NEUROSCIENCE OF INTERNET ADDICTION

Milen Santiago Ramos MA MSc PhD

BEHAVIORAL ADDICTION

VS

DRUG ABUSE ADDICTION

GAMBLING SEX INTERNET PORNOGRAPHY

ADDICTION TO COCAINE METHAMPHETAMINE HYDROCHLORIDE KETAMINEBARBITURATES ALCOHOL

CNS Spectr 153 reg MBL Communications Inc March 2010 159- 166

IAD (INTERNET ADDICTION DISORDER)

IS A SPECULATED MENTAL DISORDER MADE AND INTRODUCED BY IVAN GOLDBERG MD IN 1995 IT IS AN ADDICTION THAT CLOSELY PARALLELS THE OTHER ADDICTIONS SUCH AS DRUG AND PATHOLOGICAL GAMBLING ADDICTION AND IS POTENTIALLY JUST AS DAMAGING

Results Internet game overusers showed greater impulsiveness than the normal users and there was a positive correlation between the severity of Internet game overuse and impulsiveness Imaging data showed that the overusers had increased glucose metabolism

Conclusion Internet game overuse may be associated with abnormal neurobiological mechanisms in the orbitofrontal cortex striatum and sensory regions which are implicated in impulse control reward processing and somatic representation of previous experiences Our results support the idea that Internet game overuse shares psychological and neural mechanisms with other types of impulse control disorders and substancenon-substance-related addiction

Altered Regional Cerebral Glucose Metabolism in Internet Game Overusers A 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography Study Hyun Soo Park MS Sang Hee Kim PhD Seong Ae Bang MA Eun Jin Yoon MS Sang Soo Cho PhD and Sang Eun Kim MD PhD Department of Nuclear Medicine at Seoul National University College of Medicine in South Korea

SABINE M GRUumlSSER-SINOPOLI PHD OF THE CHARITEacute-UNIVERSITY MEDICINE IN BERLIN GERMANY

Recent perspectives on addictive behavior have integrated psychological and neurobiological correlates to focus on the key role of the brainrsquos reward system ldquoWe believe that conditioned drug-associated and behavior-associated cues can activate an lsquoaddiction memoryrsquo and craving and therefore maintain the addiction

in contrast to healthy subjects excessive computer gamers reported significantly higher scores of computer game-stimulus-induced arousal and craving as well as feelings of being controlled by the cues

Psychophysiological data indicate that the excessive computer gamers perceived the computer game-associated stimuli as significantly more pleasant as well as significantly more arousing than did non-excessive computer gamers who viewed these stimuli as neutral ldquoThese reactions are similar to what we found in drug users

JAKOB LINNET PHD OF AARHUS UNIVERSITY IN DENMARK

Found a significant increase in the release of dopaminemdasha brain chemical associated with so-called reward mechanisms in drug addictionmdashin the brains of high sensation-seeking healthy men during gambling

Data are interesting for two reasons ldquoFirst they support the hypothesis that dopamine levels can be altered behaviorally through rewarding (or punishing) activities such as gambling suggesting that dopamine may function as the bodyrsquos own drug independent of external drug intakerdquo

POSITIVE EFFECTS

In terms on the beneficial effects of video game playing there is some evidence that shows that certain type of video games especially the ones that involve fast pace first-person shooters improve peripheral vision enhances attention task switching object tracking decision making eye-hand coordination reaction time enhancements in low-level vision visual spatial capacity among others There is also some evidence of improvement in certain cognitive skills seen in video gamers compared to non-video gamers showing interesting enhanced basal cognitive effects

brief periods of playing time is usually associated with a positive trend in enhanced cognitive and motor abilities for certain types of games while a negative association is seen when players spend more than four hours a day In other words time spent playing excessively will impair social and academic abilities in teenagers and young adults

Beneficial effects depends on the genre of the video game Specifically pro-social and role-playing video games that contain chatting or other social networking functions (ie Tribes or Halo) that promote collaboration and multiple players tend to enhance social and leadership skills

NEGATIVE EFFECTS

Experts agreed that excessive video game playing is co-morbid with other psychiatric disorders such as chronic depression ADHD autism-like behaviors bipolar disorders Internet addiction and anxiety spectrum disorders

Violent video games that involve the shooting and destruction of other human beings animals and objects tend to produce anxiety behavior and is associated with promoting confrontational and disruptive behaviors in affected individuals and increases ldquohostile attribution biasrdquo However some experts cautioned to take the evidence with a grain of salt They specifically commented that playing violent video games does not generate a mass murderer or directly promote violent and aggressive behavior but increases the likelihood and risk for developing such aggressive behavior

Evidence that video games are addictive

Experts in the panel strongly agreed that there is no definitive answer but there are some neuroimaging studies that strongly suggest that the neuronal circuits and pathways involved with drug addiction are also involved with pathological video game addiction Namely the areas of the brain that light up according to these fMRI studies involve the basal ganglia parahippocampus thalamus prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens

Another expert pointed to a study that showed that video game addiction parallels the brain areas affected in alcoholics namely the orbitofrontal and anterior cyngulate cortex and mentioned that 1 out of 5 children are considered to be classified as addicted to video games

There is some evidence that brain neurochemistry may be altered in addicted video gamers which suggests that excessive video game playing can lead to alterations in brain circuitry For instance one study suggested that anti-depressants such as Prozac can certainly help to reduce the dependence and the addiction to video games in certain individuals

INTERNET ADDICTION NEUROIMAGING FINDINGSKAI YUAN1 WEI QIN1 YIJUN LIU2 AND JIE TIAN131LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH CENTER SCHOOL OF LIFE SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY XIDIAN UNIVERSITY XIrsquoAN CHINA 2DEPARTMENTS OF PSYCHIATRY AND NEUROSCIENCE MCKNIGHT BRAIN INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA GAINESVILLE FL USA 3INSTITUTE OF AUTOMATION CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES BEIJING CHINA

ConclusionsNeuroimaging studies have contributed significantly to our

understanding of the effect of IAD on the brain and illustrate the

broad range of brain regions involved As outlined in this paper

the neuroimaging findings suggested that the IAD shared the

similar neurobiological mechanisms of substance addiction and

behavioral addiction These noninvasive methods will play important

roles in the investigation of neurobiological mechanism and

adequate treatments of IAD and drug abuse Longitudinal design

and multiple imaging techniques with behavioral measurements

should be necessary to improve our understanding of IAD

A research team led by Hao Lei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan carried out brain scans of 35 men and women aged between 14 and 21

Dr Hao Lei and colleagues notedOverall our findings indicate that IAD has abnormal white matter integrity in brain regions involving emotional generation and processing executive attention decision making and cognitive control

Prof Gunter Schumann chair in biological psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College London said similar findings have been found in video game addicts

He told the BBC For the first time two studies show changes in the neuronal connections between brain areas as well as changes in brain function in people who are frequently using the internet or

video games

The study of 17 adolescents apparently addicted to the internet and 16 controls was conducted by Chinese researchersThe researchers used a technique called fractional anisotropy (FA) to measure the organization of the brain which is greatly influenced by the number and location of white matter fibres Those study participants who had displayed addiction symptoms showed lower FA values in a variety of regions of the brain such as as the orbito-frontal white matter corpus callosum cingulum inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and corona radiation Lower FA values indicate that the nerve fibres are not functioning properly

The researchers theorize that the myelin a protective sheath around nerve fibres is disrupted in a variety of regions of the brain in people with IAD They also believe that fractional anisotropy may eventually become an effective way of detecting the severity of internet addiction

PMCID PMC3312312

REDUCED STRIATAL DOPAMINE TRANSPORTERS IN PEOPLE WITH INTERNETADDICTION DISORDERHAIFENG HOU 1 2 3 4 SHAOWE JIA 5 SHU HU 5 RONG FAN 5

WEN SUN 5 TAOTAO SUN 5 AND HONG ZHANG 1 2 3 4

DEPARTMENT OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE SECOND AFFILIATED HOSPITAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE HANGZHOU ZHEJIANG 310009 CHINA

BEHAVIORAL ADDICTION

VS

DRUG ABUSE ADDICTION

GAMBLING SEX INTERNET PORNOGRAPHY

ADDICTION TO COCAINE METHAMPHETAMINE HYDROCHLORIDE KETAMINEBARBITURATES ALCOHOL

CNS Spectr 153 reg MBL Communications Inc March 2010 159- 166

IAD (INTERNET ADDICTION DISORDER)

IS A SPECULATED MENTAL DISORDER MADE AND INTRODUCED BY IVAN GOLDBERG MD IN 1995 IT IS AN ADDICTION THAT CLOSELY PARALLELS THE OTHER ADDICTIONS SUCH AS DRUG AND PATHOLOGICAL GAMBLING ADDICTION AND IS POTENTIALLY JUST AS DAMAGING

Results Internet game overusers showed greater impulsiveness than the normal users and there was a positive correlation between the severity of Internet game overuse and impulsiveness Imaging data showed that the overusers had increased glucose metabolism

Conclusion Internet game overuse may be associated with abnormal neurobiological mechanisms in the orbitofrontal cortex striatum and sensory regions which are implicated in impulse control reward processing and somatic representation of previous experiences Our results support the idea that Internet game overuse shares psychological and neural mechanisms with other types of impulse control disorders and substancenon-substance-related addiction

Altered Regional Cerebral Glucose Metabolism in Internet Game Overusers A 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography Study Hyun Soo Park MS Sang Hee Kim PhD Seong Ae Bang MA Eun Jin Yoon MS Sang Soo Cho PhD and Sang Eun Kim MD PhD Department of Nuclear Medicine at Seoul National University College of Medicine in South Korea

SABINE M GRUumlSSER-SINOPOLI PHD OF THE CHARITEacute-UNIVERSITY MEDICINE IN BERLIN GERMANY

Recent perspectives on addictive behavior have integrated psychological and neurobiological correlates to focus on the key role of the brainrsquos reward system ldquoWe believe that conditioned drug-associated and behavior-associated cues can activate an lsquoaddiction memoryrsquo and craving and therefore maintain the addiction

in contrast to healthy subjects excessive computer gamers reported significantly higher scores of computer game-stimulus-induced arousal and craving as well as feelings of being controlled by the cues

Psychophysiological data indicate that the excessive computer gamers perceived the computer game-associated stimuli as significantly more pleasant as well as significantly more arousing than did non-excessive computer gamers who viewed these stimuli as neutral ldquoThese reactions are similar to what we found in drug users

