title: Brain structures and functional connectivity associated with individual differences in Internet tendency in healthy young adults.
abstract: Internet addiction (IA) incurs significant social and financial costs in the form of physical side-effects, academic and occupational impairment, and serious relationship problems. The majority of previous studies on Internet addiction disorders (IAD) have focused on structural and functional abnormalities, while few studies have simultaneously investigated the structural and functional brain alterations underlying individual differences in IA tendencies measured by questionnaires in a healthy sample. Here we combined structural (regional gray matter volume, rGMV) and functional (resting-state functional connectivity, rsFC) information to explore the neural mechanisms underlying IAT in a large sample of 260 healthy young adults. The results showed that IAT scores were significantly and positively correlated with rGMV in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC, one key node of the cognitive control network, CCN), which might reflect reduced functioning of inhibitory control. More interestingly, decreased anticorrelations between the right DLPFC and the medial prefrontal cortex/rostral anterior cingulate cortex (mPFC/rACC, one key node of the default mode network, DMN) were associated with higher IAT scores, which might be associated with reduced efficiency of the CCN and DMN (e.g., diminished cognitive control and self-monitoring). Furthermore, the Stroop interference effect was positively associated with the volume of the DLPFC and with the IA scores, as well as with the connectivity between DLPFC and mPFC, which further indicated that rGMV variations in the DLPFC and decreased anticonnections between the DLPFC and mPFC may reflect addiction-related reduced inhibitory control and cognitive efficiency. These findings suggest the combination of structural and functional information can provide a valuable basis for further understanding of the mechanisms and pathogenesis of IA.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cogn ition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, PR China; School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, PR China.
authors.forename: Weiwei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cogn ition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, PR China; School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, PR China.
authors.forename: Yadan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cogn ition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, PR China; School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, PR China.
authors.forename: Wenjing
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cogn ition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, PR China; School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, PR China. Electronic address: zhangql@swu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Qinglin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cogn ition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, PR China; School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, PR China.
authors.forename: Dongtao
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: School of Mental Health, Jining Medical University, Jining 272067, PR China.
authors.forename: Wenfu
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cogn ition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, PR China; School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, PR China.
authors.forename: Glenn
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hitchman
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cogn ition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, PR China; School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, PR China. Electronic address: qiuj318@swu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qiu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D007206:Individuality; D020407:Internet; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000473:pathology; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D057190:Stroop Test; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cognitive control network; Default mode network; Internet addiction; Resting-state functional connectivity; Voxel-based morphometry