Brain Neuroadaptative Changes in Adolescents with Internet Addiction: An FDG-PET Study with Statistical Parametric Mapping Analysis

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Internet addiction or pathologic internet use is one of the major mental health problems in children and adolescents in Korea. Internet addiction is defined as uncontrollable, markedly time-consuming internet use, which lasts for a period of at least six months. Internet addiction results in poor academic performance and negative parent-child relationships. By using 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET), we investigated the effects of internet addiction on functional changes occurring in the adolescent brain. METHODS: Adolescent patients with an internet addiction (4 boys and 2 girls; 15.6+/-1.2 years) participated in this study. Eight healthy young adults (5 males and 3 females; 18-30 years old) with no previous history of psychiatric illness also participated as normal controls. Brain FDG-PET data was obtained with the participants in the resting condition and with no addictive stimuli. RESULTS: Statistic parametric mapping analysis of the brain FDG-PET data revealed hypometabolic changes in the visual information processing circuits and hypermetabolic changes in the prefrontal areas in the adolescents with internet addiction, as compared with normal controls (p<.001). CONCLUSION: These results suggest a neuronal adaptation to excessive visual stimulation and synaptic plasticity due to internet addiction.