JAKOB LINNET PHD OF AARHUS UNIVERSITY IN DENMARK

Found a significant increase in the release of dopaminemdasha brain chemical associated with so-called reward mechanisms in drug addictionmdashin the brains of high sensation-seeking healthy men during gambling

Data are interesting for two reasons ldquoFirst they support the hypothesis that dopamine levels can be altered behaviorally through rewarding (or punishing) activities such as gambling suggesting that dopamine may function as the bodyrsquos own drug independent of external drug intakerdquo

POSITIVE EFFECTS

In terms on the beneficial effects of video game playing there is some evidence that shows that certain type of video games especially the ones that involve fast pace first-person shooters improve peripheral vision enhances attention task switching object tracking decision making eye-hand coordination reaction time enhancements in low-level vision visual spatial capacity among others There is also some evidence of improvement in certain cognitive skills seen in video gamers compared to non-video gamers showing interesting enhanced basal cognitive effects

brief periods of playing time is usually associated with a positive trend in enhanced cognitive and motor abilities for certain types of games while a negative association is seen when players spend more than four hours a day In other words time spent playing excessively will impair social and academic abilities in teenagers and young adults

Beneficial effects depends on the genre of the video game Specifically pro-social and role-playing video games that contain chatting or other social networking functions (ie Tribes or Halo) that promote collaboration and multiple players tend to enhance social and leadership skills

NEGATIVE EFFECTS

Experts agreed that excessive video game playing is co-morbid with other psychiatric disorders such as chronic depression ADHD autism-like behaviors bipolar disorders Internet addiction and anxiety spectrum disorders

Violent video games that involve the shooting and destruction of other human beings animals and objects tend to produce anxiety behavior and is associated with promoting confrontational and disruptive behaviors in affected individuals and increases ldquohostile attribution biasrdquo However some experts cautioned to take the evidence with a grain of salt They specifically commented that playing violent video games does not generate a mass murderer or directly promote violent and aggressive behavior but increases the likelihood and risk for developing such aggressive behavior

Evidence that video games are addictive

Experts in the panel strongly agreed that there is no definitive answer but there are some neuroimaging studies that strongly suggest that the neuronal circuits and pathways involved with drug addiction are also involved with pathological video game addiction Namely the areas of the brain that light up according to these fMRI studies involve the basal ganglia parahippocampus thalamus prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens

Another expert pointed to a study that showed that video game addiction parallels the brain areas affected in alcoholics namely the orbitofrontal and anterior cyngulate cortex and mentioned that 1 out of 5 children are considered to be classified as addicted to video games

There is some evidence that brain neurochemistry may be altered in addicted video gamers which suggests that excessive video game playing can lead to alterations in brain circuitry For instance one study suggested that anti-depressants such as Prozac can certainly help to reduce the dependence and the addiction to video games in certain individuals

INTERNET ADDICTION NEUROIMAGING FINDINGSKAI YUAN1 WEI QIN1 YIJUN LIU2 AND JIE TIAN131LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH CENTER SCHOOL OF LIFE SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY XIDIAN UNIVERSITY XIrsquoAN CHINA 2DEPARTMENTS OF PSYCHIATRY AND NEUROSCIENCE MCKNIGHT BRAIN INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA GAINESVILLE FL USA 3INSTITUTE OF AUTOMATION CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES BEIJING CHINA

ConclusionsNeuroimaging studies have contributed significantly to our

understanding of the effect of IAD on the brain and illustrate the

broad range of brain regions involved As outlined in this paper

the neuroimaging findings suggested that the IAD shared the

similar neurobiological mechanisms of substance addiction and

behavioral addiction These noninvasive methods will play important

roles in the investigation of neurobiological mechanism and

adequate treatments of IAD and drug abuse Longitudinal design

and multiple imaging techniques with behavioral measurements

should be necessary to improve our understanding of IAD

A research team led by Hao Lei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan carried out brain scans of 35 men and women aged between 14 and 21

Dr Hao Lei and colleagues notedOverall our findings indicate that IAD has abnormal white matter integrity in brain regions involving emotional generation and processing executive attention decision making and cognitive control

Prof Gunter Schumann chair in biological psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College London said similar findings have been found in video game addicts

He told the BBC For the first time two studies show changes in the neuronal connections between brain areas as well as changes in brain function in people who are frequently using the internet or

video games

The study of 17 adolescents apparently addicted to the internet and 16 controls was conducted by Chinese researchersThe researchers used a technique called fractional anisotropy (FA) to measure the organization of the brain which is greatly influenced by the number and location of white matter fibres Those study participants who had displayed addiction symptoms showed lower FA values in a variety of regions of the brain such as as the orbito-frontal white matter corpus callosum cingulum inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and corona radiation Lower FA values indicate that the nerve fibres are not functioning properly

The researchers theorize that the myelin a protective sheath around nerve fibres is disrupted in a variety of regions of the brain in people with IAD They also believe that fractional anisotropy may eventually become an effective way of detecting the severity of internet addiction

PMCID PMC3312312

REDUCED STRIATAL DOPAMINE TRANSPORTERS IN PEOPLE WITH INTERNETADDICTION DISORDERHAIFENG HOU 1 2 3 4 SHAOWE JIA 5 SHU HU 5 RONG FAN 5

WEN SUN 5 TAOTAO SUN 5 AND HONG ZHANG 1 2 3 4

DEPARTMENT OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE SECOND AFFILIATED HOSPITAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE HANGZHOU ZHEJIANG 310009 CHINA

GAMBLING SEX INTERNET PORNOGRAPHY

ADDICTION TO COCAINE METHAMPHETAMINE HYDROCHLORIDE KETAMINEBARBITURATES ALCOHOL

CNS Spectr 153 reg MBL Communications Inc March 2010 159- 166

IAD (INTERNET ADDICTION DISORDER)

IS A SPECULATED MENTAL DISORDER MADE AND INTRODUCED BY IVAN GOLDBERG MD IN 1995 IT IS AN ADDICTION THAT CLOSELY PARALLELS THE OTHER ADDICTIONS SUCH AS DRUG AND PATHOLOGICAL GAMBLING ADDICTION AND IS POTENTIALLY JUST AS DAMAGING

Results Internet game overusers showed greater impulsiveness than the normal users and there was a positive correlation between the severity of Internet game overuse and impulsiveness Imaging data showed that the overusers had increased glucose metabolism

Conclusion Internet game overuse may be associated with abnormal neurobiological mechanisms in the orbitofrontal cortex striatum and sensory regions which are implicated in impulse control reward processing and somatic representation of previous experiences Our results support the idea that Internet game overuse shares psychological and neural mechanisms with other types of impulse control disorders and substancenon-substance-related addiction

Altered Regional Cerebral Glucose Metabolism in Internet Game Overusers A 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography Study Hyun Soo Park MS Sang Hee Kim PhD Seong Ae Bang MA Eun Jin Yoon MS Sang Soo Cho PhD and Sang Eun Kim MD PhD Department of Nuclear Medicine at Seoul National University College of Medicine in South Korea

SABINE M GRUumlSSER-SINOPOLI PHD OF THE CHARITEacute-UNIVERSITY MEDICINE IN BERLIN GERMANY

Recent perspectives on addictive behavior have integrated psychological and neurobiological correlates to focus on the key role of the brainrsquos reward system ldquoWe believe that conditioned drug-associated and behavior-associated cues can activate an lsquoaddiction memoryrsquo and craving and therefore maintain the addiction

in contrast to healthy subjects excessive computer gamers reported significantly higher scores of computer game-stimulus-induced arousal and craving as well as feelings of being controlled by the cues

Psychophysiological data indicate that the excessive computer gamers perceived the computer game-associated stimuli as significantly more pleasant as well as significantly more arousing than did non-excessive computer gamers who viewed these stimuli as neutral ldquoThese reactions are similar to what we found in drug users

JAKOB LINNET PHD OF AARHUS UNIVERSITY IN DENMARK

Found a significant increase in the release of dopaminemdasha brain chemical associated with so-called reward mechanisms in drug addictionmdashin the brains of high sensation-seeking healthy men during gambling

Data are interesting for two reasons ldquoFirst they support the hypothesis that dopamine levels can be altered behaviorally through rewarding (or punishing) activities such as gambling suggesting that dopamine may function as the bodyrsquos own drug independent of external drug intakerdquo

POSITIVE EFFECTS

In terms on the beneficial effects of video game playing there is some evidence that shows that certain type of video games especially the ones that involve fast pace first-person shooters improve peripheral vision enhances attention task switching object tracking decision making eye-hand coordination reaction time enhancements in low-level vision visual spatial capacity among others There is also some evidence of improvement in certain cognitive skills seen in video gamers compared to non-video gamers showing interesting enhanced basal cognitive effects

brief periods of playing time is usually associated with a positive trend in enhanced cognitive and motor abilities for certain types of games while a negative association is seen when players spend more than four hours a day In other words time spent playing excessively will impair social and academic abilities in teenagers and young adults

Beneficial effects depends on the genre of the video game Specifically pro-social and role-playing video games that contain chatting or other social networking functions (ie Tribes or Halo) that promote collaboration and multiple players tend to enhance social and leadership skills

NEGATIVE EFFECTS

Experts agreed that excessive video game playing is co-morbid with other psychiatric disorders such as chronic depression ADHD autism-like behaviors bipolar disorders Internet addiction and anxiety spectrum disorders

Violent video games that involve the shooting and destruction of other human beings animals and objects tend to produce anxiety behavior and is associated with promoting confrontational and disruptive behaviors in affected individuals and increases ldquohostile attribution biasrdquo However some experts cautioned to take the evidence with a grain of salt They specifically commented that playing violent video games does not generate a mass murderer or directly promote violent and aggressive behavior but increases the likelihood and risk for developing such aggressive behavior

Evidence that video games are addictive

Experts in the panel strongly agreed that there is no definitive answer but there are some neuroimaging studies that strongly suggest that the neuronal circuits and pathways involved with drug addiction are also involved with pathological video game addiction Namely the areas of the brain that light up according to these fMRI studies involve the basal ganglia parahippocampus thalamus prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens

Another expert pointed to a study that showed that video game addiction parallels the brain areas affected in alcoholics namely the orbitofrontal and anterior cyngulate cortex and mentioned that 1 out of 5 children are considered to be classified as addicted to video games

There is some evidence that brain neurochemistry may be altered in addicted video gamers which suggests that excessive video game playing can lead to alterations in brain circuitry For instance one study suggested that anti-depressants such as Prozac can certainly help to reduce the dependence and the addiction to video games in certain individuals

