. and responding to cues (CR task). This approach allowed the researchers to identify specific neural patterns associated with excessive smartphone use.
The group that used smartphones excessively was found to have significantly lower network strength in a brain region known as the fronto-parietal network. This network is important in top-down attentional control, how well we can focus our attention and control our impulses. The study also found that this decrease in network strength correlated with higher scores on the Smartphone Addiction Inventory, particularly in aspects such as time spent on smartphones and cravings for use.
Interestingly, these neural patterns are similar to those observed in other forms of addictive behavior, pointing to a potential common neural basis for addiction, whether to substances or smartphones. is showing.
However, this study is not without limitations. One of the main concerns is that the relatively small sample size and specific demographic of participants (young adults) may limit the generalizability of the findings.
Furthermore, the design of this study does not allow us to draw conclusions about whether excessive smartphone use causes these neural patterns or vice versa. Future studies are needed to further investigate this relationship and determine whether these neural changes are permanent or reversible.
“This study provides further evidence of common neural mechanisms in patients with behavioral addictions. [excessive smartphone use]” the researchers concluded. “This study clearly requires replication as well as expansion in larger cohorts, including longitudinal assessments…But at the same time, this study provides important new findings and “Smartphone use suggests domain-independent top-down regulation by the system execution control network.” ”
“Given that deficits in cognitive control have been observed in several substance use disorders and behavioral addictions, the neural signatures identified in this study are unlikely to be specific to them. [excessive smartphone use]. In this regard, future studies will need to analyze the distinct contributions of this network to both risk and resilience factors that may promote or prevent addictive behavior. ”
the study, “Abnormal frontoparietal network strength independent of cognitive domain in heavy smartphone users” is written by Gudrun M. Henneman, Mike M. Schmidgen, Nadine D. Wolff, Dusan Hiljac, Katarina M. Kubera, Fabio Sambataro, Patrick Bach, Julian König, and Robert Christian Wolff.