title: Neural responses to various rewards and feedback in the brains of adolescent Internet addicts detected by functional magnetic resonance imaging.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to examine differences in brain activation for various types of reward and feedback in adolescent Internet addicts (AIA) and normal adolescents (NA) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
  
  
  METHODS
  AIA (n = 15) and NA (n = 15) underwent fMRI while performing easy tasks for which performance feedback (PF), social reward (SR) (such as compliments), or monetary reward (MR) was given. Using the no reward (NR) condition, three types of contrasts (PF-NR, SR-NR, and MR-NR) were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In NA, we observed activation in the reward-related subcortical system, self-related brain region, and other brain areas for the three contrasts, but these brain areas showed almost no activation in AIA. Instead, AIA showed significant activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex for the PF-NR contrast and the negative correlation was found between the level of activation in the left superior temporal gyrus (BA 22) and the duration of Internet game use per day in AIA.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that AIA show reduced levels of self-related brain activation and decreased reward sensitivity irrespective of the type of reward and feedback. AIA may be only sensitive to error monitoring regardless of positive feelings, such as sense of satisfaction or achievement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Chungbuk National University Hospital, Cheongju, Korea.
authors.forename: Ji-Eun
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jung-Woo
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Son
authors.forename: Won-Hee
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Yeoung-Rang
authors.initials: YR
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jong-Hyun
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.forename: Seungbok
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jang-Kyu
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D030141:Feedback, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012201:Reward; D018910:Video Games / Q000523:psychology; D014888:Wechsler Scales
keywords: adolescent Internet addiction; feedback; functional magnetic resonance imaging; reward