INTERNET ADDICTION NEUROIMAGING FINDINGSKAI YUAN1 WEI QIN1 YIJUN LIU2 AND JIE TIAN131LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH CENTER SCHOOL OF LIFE SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY XIDIAN UNIVERSITY XIrsquoAN CHINA 2DEPARTMENTS OF PSYCHIATRY AND NEUROSCIENCE MCKNIGHT BRAIN INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA GAINESVILLE FL USA 3INSTITUTE OF AUTOMATION CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES BEIJING CHINA

ConclusionsNeuroimaging studies have contributed significantly to our

understanding of the effect of IAD on the brain and illustrate the

broad range of brain regions involved As outlined in this paper

the neuroimaging findings suggested that the IAD shared the

similar neurobiological mechanisms of substance addiction and

behavioral addiction These noninvasive methods will play important

roles in the investigation of neurobiological mechanism and

adequate treatments of IAD and drug abuse Longitudinal design

and multiple imaging techniques with behavioral measurements

should be necessary to improve our understanding of IAD

A research team led by Hao Lei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan carried out brain scans of 35 men and women aged between 14 and 21

Dr Hao Lei and colleagues notedOverall our findings indicate that IAD has abnormal white matter integrity in brain regions involving emotional generation and processing executive attention decision making and cognitive control

Prof Gunter Schumann chair in biological psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College London said similar findings have been found in video game addicts

He told the BBC For the first time two studies show changes in the neuronal connections between brain areas as well as changes in brain function in people who are frequently using the internet or

video games

The study of 17 adolescents apparently addicted to the internet and 16 controls was conducted by Chinese researchersThe researchers used a technique called fractional anisotropy (FA) to measure the organization of the brain which is greatly influenced by the number and location of white matter fibres Those study participants who had displayed addiction symptoms showed lower FA values in a variety of regions of the brain such as as the orbito-frontal white matter corpus callosum cingulum inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and corona radiation Lower FA values indicate that the nerve fibres are not functioning properly

The researchers theorize that the myelin a protective sheath around nerve fibres is disrupted in a variety of regions of the brain in people with IAD They also believe that fractional anisotropy may eventually become an effective way of detecting the severity of internet addiction

PMCID PMC3312312

REDUCED STRIATAL DOPAMINE TRANSPORTERS IN PEOPLE WITH INTERNETADDICTION DISORDERHAIFENG HOU 1 2 3 4 SHAOWE JIA 5 SHU HU 5 RONG FAN 5

WEN SUN 5 TAOTAO SUN 5 AND HONG ZHANG 1 2 3 4

DEPARTMENT OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE SECOND AFFILIATED HOSPITAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE HANGZHOU ZHEJIANG 310009 CHINA

CNS Spectr 153 reg MBL Communications Inc March 2010 159- 166

IAD (INTERNET ADDICTION DISORDER)

IS A SPECULATED MENTAL DISORDER MADE AND INTRODUCED BY IVAN GOLDBERG MD IN 1995 IT IS AN ADDICTION THAT CLOSELY PARALLELS THE OTHER ADDICTIONS SUCH AS DRUG AND PATHOLOGICAL GAMBLING ADDICTION AND IS POTENTIALLY JUST AS DAMAGING

Results Internet game overusers showed greater impulsiveness than the normal users and there was a positive correlation between the severity of Internet game overuse and impulsiveness Imaging data showed that the overusers had increased glucose metabolism

Conclusion Internet game overuse may be associated with abnormal neurobiological mechanisms in the orbitofrontal cortex striatum and sensory regions which are implicated in impulse control reward processing and somatic representation of previous experiences Our results support the idea that Internet game overuse shares psychological and neural mechanisms with other types of impulse control disorders and substancenon-substance-related addiction

Altered Regional Cerebral Glucose Metabolism in Internet Game Overusers A 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography Study Hyun Soo Park MS Sang Hee Kim PhD Seong Ae Bang MA Eun Jin Yoon MS Sang Soo Cho PhD and Sang Eun Kim MD PhD Department of Nuclear Medicine at Seoul National University College of Medicine in South Korea

SABINE M GRUumlSSER-SINOPOLI PHD OF THE CHARITEacute-UNIVERSITY MEDICINE IN BERLIN GERMANY

Recent perspectives on addictive behavior have integrated psychological and neurobiological correlates to focus on the key role of the brainrsquos reward system ldquoWe believe that conditioned drug-associated and behavior-associated cues can activate an lsquoaddiction memoryrsquo and craving and therefore maintain the addiction

in contrast to healthy subjects excessive computer gamers reported significantly higher scores of computer game-stimulus-induced arousal and craving as well as feelings of being controlled by the cues

Psychophysiological data indicate that the excessive computer gamers perceived the computer game-associated stimuli as significantly more pleasant as well as significantly more arousing than did non-excessive computer gamers who viewed these stimuli as neutral ldquoThese reactions are similar to what we found in drug users

JAKOB LINNET PHD OF AARHUS UNIVERSITY IN DENMARK

Found a significant increase in the release of dopaminemdasha brain chemical associated with so-called reward mechanisms in drug addictionmdashin the brains of high sensation-seeking healthy men during gambling

Data are interesting for two reasons ldquoFirst they support the hypothesis that dopamine levels can be altered behaviorally through rewarding (or punishing) activities such as gambling suggesting that dopamine may function as the bodyrsquos own drug independent of external drug intakerdquo

POSITIVE EFFECTS

In terms on the beneficial effects of video game playing there is some evidence that shows that certain type of video games especially the ones that involve fast pace first-person shooters improve peripheral vision enhances attention task switching object tracking decision making eye-hand coordination reaction time enhancements in low-level vision visual spatial capacity among others There is also some evidence of improvement in certain cognitive skills seen in video gamers compared to non-video gamers showing interesting enhanced basal cognitive effects

brief periods of playing time is usually associated with a positive trend in enhanced cognitive and motor abilities for certain types of games while a negative association is seen when players spend more than four hours a day In other words time spent playing excessively will impair social and academic abilities in teenagers and young adults

Beneficial effects depends on the genre of the video game Specifically pro-social and role-playing video games that contain chatting or other social networking functions (ie Tribes or Halo) that promote collaboration and multiple players tend to enhance social and leadership skills

NEGATIVE EFFECTS

Experts agreed that excessive video game playing is co-morbid with other psychiatric disorders such as chronic depression ADHD autism-like behaviors bipolar disorders Internet addiction and anxiety spectrum disorders

Violent video games that involve the shooting and destruction of other human beings animals and objects tend to produce anxiety behavior and is associated with promoting confrontational and disruptive behaviors in affected individuals and increases ldquohostile attribution biasrdquo However some experts cautioned to take the evidence with a grain of salt They specifically commented that playing violent video games does not generate a mass murderer or directly promote violent and aggressive behavior but increases the likelihood and risk for developing such aggressive behavior

Evidence that video games are addictive

Experts in the panel strongly agreed that there is no definitive answer but there are some neuroimaging studies that strongly suggest that the neuronal circuits and pathways involved with drug addiction are also involved with pathological video game addiction Namely the areas of the brain that light up according to these fMRI studies involve the basal ganglia parahippocampus thalamus prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens

Another expert pointed to a study that showed that video game addiction parallels the brain areas affected in alcoholics namely the orbitofrontal and anterior cyngulate cortex and mentioned that 1 out of 5 children are considered to be classified as addicted to video games

There is some evidence that brain neurochemistry may be altered in addicted video gamers which suggests that excessive video game playing can lead to alterations in brain circuitry For instance one study suggested that anti-depressants such as Prozac can certainly help to reduce the dependence and the addiction to video games in certain individuals

INTERNET ADDICTION NEUROIMAGING FINDINGSKAI YUAN1 WEI QIN1 YIJUN LIU2 AND JIE TIAN131LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH CENTER SCHOOL OF LIFE SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY XIDIAN UNIVERSITY XIrsquoAN CHINA 2DEPARTMENTS OF PSYCHIATRY AND NEUROSCIENCE MCKNIGHT BRAIN INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA GAINESVILLE FL USA 3INSTITUTE OF AUTOMATION CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES BEIJING CHINA

ConclusionsNeuroimaging studies have contributed significantly to our

understanding of the effect of IAD on the brain and illustrate the

broad range of brain regions involved As outlined in this paper

the neuroimaging findings suggested that the IAD shared the

similar neurobiological mechanisms of substance addiction and

behavioral addiction These noninvasive methods will play important

roles in the investigation of neurobiological mechanism and

adequate treatments of IAD and drug abuse Longitudinal design

and multiple imaging techniques with behavioral measurements

should be necessary to improve our understanding of IAD

A research team led by Hao Lei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan carried out brain scans of 35 men and women aged between 14 and 21

Dr Hao Lei and colleagues notedOverall our findings indicate that IAD has abnormal white matter integrity in brain regions involving emotional generation and processing executive attention decision making and cognitive control

Prof Gunter Schumann chair in biological psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College London said similar findings have been found in video game addicts

He told the BBC For the first time two studies show changes in the neuronal connections between brain areas as well as changes in brain function in people who are frequently using the internet or

video games

The study of 17 adolescents apparently addicted to the internet and 16 controls was conducted by Chinese researchersThe researchers used a technique called fractional anisotropy (FA) to measure the organization of the brain which is greatly influenced by the number and location of white matter fibres Those study participants who had displayed addiction symptoms showed lower FA values in a variety of regions of the brain such as as the orbito-frontal white matter corpus callosum cingulum inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and corona radiation Lower FA values indicate that the nerve fibres are not functioning properly

The researchers theorize that the myelin a protective sheath around nerve fibres is disrupted in a variety of regions of the brain in people with IAD They also believe that fractional anisotropy may eventually become an effective way of detecting the severity of internet addiction

PMCID PMC3312312

REDUCED STRIATAL DOPAMINE TRANSPORTERS IN PEOPLE WITH INTERNETADDICTION DISORDERHAIFENG HOU 1 2 3 4 SHAOWE JIA 5 SHU HU 5 RONG FAN 5

WEN SUN 5 TAOTAO SUN 5 AND HONG ZHANG 1 2 3 4

DEPARTMENT OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE SECOND AFFILIATED HOSPITAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE HANGZHOU ZHEJIANG 310009 CHINA

Results Internet game overusers showed greater impulsiveness than the normal users and there was a positive correlation between the severity of Internet game overuse and impulsiveness Imaging data showed that the overusers had increased glucose metabolism

Conclusion Internet game overuse may be associated with abnormal neurobiological mechanisms in the orbitofrontal cortex striatum and sensory regions which are implicated in impulse control reward processing and somatic representation of previous experiences Our results support the idea that Internet game overuse shares psychological and neural mechanisms with other types of impulse control disorders and substancenon-substance-related addiction

Altered Regional Cerebral Glucose Metabolism in Internet Game Overusers A 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography Study Hyun Soo Park MS Sang Hee Kim PhD Seong Ae Bang MA Eun Jin Yoon MS Sang Soo Cho PhD and Sang Eun Kim MD PhD Department of Nuclear Medicine at Seoul National University College of Medicine in South Korea

SABINE M GRUumlSSER-SINOPOLI PHD OF THE CHARITEacute-UNIVERSITY MEDICINE IN BERLIN GERMANY

Recent perspectives on addictive behavior have integrated psychological and neurobiological correlates to focus on the key role of the brainrsquos reward system ldquoWe believe that conditioned drug-associated and behavior-associated cues can activate an lsquoaddiction memoryrsquo and craving and therefore maintain the addiction

in contrast to healthy subjects excessive computer gamers reported significantly higher scores of computer game-stimulus-induced arousal and craving as well as feelings of being controlled by the cues

Psychophysiological data indicate that the excessive computer gamers perceived the computer game-associated stimuli as significantly more pleasant as well as significantly more arousing than did non-excessive computer gamers who viewed these stimuli as neutral ldquoThese reactions are similar to what we found in drug users

JAKOB LINNET PHD OF AARHUS UNIVERSITY IN DENMARK

Found a significant increase in the release of dopaminemdasha brain chemical associated with so-called reward mechanisms in drug addictionmdashin the brains of high sensation-seeking healthy men during gambling

Data are interesting for two reasons ldquoFirst they support the hypothesis that dopamine levels can be altered behaviorally through rewarding (or punishing) activities such as gambling suggesting that dopamine may function as the bodyrsquos own drug independent of external drug intakerdquo

POSITIVE EFFECTS

In terms on the beneficial effects of video game playing there is some evidence that shows that certain type of video games especially the ones that involve fast pace first-person shooters improve peripheral vision enhances attention task switching object tracking decision making eye-hand coordination reaction time enhancements in low-level vision visual spatial capacity among others There is also some evidence of improvement in certain cognitive skills seen in video gamers compared to non-video gamers showing interesting enhanced basal cognitive effects

brief periods of playing time is usually associated with a positive trend in enhanced cognitive and motor abilities for certain types of games while a negative association is seen when players spend more than four hours a day In other words time spent playing excessively will impair social and academic abilities in teenagers and young adults

Beneficial effects depends on the genre of the video game Specifically pro-social and role-playing video games that contain chatting or other social networking functions (ie Tribes or Halo) that promote collaboration and multiple players tend to enhance social and leadership skills

NEGATIVE EFFECTS

Experts agreed that excessive video game playing is co-morbid with other psychiatric disorders such as chronic depression ADHD autism-like behaviors bipolar disorders Internet addiction and anxiety spectrum disorders

Violent video games that involve the shooting and destruction of other human beings animals and objects tend to produce anxiety behavior and is associated with promoting confrontational and disruptive behaviors in affected individuals and increases ldquohostile attribution biasrdquo However some experts cautioned to take the evidence with a grain of salt They specifically commented that playing violent video games does not generate a mass murderer or directly promote violent and aggressive behavior but increases the likelihood and risk for developing such aggressive behavior

Evidence that video games are addictive

Experts in the panel strongly agreed that there is no definitive answer but there are some neuroimaging studies that strongly suggest that the neuronal circuits and pathways involved with drug addiction are also involved with pathological video game addiction Namely the areas of the brain that light up according to these fMRI studies involve the basal ganglia parahippocampus thalamus prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens

Another expert pointed to a study that showed that video game addiction parallels the brain areas affected in alcoholics namely the orbitofrontal and anterior cyngulate cortex and mentioned that 1 out of 5 children are considered to be classified as addicted to video games

There is some evidence that brain neurochemistry may be altered in addicted video gamers which suggests that excessive video game playing can lead to alterations in brain circuitry For instance one study suggested that anti-depressants such as Prozac can certainly help to reduce the dependence and the addiction to video games in certain individuals

INTERNET ADDICTION NEUROIMAGING FINDINGSKAI YUAN1 WEI QIN1 YIJUN LIU2 AND JIE TIAN131LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH CENTER SCHOOL OF LIFE SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY XIDIAN UNIVERSITY XIrsquoAN CHINA 2DEPARTMENTS OF PSYCHIATRY AND NEUROSCIENCE MCKNIGHT BRAIN INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA GAINESVILLE FL USA 3INSTITUTE OF AUTOMATION CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES BEIJING CHINA

ConclusionsNeuroimaging studies have contributed significantly to our

understanding of the effect of IAD on the brain and illustrate the

broad range of brain regions involved As outlined in this paper

the neuroimaging findings suggested that the IAD shared the

similar neurobiological mechanisms of substance addiction and

behavioral addiction These noninvasive methods will play important

roles in the investigation of neurobiological mechanism and

adequate treatments of IAD and drug abuse Longitudinal design

and multiple imaging techniques with behavioral measurements

should be necessary to improve our understanding of IAD

A research team led by Hao Lei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan carried out brain scans of 35 men and women aged between 14 and 21

Dr Hao Lei and colleagues notedOverall our findings indicate that IAD has abnormal white matter integrity in brain regions involving emotional generation and processing executive attention decision making and cognitive control

Prof Gunter Schumann chair in biological psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College London said similar findings have been found in video game addicts

He told the BBC For the first time two studies show changes in the neuronal connections between brain areas as well as changes in brain function in people who are frequently using the internet or

video games

The study of 17 adolescents apparently addicted to the internet and 16 controls was conducted by Chinese researchersThe researchers used a technique called fractional anisotropy (FA) to measure the organization of the brain which is greatly influenced by the number and location of white matter fibres Those study participants who had displayed addiction symptoms showed lower FA values in a variety of regions of the brain such as as the orbito-frontal white matter corpus callosum cingulum inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and corona radiation Lower FA values indicate that the nerve fibres are not functioning properly

The researchers theorize that the myelin a protective sheath around nerve fibres is disrupted in a variety of regions of the brain in people with IAD They also believe that fractional anisotropy may eventually become an effective way of detecting the severity of internet addiction

PMCID PMC3312312

REDUCED STRIATAL DOPAMINE TRANSPORTERS IN PEOPLE WITH INTERNETADDICTION DISORDERHAIFENG HOU 1 2 3 4 SHAOWE JIA 5 SHU HU 5 RONG FAN 5

WEN SUN 5 TAOTAO SUN 5 AND HONG ZHANG 1 2 3 4

DEPARTMENT OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE SECOND AFFILIATED HOSPITAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE HANGZHOU ZHEJIANG 310009 CHINA

SABINE M GRUumlSSER-SINOPOLI PHD OF THE CHARITEacute-UNIVERSITY MEDICINE IN BERLIN GERMANY

Recent perspectives on addictive behavior have integrated psychological and neurobiological correlates to focus on the key role of the brainrsquos reward system ldquoWe believe that conditioned drug-associated and behavior-associated cues can activate an lsquoaddiction memoryrsquo and craving and therefore maintain the addiction

in contrast to healthy subjects excessive computer gamers reported significantly higher scores of computer game-stimulus-induced arousal and craving as well as feelings of being controlled by the cues

Psychophysiological data indicate that the excessive computer gamers perceived the computer game-associated stimuli as significantly more pleasant as well as significantly more arousing than did non-excessive computer gamers who viewed these stimuli as neutral ldquoThese reactions are similar to what we found in drug users

JAKOB LINNET PHD OF AARHUS UNIVERSITY IN DENMARK

Found a significant increase in the release of dopaminemdasha brain chemical associated with so-called reward mechanisms in drug addictionmdashin the brains of high sensation-seeking healthy men during gambling

Data are interesting for two reasons ldquoFirst they support the hypothesis that dopamine levels can be altered behaviorally through rewarding (or punishing) activities such as gambling suggesting that dopamine may function as the bodyrsquos own drug independent of external drug intakerdquo

POSITIVE EFFECTS

In terms on the beneficial effects of video game playing there is some evidence that shows that certain type of video games especially the ones that involve fast pace first-person shooters improve peripheral vision enhances attention task switching object tracking decision making eye-hand coordination reaction time enhancements in low-level vision visual spatial capacity among others There is also some evidence of improvement in certain cognitive skills seen in video gamers compared to non-video gamers showing interesting enhanced basal cognitive effects

brief periods of playing time is usually associated with a positive trend in enhanced cognitive and motor abilities for certain types of games while a negative association is seen when players spend more than four hours a day In other words time spent playing excessively will impair social and academic abilities in teenagers and young adults

Beneficial effects depends on the genre of the video game Specifically pro-social and role-playing video games that contain chatting or other social networking functions (ie Tribes or Halo) that promote collaboration and multiple players tend to enhance social and leadership skills

NEGATIVE EFFECTS

Experts agreed that excessive video game playing is co-morbid with other psychiatric disorders such as chronic depression ADHD autism-like behaviors bipolar disorders Internet addiction and anxiety spectrum disorders

Violent video games that involve the shooting and destruction of other human beings animals and objects tend to produce anxiety behavior and is associated with promoting confrontational and disruptive behaviors in affected individuals and increases ldquohostile attribution biasrdquo However some experts cautioned to take the evidence with a grain of salt They specifically commented that playing violent video games does not generate a mass murderer or directly promote violent and aggressive behavior but increases the likelihood and risk for developing such aggressive behavior

Evidence that video games are addictive

Experts in the panel strongly agreed that there is no definitive answer but there are some neuroimaging studies that strongly suggest that the neuronal circuits and pathways involved with drug addiction are also involved with pathological video game addiction Namely the areas of the brain that light up according to these fMRI studies involve the basal ganglia parahippocampus thalamus prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens

Another expert pointed to a study that showed that video game addiction parallels the brain areas affected in alcoholics namely the orbitofrontal and anterior cyngulate cortex and mentioned that 1 out of 5 children are considered to be classified as addicted to video games

There is some evidence that brain neurochemistry may be altered in addicted video gamers which suggests that excessive video game playing can lead to alterations in brain circuitry For instance one study suggested that anti-depressants such as Prozac can certainly help to reduce the dependence and the addiction to video games in certain individuals

INTERNET ADDICTION NEUROIMAGING FINDINGSKAI YUAN1 WEI QIN1 YIJUN LIU2 AND JIE TIAN131LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH CENTER SCHOOL OF LIFE SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY XIDIAN UNIVERSITY XIrsquoAN CHINA 2DEPARTMENTS OF PSYCHIATRY AND NEUROSCIENCE MCKNIGHT BRAIN INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA GAINESVILLE FL USA 3INSTITUTE OF AUTOMATION CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES BEIJING CHINA

ConclusionsNeuroimaging studies have contributed significantly to our

understanding of the effect of IAD on the brain and illustrate the

broad range of brain regions involved As outlined in this paper

the neuroimaging findings suggested that the IAD shared the

similar neurobiological mechanisms of substance addiction and

behavioral addiction These noninvasive methods will play important

roles in the investigation of neurobiological mechanism and

adequate treatments of IAD and drug abuse Longitudinal design

and multiple imaging techniques with behavioral measurements

should be necessary to improve our understanding of IAD

A research team led by Hao Lei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan carried out brain scans of 35 men and women aged between 14 and 21

Dr Hao Lei and colleagues notedOverall our findings indicate that IAD has abnormal white matter integrity in brain regions involving emotional generation and processing executive attention decision making and cognitive control

Prof Gunter Schumann chair in biological psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College London said similar findings have been found in video game addicts

He told the BBC For the first time two studies show changes in the neuronal connections between brain areas as well as changes in brain function in people who are frequently using the internet or

video games

The study of 17 adolescents apparently addicted to the internet and 16 controls was conducted by Chinese researchersThe researchers used a technique called fractional anisotropy (FA) to measure the organization of the brain which is greatly influenced by the number and location of white matter fibres Those study participants who had displayed addiction symptoms showed lower FA values in a variety of regions of the brain such as as the orbito-frontal white matter corpus callosum cingulum inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and corona radiation Lower FA values indicate that the nerve fibres are not functioning properly

The researchers theorize that the myelin a protective sheath around nerve fibres is disrupted in a variety of regions of the brain in people with IAD They also believe that fractional anisotropy may eventually become an effective way of detecting the severity of internet addiction

PMCID PMC3312312

REDUCED STRIATAL DOPAMINE TRANSPORTERS IN PEOPLE WITH INTERNETADDICTION DISORDERHAIFENG HOU 1 2 3 4 SHAOWE JIA 5 SHU HU 5 RONG FAN 5

WEN SUN 5 TAOTAO SUN 5 AND HONG ZHANG 1 2 3 4

DEPARTMENT OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE SECOND AFFILIATED HOSPITAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE HANGZHOU ZHEJIANG 310009 CHINA

JAKOB LINNET PHD OF AARHUS UNIVERSITY IN DENMARK

Found a significant increase in the release of dopaminemdasha brain chemical associated with so-called reward mechanisms in drug addictionmdashin the brains of high sensation-seeking healthy men during gambling

Data are interesting for two reasons ldquoFirst they support the hypothesis that dopamine levels can be altered behaviorally through rewarding (or punishing) activities such as gambling suggesting that dopamine may function as the bodyrsquos own drug independent of external drug intakerdquo

POSITIVE EFFECTS

In terms on the beneficial effects of video game playing there is some evidence that shows that certain type of video games especially the ones that involve fast pace first-person shooters improve peripheral vision enhances attention task switching object tracking decision making eye-hand coordination reaction time enhancements in low-level vision visual spatial capacity among others There is also some evidence of improvement in certain cognitive skills seen in video gamers compared to non-video gamers showing interesting enhanced basal cognitive effects

brief periods of playing time is usually associated with a positive trend in enhanced cognitive and motor abilities for certain types of games while a negative association is seen when players spend more than four hours a day In other words time spent playing excessively will impair social and academic abilities in teenagers and young adults

Beneficial effects depends on the genre of the video game Specifically pro-social and role-playing video games that contain chatting or other social networking functions (ie Tribes or Halo) that promote collaboration and multiple players tend to enhance social and leadership skills

NEGATIVE EFFECTS

Experts agreed that excessive video game playing is co-morbid with other psychiatric disorders such as chronic depression ADHD autism-like behaviors bipolar disorders Internet addiction and anxiety spectrum disorders

Violent video games that involve the shooting and destruction of other human beings animals and objects tend to produce anxiety behavior and is associated with promoting confrontational and disruptive behaviors in affected individuals and increases ldquohostile attribution biasrdquo However some experts cautioned to take the evidence with a grain of salt They specifically commented that playing violent video games does not generate a mass murderer or directly promote violent and aggressive behavior but increases the likelihood and risk for developing such aggressive behavior

Evidence that video games are addictive

Experts in the panel strongly agreed that there is no definitive answer but there are some neuroimaging studies that strongly suggest that the neuronal circuits and pathways involved with drug addiction are also involved with pathological video game addiction Namely the areas of the brain that light up according to these fMRI studies involve the basal ganglia parahippocampus thalamus prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens

Another expert pointed to a study that showed that video game addiction parallels the brain areas affected in alcoholics namely the orbitofrontal and anterior cyngulate cortex and mentioned that 1 out of 5 children are considered to be classified as addicted to video games

There is some evidence that brain neurochemistry may be altered in addicted video gamers which suggests that excessive video game playing can lead to alterations in brain circuitry For instance one study suggested that anti-depressants such as Prozac can certainly help to reduce the dependence and the addiction to video games in certain individuals

INTERNET ADDICTION NEUROIMAGING FINDINGSKAI YUAN1 WEI QIN1 YIJUN LIU2 AND JIE TIAN131LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH CENTER SCHOOL OF LIFE SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY XIDIAN UNIVERSITY XIrsquoAN CHINA 2DEPARTMENTS OF PSYCHIATRY AND NEUROSCIENCE MCKNIGHT BRAIN INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA GAINESVILLE FL USA 3INSTITUTE OF AUTOMATION CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES BEIJING CHINA

ConclusionsNeuroimaging studies have contributed significantly to our

understanding of the effect of IAD on the brain and illustrate the

broad range of brain regions involved As outlined in this paper

the neuroimaging findings suggested that the IAD shared the

similar neurobiological mechanisms of substance addiction and

behavioral addiction These noninvasive methods will play important

roles in the investigation of neurobiological mechanism and

adequate treatments of IAD and drug abuse Longitudinal design

and multiple imaging techniques with behavioral measurements

should be necessary to improve our understanding of IAD

A research team led by Hao Lei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan carried out brain scans of 35 men and women aged between 14 and 21

Dr Hao Lei and colleagues notedOverall our findings indicate that IAD has abnormal white matter integrity in brain regions involving emotional generation and processing executive attention decision making and cognitive control

Prof Gunter Schumann chair in biological psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College London said similar findings have been found in video game addicts

He told the BBC For the first time two studies show changes in the neuronal connections between brain areas as well as changes in brain function in people who are frequently using the internet or

video games

The study of 17 adolescents apparently addicted to the internet and 16 controls was conducted by Chinese researchersThe researchers used a technique called fractional anisotropy (FA) to measure the organization of the brain which is greatly influenced by the number and location of white matter fibres Those study participants who had displayed addiction symptoms showed lower FA values in a variety of regions of the brain such as as the orbito-frontal white matter corpus callosum cingulum inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and corona radiation Lower FA values indicate that the nerve fibres are not functioning properly

The researchers theorize that the myelin a protective sheath around nerve fibres is disrupted in a variety of regions of the brain in people with IAD They also believe that fractional anisotropy may eventually become an effective way of detecting the severity of internet addiction

PMCID PMC3312312

REDUCED STRIATAL DOPAMINE TRANSPORTERS IN PEOPLE WITH INTERNETADDICTION DISORDERHAIFENG HOU 1 2 3 4 SHAOWE JIA 5 SHU HU 5 RONG FAN 5

WEN SUN 5 TAOTAO SUN 5 AND HONG ZHANG 1 2 3 4

DEPARTMENT OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE SECOND AFFILIATED HOSPITAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE HANGZHOU ZHEJIANG 310009 CHINA

POSITIVE EFFECTS

In terms on the beneficial effects of video game playing there is some evidence that shows that certain type of video games especially the ones that involve fast pace first-person shooters improve peripheral vision enhances attention task switching object tracking decision making eye-hand coordination reaction time enhancements in low-level vision visual spatial capacity among others There is also some evidence of improvement in certain cognitive skills seen in video gamers compared to non-video gamers showing interesting enhanced basal cognitive effects

brief periods of playing time is usually associated with a positive trend in enhanced cognitive and motor abilities for certain types of games while a negative association is seen when players spend more than four hours a day In other words time spent playing excessively will impair social and academic abilities in teenagers and young adults

Beneficial effects depends on the genre of the video game Specifically pro-social and role-playing video games that contain chatting or other social networking functions (ie Tribes or Halo) that promote collaboration and multiple players tend to enhance social and leadership skills

NEGATIVE EFFECTS

Experts agreed that excessive video game playing is co-morbid with other psychiatric disorders such as chronic depression ADHD autism-like behaviors bipolar disorders Internet addiction and anxiety spectrum disorders

Violent video games that involve the shooting and destruction of other human beings animals and objects tend to produce anxiety behavior and is associated with promoting confrontational and disruptive behaviors in affected individuals and increases ldquohostile attribution biasrdquo However some experts cautioned to take the evidence with a grain of salt They specifically commented that playing violent video games does not generate a mass murderer or directly promote violent and aggressive behavior but increases the likelihood and risk for developing such aggressive behavior

Evidence that video games are addictive

Experts in the panel strongly agreed that there is no definitive answer but there are some neuroimaging studies that strongly suggest that the neuronal circuits and pathways involved with drug addiction are also involved with pathological video game addiction Namely the areas of the brain that light up according to these fMRI studies involve the basal ganglia parahippocampus thalamus prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens

Another expert pointed to a study that showed that video game addiction parallels the brain areas affected in alcoholics namely the orbitofrontal and anterior cyngulate cortex and mentioned that 1 out of 5 children are considered to be classified as addicted to video games

There is some evidence that brain neurochemistry may be altered in addicted video gamers which suggests that excessive video game playing can lead to alterations in brain circuitry For instance one study suggested that anti-depressants such as Prozac can certainly help to reduce the dependence and the addiction to video games in certain individuals

INTERNET ADDICTION NEUROIMAGING FINDINGSKAI YUAN1 WEI QIN1 YIJUN LIU2 AND JIE TIAN131LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH CENTER SCHOOL OF LIFE SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY XIDIAN UNIVERSITY XIrsquoAN CHINA 2DEPARTMENTS OF PSYCHIATRY AND NEUROSCIENCE MCKNIGHT BRAIN INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA GAINESVILLE FL USA 3INSTITUTE OF AUTOMATION CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES BEIJING CHINA

ConclusionsNeuroimaging studies have contributed significantly to our

understanding of the effect of IAD on the brain and illustrate the

broad range of brain regions involved As outlined in this paper

the neuroimaging findings suggested that the IAD shared the

similar neurobiological mechanisms of substance addiction and

behavioral addiction These noninvasive methods will play important

roles in the investigation of neurobiological mechanism and

adequate treatments of IAD and drug abuse Longitudinal design

and multiple imaging techniques with behavioral measurements

should be necessary to improve our understanding of IAD

A research team led by Hao Lei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan carried out brain scans of 35 men and women aged between 14 and 21

Dr Hao Lei and colleagues notedOverall our findings indicate that IAD has abnormal white matter integrity in brain regions involving emotional generation and processing executive attention decision making and cognitive control

Prof Gunter Schumann chair in biological psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College London said similar findings have been found in video game addicts

He told the BBC For the first time two studies show changes in the neuronal connections between brain areas as well as changes in brain function in people who are frequently using the internet or

video games

The study of 17 adolescents apparently addicted to the internet and 16 controls was conducted by Chinese researchersThe researchers used a technique called fractional anisotropy (FA) to measure the organization of the brain which is greatly influenced by the number and location of white matter fibres Those study participants who had displayed addiction symptoms showed lower FA values in a variety of regions of the brain such as as the orbito-frontal white matter corpus callosum cingulum inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and corona radiation Lower FA values indicate that the nerve fibres are not functioning properly

The researchers theorize that the myelin a protective sheath around nerve fibres is disrupted in a variety of regions of the brain in people with IAD They also believe that fractional anisotropy may eventually become an effective way of detecting the severity of internet addiction

PMCID PMC3312312

REDUCED STRIATAL DOPAMINE TRANSPORTERS IN PEOPLE WITH INTERNETADDICTION DISORDERHAIFENG HOU 1 2 3 4 SHAOWE JIA 5 SHU HU 5 RONG FAN 5

WEN SUN 5 TAOTAO SUN 5 AND HONG ZHANG 1 2 3 4

DEPARTMENT OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE SECOND AFFILIATED HOSPITAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE HANGZHOU ZHEJIANG 310009 CHINA

Beneficial effects depends on the genre of the video game Specifically pro-social and role-playing video games that contain chatting or other social networking functions (ie Tribes or Halo) that promote collaboration and multiple players tend to enhance social and leadership skills

NEGATIVE EFFECTS

Experts agreed that excessive video game playing is co-morbid with other psychiatric disorders such as chronic depression ADHD autism-like behaviors bipolar disorders Internet addiction and anxiety spectrum disorders

Violent video games that involve the shooting and destruction of other human beings animals and objects tend to produce anxiety behavior and is associated with promoting confrontational and disruptive behaviors in affected individuals and increases ldquohostile attribution biasrdquo However some experts cautioned to take the evidence with a grain of salt They specifically commented that playing violent video games does not generate a mass murderer or directly promote violent and aggressive behavior but increases the likelihood and risk for developing such aggressive behavior

Evidence that video games are addictive

Experts in the panel strongly agreed that there is no definitive answer but there are some neuroimaging studies that strongly suggest that the neuronal circuits and pathways involved with drug addiction are also involved with pathological video game addiction Namely the areas of the brain that light up according to these fMRI studies involve the basal ganglia parahippocampus thalamus prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens

Another expert pointed to a study that showed that video game addiction parallels the brain areas affected in alcoholics namely the orbitofrontal and anterior cyngulate cortex and mentioned that 1 out of 5 children are considered to be classified as addicted to video games

There is some evidence that brain neurochemistry may be altered in addicted video gamers which suggests that excessive video game playing can lead to alterations in brain circuitry For instance one study suggested that anti-depressants such as Prozac can certainly help to reduce the dependence and the addiction to video games in certain individuals

INTERNET ADDICTION NEUROIMAGING FINDINGSKAI YUAN1 WEI QIN1 YIJUN LIU2 AND JIE TIAN131LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH CENTER SCHOOL OF LIFE SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY XIDIAN UNIVERSITY XIrsquoAN CHINA 2DEPARTMENTS OF PSYCHIATRY AND NEUROSCIENCE MCKNIGHT BRAIN INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA GAINESVILLE FL USA 3INSTITUTE OF AUTOMATION CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES BEIJING CHINA

ConclusionsNeuroimaging studies have contributed significantly to our

understanding of the effect of IAD on the brain and illustrate the

broad range of brain regions involved As outlined in this paper

the neuroimaging findings suggested that the IAD shared the

similar neurobiological mechanisms of substance addiction and

behavioral addiction These noninvasive methods will play important

roles in the investigation of neurobiological mechanism and

adequate treatments of IAD and drug abuse Longitudinal design

and multiple imaging techniques with behavioral measurements

should be necessary to improve our understanding of IAD

A research team led by Hao Lei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan carried out brain scans of 35 men and women aged between 14 and 21

Dr Hao Lei and colleagues notedOverall our findings indicate that IAD has abnormal white matter integrity in brain regions involving emotional generation and processing executive attention decision making and cognitive control

Prof Gunter Schumann chair in biological psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College London said similar findings have been found in video game addicts

He told the BBC For the first time two studies show changes in the neuronal connections between brain areas as well as changes in brain function in people who are frequently using the internet or

video games

The study of 17 adolescents apparently addicted to the internet and 16 controls was conducted by Chinese researchersThe researchers used a technique called fractional anisotropy (FA) to measure the organization of the brain which is greatly influenced by the number and location of white matter fibres Those study participants who had displayed addiction symptoms showed lower FA values in a variety of regions of the brain such as as the orbito-frontal white matter corpus callosum cingulum inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and corona radiation Lower FA values indicate that the nerve fibres are not functioning properly

The researchers theorize that the myelin a protective sheath around nerve fibres is disrupted in a variety of regions of the brain in people with IAD They also believe that fractional anisotropy may eventually become an effective way of detecting the severity of internet addiction

PMCID PMC3312312

REDUCED STRIATAL DOPAMINE TRANSPORTERS IN PEOPLE WITH INTERNETADDICTION DISORDERHAIFENG HOU 1 2 3 4 SHAOWE JIA 5 SHU HU 5 RONG FAN 5

WEN SUN 5 TAOTAO SUN 5 AND HONG ZHANG 1 2 3 4

DEPARTMENT OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE SECOND AFFILIATED HOSPITAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE HANGZHOU ZHEJIANG 310009 CHINA

NEGATIVE EFFECTS

Experts agreed that excessive video game playing is co-morbid with other psychiatric disorders such as chronic depression ADHD autism-like behaviors bipolar disorders Internet addiction and anxiety spectrum disorders

Violent video games that involve the shooting and destruction of other human beings animals and objects tend to produce anxiety behavior and is associated with promoting confrontational and disruptive behaviors in affected individuals and increases ldquohostile attribution biasrdquo However some experts cautioned to take the evidence with a grain of salt They specifically commented that playing violent video games does not generate a mass murderer or directly promote violent and aggressive behavior but increases the likelihood and risk for developing such aggressive behavior

Evidence that video games are addictive

Experts in the panel strongly agreed that there is no definitive answer but there are some neuroimaging studies that strongly suggest that the neuronal circuits and pathways involved with drug addiction are also involved with pathological video game addiction Namely the areas of the brain that light up according to these fMRI studies involve the basal ganglia parahippocampus thalamus prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens

Another expert pointed to a study that showed that video game addiction parallels the brain areas affected in alcoholics namely the orbitofrontal and anterior cyngulate cortex and mentioned that 1 out of 5 children are considered to be classified as addicted to video games

There is some evidence that brain neurochemistry may be altered in addicted video gamers which suggests that excessive video game playing can lead to alterations in brain circuitry For instance one study suggested that anti-depressants such as Prozac can certainly help to reduce the dependence and the addiction to video games in certain individuals

INTERNET ADDICTION NEUROIMAGING FINDINGSKAI YUAN1 WEI QIN1 YIJUN LIU2 AND JIE TIAN131LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH CENTER SCHOOL OF LIFE SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY XIDIAN UNIVERSITY XIrsquoAN CHINA 2DEPARTMENTS OF PSYCHIATRY AND NEUROSCIENCE MCKNIGHT BRAIN INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA GAINESVILLE FL USA 3INSTITUTE OF AUTOMATION CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES BEIJING CHINA

ConclusionsNeuroimaging studies have contributed significantly to our

understanding of the effect of IAD on the brain and illustrate the

broad range of brain regions involved As outlined in this paper

the neuroimaging findings suggested that the IAD shared the

similar neurobiological mechanisms of substance addiction and

behavioral addiction These noninvasive methods will play important

roles in the investigation of neurobiological mechanism and

adequate treatments of IAD and drug abuse Longitudinal design

and multiple imaging techniques with behavioral measurements

should be necessary to improve our understanding of IAD

A research team led by Hao Lei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan carried out brain scans of 35 men and women aged between 14 and 21

Dr Hao Lei and colleagues notedOverall our findings indicate that IAD has abnormal white matter integrity in brain regions involving emotional generation and processing executive attention decision making and cognitive control

Prof Gunter Schumann chair in biological psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College London said similar findings have been found in video game addicts

He told the BBC For the first time two studies show changes in the neuronal connections between brain areas as well as changes in brain function in people who are frequently using the internet or

video games

The study of 17 adolescents apparently addicted to the internet and 16 controls was conducted by Chinese researchersThe researchers used a technique called fractional anisotropy (FA) to measure the organization of the brain which is greatly influenced by the number and location of white matter fibres Those study participants who had displayed addiction symptoms showed lower FA values in a variety of regions of the brain such as as the orbito-frontal white matter corpus callosum cingulum inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and corona radiation Lower FA values indicate that the nerve fibres are not functioning properly

The researchers theorize that the myelin a protective sheath around nerve fibres is disrupted in a variety of regions of the brain in people with IAD They also believe that fractional anisotropy may eventually become an effective way of detecting the severity of internet addiction

PMCID PMC3312312

REDUCED STRIATAL DOPAMINE TRANSPORTERS IN PEOPLE WITH INTERNETADDICTION DISORDERHAIFENG HOU 1 2 3 4 SHAOWE JIA 5 SHU HU 5 RONG FAN 5

WEN SUN 5 TAOTAO SUN 5 AND HONG ZHANG 1 2 3 4

DEPARTMENT OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE SECOND AFFILIATED HOSPITAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE HANGZHOU ZHEJIANG 310009 CHINA

Evidence that video games are addictive

Experts in the panel strongly agreed that there is no definitive answer but there are some neuroimaging studies that strongly suggest that the neuronal circuits and pathways involved with drug addiction are also involved with pathological video game addiction Namely the areas of the brain that light up according to these fMRI studies involve the basal ganglia parahippocampus thalamus prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens

Another expert pointed to a study that showed that video game addiction parallels the brain areas affected in alcoholics namely the orbitofrontal and anterior cyngulate cortex and mentioned that 1 out of 5 children are considered to be classified as addicted to video games

There is some evidence that brain neurochemistry may be altered in addicted video gamers which suggests that excessive video game playing can lead to alterations in brain circuitry For instance one study suggested that anti-depressants such as Prozac can certainly help to reduce the dependence and the addiction to video games in certain individuals

INTERNET ADDICTION NEUROIMAGING FINDINGSKAI YUAN1 WEI QIN1 YIJUN LIU2 AND JIE TIAN131LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH CENTER SCHOOL OF LIFE SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY XIDIAN UNIVERSITY XIrsquoAN CHINA 2DEPARTMENTS OF PSYCHIATRY AND NEUROSCIENCE MCKNIGHT BRAIN INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA GAINESVILLE FL USA 3INSTITUTE OF AUTOMATION CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES BEIJING CHINA

ConclusionsNeuroimaging studies have contributed significantly to our

understanding of the effect of IAD on the brain and illustrate the

broad range of brain regions involved As outlined in this paper

the neuroimaging findings suggested that the IAD shared the

similar neurobiological mechanisms of substance addiction and

behavioral addiction These noninvasive methods will play important

roles in the investigation of neurobiological mechanism and

adequate treatments of IAD and drug abuse Longitudinal design

and multiple imaging techniques with behavioral measurements

should be necessary to improve our understanding of IAD

A research team led by Hao Lei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan carried out brain scans of 35 men and women aged between 14 and 21

Dr Hao Lei and colleagues notedOverall our findings indicate that IAD has abnormal white matter integrity in brain regions involving emotional generation and processing executive attention decision making and cognitive control

Prof Gunter Schumann chair in biological psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College London said similar findings have been found in video game addicts

He told the BBC For the first time two studies show changes in the neuronal connections between brain areas as well as changes in brain function in people who are frequently using the internet or

video games

The study of 17 adolescents apparently addicted to the internet and 16 controls was conducted by Chinese researchersThe researchers used a technique called fractional anisotropy (FA) to measure the organization of the brain which is greatly influenced by the number and location of white matter fibres Those study participants who had displayed addiction symptoms showed lower FA values in a variety of regions of the brain such as as the orbito-frontal white matter corpus callosum cingulum inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and corona radiation Lower FA values indicate that the nerve fibres are not functioning properly

The researchers theorize that the myelin a protective sheath around nerve fibres is disrupted in a variety of regions of the brain in people with IAD They also believe that fractional anisotropy may eventually become an effective way of detecting the severity of internet addiction

PMCID PMC3312312

REDUCED STRIATAL DOPAMINE TRANSPORTERS IN PEOPLE WITH INTERNETADDICTION DISORDERHAIFENG HOU 1 2 3 4 SHAOWE JIA 5 SHU HU 5 RONG FAN 5

WEN SUN 5 TAOTAO SUN 5 AND HONG ZHANG 1 2 3 4

DEPARTMENT OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE SECOND AFFILIATED HOSPITAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE HANGZHOU ZHEJIANG 310009 CHINA

Another expert pointed to a study that showed that video game addiction parallels the brain areas affected in alcoholics namely the orbitofrontal and anterior cyngulate cortex and mentioned that 1 out of 5 children are considered to be classified as addicted to video games

There is some evidence that brain neurochemistry may be altered in addicted video gamers which suggests that excessive video game playing can lead to alterations in brain circuitry For instance one study suggested that anti-depressants such as Prozac can certainly help to reduce the dependence and the addiction to video games in certain individuals

INTERNET ADDICTION NEUROIMAGING FINDINGSKAI YUAN1 WEI QIN1 YIJUN LIU2 AND JIE TIAN131LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH CENTER SCHOOL OF LIFE SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY XIDIAN UNIVERSITY XIrsquoAN CHINA 2DEPARTMENTS OF PSYCHIATRY AND NEUROSCIENCE MCKNIGHT BRAIN INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA GAINESVILLE FL USA 3INSTITUTE OF AUTOMATION CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES BEIJING CHINA

ConclusionsNeuroimaging studies have contributed significantly to our

understanding of the effect of IAD on the brain and illustrate the

broad range of brain regions involved As outlined in this paper

the neuroimaging findings suggested that the IAD shared the

similar neurobiological mechanisms of substance addiction and

behavioral addiction These noninvasive methods will play important

roles in the investigation of neurobiological mechanism and

adequate treatments of IAD and drug abuse Longitudinal design

and multiple imaging techniques with behavioral measurements

should be necessary to improve our understanding of IAD

A research team led by Hao Lei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan carried out brain scans of 35 men and women aged between 14 and 21

Dr Hao Lei and colleagues notedOverall our findings indicate that IAD has abnormal white matter integrity in brain regions involving emotional generation and processing executive attention decision making and cognitive control

Prof Gunter Schumann chair in biological psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College London said similar findings have been found in video game addicts

He told the BBC For the first time two studies show changes in the neuronal connections between brain areas as well as changes in brain function in people who are frequently using the internet or

video games

The study of 17 adolescents apparently addicted to the internet and 16 controls was conducted by Chinese researchersThe researchers used a technique called fractional anisotropy (FA) to measure the organization of the brain which is greatly influenced by the number and location of white matter fibres Those study participants who had displayed addiction symptoms showed lower FA values in a variety of regions of the brain such as as the orbito-frontal white matter corpus callosum cingulum inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and corona radiation Lower FA values indicate that the nerve fibres are not functioning properly

The researchers theorize that the myelin a protective sheath around nerve fibres is disrupted in a variety of regions of the brain in people with IAD They also believe that fractional anisotropy may eventually become an effective way of detecting the severity of internet addiction

PMCID PMC3312312

REDUCED STRIATAL DOPAMINE TRANSPORTERS IN PEOPLE WITH INTERNETADDICTION DISORDERHAIFENG HOU 1 2 3 4 SHAOWE JIA 5 SHU HU 5 RONG FAN 5

WEN SUN 5 TAOTAO SUN 5 AND HONG ZHANG 1 2 3 4

DEPARTMENT OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE SECOND AFFILIATED HOSPITAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE HANGZHOU ZHEJIANG 310009 CHINA

INTERNET ADDICTION NEUROIMAGING FINDINGSKAI YUAN1 WEI QIN1 YIJUN LIU2 AND JIE TIAN131LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH CENTER SCHOOL OF LIFE SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY XIDIAN UNIVERSITY XIrsquoAN CHINA 2DEPARTMENTS OF PSYCHIATRY AND NEUROSCIENCE MCKNIGHT BRAIN INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA GAINESVILLE FL USA 3INSTITUTE OF AUTOMATION CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES BEIJING CHINA

ConclusionsNeuroimaging studies have contributed significantly to our

understanding of the effect of IAD on the brain and illustrate the

broad range of brain regions involved As outlined in this paper

the neuroimaging findings suggested that the IAD shared the

similar neurobiological mechanisms of substance addiction and

behavioral addiction These noninvasive methods will play important

roles in the investigation of neurobiological mechanism and

adequate treatments of IAD and drug abuse Longitudinal design

and multiple imaging techniques with behavioral measurements

should be necessary to improve our understanding of IAD

A research team led by Hao Lei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan carried out brain scans of 35 men and women aged between 14 and 21

Dr Hao Lei and colleagues notedOverall our findings indicate that IAD has abnormal white matter integrity in brain regions involving emotional generation and processing executive attention decision making and cognitive control

Prof Gunter Schumann chair in biological psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College London said similar findings have been found in video game addicts

He told the BBC For the first time two studies show changes in the neuronal connections between brain areas as well as changes in brain function in people who are frequently using the internet or

video games

The study of 17 adolescents apparently addicted to the internet and 16 controls was conducted by Chinese researchersThe researchers used a technique called fractional anisotropy (FA) to measure the organization of the brain which is greatly influenced by the number and location of white matter fibres Those study participants who had displayed addiction symptoms showed lower FA values in a variety of regions of the brain such as as the orbito-frontal white matter corpus callosum cingulum inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and corona radiation Lower FA values indicate that the nerve fibres are not functioning properly

The researchers theorize that the myelin a protective sheath around nerve fibres is disrupted in a variety of regions of the brain in people with IAD They also believe that fractional anisotropy may eventually become an effective way of detecting the severity of internet addiction

PMCID PMC3312312

REDUCED STRIATAL DOPAMINE TRANSPORTERS IN PEOPLE WITH INTERNETADDICTION DISORDERHAIFENG HOU 1 2 3 4 SHAOWE JIA 5 SHU HU 5 RONG FAN 5

WEN SUN 5 TAOTAO SUN 5 AND HONG ZHANG 1 2 3 4

DEPARTMENT OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE SECOND AFFILIATED HOSPITAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE HANGZHOU ZHEJIANG 310009 CHINA

A research team led by Hao Lei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan carried out brain scans of 35 men and women aged between 14 and 21

Dr Hao Lei and colleagues notedOverall our findings indicate that IAD has abnormal white matter integrity in brain regions involving emotional generation and processing executive attention decision making and cognitive control

Prof Gunter Schumann chair in biological psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College London said similar findings have been found in video game addicts

He told the BBC For the first time two studies show changes in the neuronal connections between brain areas as well as changes in brain function in people who are frequently using the internet or

video games

The study of 17 adolescents apparently addicted to the internet and 16 controls was conducted by Chinese researchersThe researchers used a technique called fractional anisotropy (FA) to measure the organization of the brain which is greatly influenced by the number and location of white matter fibres Those study participants who had displayed addiction symptoms showed lower FA values in a variety of regions of the brain such as as the orbito-frontal white matter corpus callosum cingulum inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and corona radiation Lower FA values indicate that the nerve fibres are not functioning properly

The researchers theorize that the myelin a protective sheath around nerve fibres is disrupted in a variety of regions of the brain in people with IAD They also believe that fractional anisotropy may eventually become an effective way of detecting the severity of internet addiction

PMCID PMC3312312

REDUCED STRIATAL DOPAMINE TRANSPORTERS IN PEOPLE WITH INTERNETADDICTION DISORDERHAIFENG HOU 1 2 3 4 SHAOWE JIA 5 SHU HU 5 RONG FAN 5

WEN SUN 5 TAOTAO SUN 5 AND HONG ZHANG 1 2 3 4

DEPARTMENT OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE SECOND AFFILIATED HOSPITAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE HANGZHOU ZHEJIANG 310009 CHINA

Prof Gunter Schumann chair in biological psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College London said similar findings have been found in video game addicts

He told the BBC For the first time two studies show changes in the neuronal connections between brain areas as well as changes in brain function in people who are frequently using the internet or

video games

The study of 17 adolescents apparently addicted to the internet and 16 controls was conducted by Chinese researchersThe researchers used a technique called fractional anisotropy (FA) to measure the organization of the brain which is greatly influenced by the number and location of white matter fibres Those study participants who had displayed addiction symptoms showed lower FA values in a variety of regions of the brain such as as the orbito-frontal white matter corpus callosum cingulum inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and corona radiation Lower FA values indicate that the nerve fibres are not functioning properly

The researchers theorize that the myelin a protective sheath around nerve fibres is disrupted in a variety of regions of the brain in people with IAD They also believe that fractional anisotropy may eventually become an effective way of detecting the severity of internet addiction

PMCID PMC3312312

REDUCED STRIATAL DOPAMINE TRANSPORTERS IN PEOPLE WITH INTERNETADDICTION DISORDERHAIFENG HOU 1 2 3 4 SHAOWE JIA 5 SHU HU 5 RONG FAN 5

WEN SUN 5 TAOTAO SUN 5 AND HONG ZHANG 1 2 3 4

DEPARTMENT OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE SECOND AFFILIATED HOSPITAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE HANGZHOU ZHEJIANG 310009 CHINA

The study of 17 adolescents apparently addicted to the internet and 16 controls was conducted by Chinese researchersThe researchers used a technique called fractional anisotropy (FA) to measure the organization of the brain which is greatly influenced by the number and location of white matter fibres Those study participants who had displayed addiction symptoms showed lower FA values in a variety of regions of the brain such as as the orbito-frontal white matter corpus callosum cingulum inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and corona radiation Lower FA values indicate that the nerve fibres are not functioning properly

The researchers theorize that the myelin a protective sheath around nerve fibres is disrupted in a variety of regions of the brain in people with IAD They also believe that fractional anisotropy may eventually become an effective way of detecting the severity of internet addiction

PMCID PMC3312312

REDUCED STRIATAL DOPAMINE TRANSPORTERS IN PEOPLE WITH INTERNETADDICTION DISORDERHAIFENG HOU 1 2 3 4 SHAOWE JIA 5 SHU HU 5 RONG FAN 5

WEN SUN 5 TAOTAO SUN 5 AND HONG ZHANG 1 2 3 4

DEPARTMENT OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE SECOND AFFILIATED HOSPITAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE HANGZHOU ZHEJIANG 310009 CHINA

PMCID PMC3312312

REDUCED STRIATAL DOPAMINE TRANSPORTERS IN PEOPLE WITH INTERNETADDICTION DISORDERHAIFENG HOU 1 2 3 4 SHAOWE JIA 5 SHU HU 5 RONG FAN 5

WEN SUN 5 TAOTAO SUN 5 AND HONG ZHANG 1 2 3 4

DEPARTMENT OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE SECOND AFFILIATED HOSPITAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE HANGZHOU ZHEJIANG 310009 CHINA

Hijacked PathwaysDrug-taking and other addictive behaviors ldquohijackrdquo the brainrsquos reward system saysIn normal patients dopamine plays a major role in motivation and reward surging before and during a pleasurable activity mdash say eating or sex mdash to make patients want to repeat a behavior thatrsquos crucial to the survival of the species

Dopaminergic pathways connect the limbic system responsible for emotion with the hippocampus etching rewarding behaviors into the brain by creating strong salient memoriesThe problem arises when the memory and the craving to recapture it takes over a personrsquos lifeAs the dopamine surge repeats and repeats it gains speed but the brakes begin to fail Normal function in the brainrsquos frontal lobes responsible for inhibitory control and executive functioning (read willpower) tends to decrease in addicts

ldquoUltimately the war on drugs is a war between the hijacked reward pathways that push the person to want to use and the frontal lobes which try to keep the beast at bay That is the essence of addictionrdquo

Petros Levounis MD director of the Addiction Institute of New York at St Lukersquos and Roosevelt Hospitals in Manhattan

Porn and ΔFosB

Addiction neurobiologists have revealed that all addictions both chemical and behavioral appear to share a single molecular switch

Heres how this works

bullYou overconsume fattysugary foods drugs or high levels of sexual activity causing dopamine to surge repeatedly

bullChronic overconsumption and associated dopamine spikes cause ΔFosB to accumulate gradually in key areas of your brain (ΔFosB is a transcription factor ie a protein that binds to yourgenes and turns them on or off)

bullΔFosB then hangs around for a while altering your genes responses bringing on measurable physical brain changes These begin with sensitization ie hyper-reactivity of the brains reward circuitrymdashbut only in response to the specific cues it associates with the developing addiction

bullAll of the brain changes initiated by ΔFosB tend to keep you overconsuming or in the case of Internet porn riveted to what your brain perceives as a Fertilization Fest

Porn and ΔFosB

Addiction neurobiologists have revealed that all addictions both chemical and behavioral appear to share a single molecular switch

Heres how this works

bullYou overconsume fattysugary foods drugs or high levels of sexual activity causing dopamine to surge repeatedly

bullChronic overconsumption and associated dopamine spikes cause ΔFosB to accumulate gradually in key areas of your brain (ΔFosB is a transcription factor ie a protein that binds to yourgenes and turns them on or off)

bullΔFosB then hangs around for a while altering your genes responses bringing on measurable physical brain changes These begin with sensitization ie hyper-reactivity of the brains reward circuitrymdashbut only in response to the specific cues it associates with the developing addiction

bullAll of the brain changes initiated by ΔFosB tend to keep you overconsuming or in the case of Internet porn riveted to what your brain perceives as a Fertilization Fest

Heres how this works

bullYou overconsume fattysugary foods drugs or high levels of sexual activity causing dopamine to surge repeatedly

bullChronic overconsumption and associated dopamine spikes cause ΔFosB to accumulate gradually in key areas of your brain (ΔFosB is a transcription factor ie a protein that binds to yourgenes and turns them on or off)

bullΔFosB then hangs around for a while altering your genes responses bringing on measurable physical brain changes These begin with sensitization ie hyper-reactivity of the brains reward circuitrymdashbut only in response to the specific cues it associates with the developing addiction

bullAll of the brain changes initiated by ΔFosB tend to keep you overconsuming or in the case of Internet porn riveted to what your brain perceives as a Fertilization Fest

According to researcher Eric Nestler

[ΔFosB is] almost like a molecular switch Once its flipped on it stays on for a while and doesnt go away easily This phenomenon is observed in response to chronic administration of virtually any drug of abuse It is also observed after high levels of consumption of natural rewards (exercise sucrosehigh fat diet sex)

Adolescent animals show much greater induction of ΔFosB compared with older animals consistent with their greater vulnerability for addiction

Higher ΔFosB is but one of the unique aspect of teen brains that make them more vulnerable to addiction

Continued over-consumption leads to accumulation of ΔFosB rarr activation of genes rarr changes in synapses rarr addiction-related brain changes rarr cravings compulsions rarr continued overconsumption

as reward circuit dopamine also supplies the part of the brain that governs executive function (the prefrontal cortex) a third addiction-related brain change Desensitization (the decline in dopamine and dopamine D2 receptors) can adversely affect prefrontal cortexmdashproducing abnormal white matter loss of gray matter and lowered metabolism These changes are calledhypofrontality They result in weakening your impulse control and over-valuing your addiction

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING

• NEUROSCIENCE OF INTERNET ADDICTION
• Slide 2
• Slide 3
• Slide 4
• IAD (Internet Addiction Disorder) is a speculated mental disorder made and introduced by Ivan Goldberg MD in 1995 It is an addiction that closely parallels the other addictions such as drug and pathological gambling addiction and is potentially just as damaging
• Slide 6
• Sabine M Gruumlsser-Sinopoli PhD of the Chariteacute-University Medicine in Berlin Germany
• Jakob Linnet PhD of Aarhus University in Denmark
• Slide 9
• Slide 10
• Slide 11
• Slide 12
• Slide 13
• Internet addiction Neuroimaging findings Kai Yuan1 Wei Qin1 Yijun Liu2 and Jie Tian13 1Life Sciences Research Center School of Life Sciences and Technology Xidian University Xirsquoan China 2Departments of Psychiatry and Neuroscience McKnight Brain Institute University of Florida Gainesville FL USA 3Institute of Automation Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
• Slide 15
• Slide 16
• Slide 17
• PMCID PMC3312312 Reduced Striatal Dopamine Transporters in People with Internet Addiction Disorder Haifeng Hou 1 2 3 4 Shaowe Jia 5 Shu Hu 5 Rong Fan 5 Wen Sun 5 Taotao Sun 5 and Hong Zhang 1 2 3 4 Department of Nuclear Medicine Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine Hangzhou Zhejiang 310009 China
• Slide 19
• Slide 20
• Slide 21
• Slide 22
• Slide 23
• Slide 24
• Slide 25

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING

• NEUROSCIENCE OF INTERNET ADDICTION
• Slide 2
• Slide 3
• Slide 4
• IAD (Internet Addiction Disorder) is a speculated mental disorder made and introduced by Ivan Goldberg MD in 1995 It is an addiction that closely parallels the other addictions such as drug and pathological gambling addiction and is potentially just as damaging
• Slide 6
• Sabine M Gruumlsser-Sinopoli PhD of the Chariteacute-University Medicine in Berlin Germany
• Jakob Linnet PhD of Aarhus University in Denmark
• Slide 9
• Slide 10
• Slide 11
• Slide 12
• Slide 13
• Internet addiction Neuroimaging findings Kai Yuan1 Wei Qin1 Yijun Liu2 and Jie Tian13 1Life Sciences Research Center School of Life Sciences and Technology Xidian University Xirsquoan China 2Departments of Psychiatry and Neuroscience McKnight Brain Institute University of Florida Gainesville FL USA 3Institute of Automation Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
• Slide 15
• Slide 16
• Slide 17
• PMCID PMC3312312 Reduced Striatal Dopamine Transporters in People with Internet Addiction Disorder Haifeng Hou 1 2 3 4 Shaowe Jia 5 Shu Hu 5 Rong Fan 5 Wen Sun 5 Taotao Sun 5 and Hong Zhang 1 2 3 4 Department of Nuclear Medicine Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine Hangzhou Zhejiang 310009 China
• Slide 19
• Slide 20
• Slide 21
• Slide 22
• Slide 23
• Slide 24
• Slide 25