Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jul 19:12:636730.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.636730. eCollection 2021.

Altered Functional Connectivity of the Salience Network in Problematic Smartphone Users

Jaeun Ahn  1   2 , Deokjong Lee  2   3 , Kee Namkoong  2   4 , Young-Chul Jung  2   4
Affiliations

Altered Functional Connectivity of the Salience Network in Problematic Smartphone Users

Jaeun Ahn et al. Front Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Smartphones provide convenience in everyday life. Smartphones, however, can elicit adverse effects when used excessively. The purpose of this study was to examine the underlying neurobiological alterations that arise from problematic smartphone use. We performed resting state seed-based functional connectivity (FC) analysis of 44 problematic smartphone users and 54 healthy controls. This analysis assessed the salience, central executive, default mode, and affective networks. Compared to controls, problematic smartphone users showed enhanced FC within the salience network and between the salience and default mode network. Moreover, we observed decreased FC between the salience and central executive network in problematic smartphone users, compared to controls. These results imply that problematic smartphone use is associated with aberrant FC in key brain networks. Our results suggest that changes in FC of key networks centered around the salience network might be associated with problematic smartphone use.

Keywords: fMRI; functional connectivity; neuroimaging; probelmatic smartphone use; salience network.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Increases and decreases in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dorsal ACC) and frontoinsular cortex-based functional connectivity (FC) in problematic smartphone users, compared to controls. All imaging analyses were corrected for multiple comparisons using a combination of voxel-level thresholds (p < 0.001) and cluster extent threshold false discovery rate correction (p < 0.05). (A) Dorsal ACC-based FC was enhanced with the left anterior frontoinsular cortex in problematic smartphone users, compared to controls. (B) Left frontoinsular cortex-based FC was decreased with left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in problematic smartphone users, compared to controls. (C) Left frontoinsular cortex-based FC was enhanced with precuneus, right supramarginal gyrus, right orbitofrontal cortex and dorsal ACC.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Increases and decreases in seed-based FC among problematic smartphone users, compared to controls. All imaging analyses were corrected for multiple comparisons using a combination of voxel-level thresholds (p < 0.001) and cluster extent threshold false discovery rate correction (p < 0.05). (A–C) Brain regions with enhanced FC in problematic smartphone users, compared to controls. (A) Left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)-based FC was increased with the left postcentral gyrus. (B) Right rostral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)-based FC was increased with the left anterior frontoinsular cortex. (C) Right amygdala-based FC was increased with DLPFC. (D) Brain regions with decreased FC in problematic smartphone users, compared to controls. The right subgenual ACC and left lingual gyrus show differences in functional connectivity with right subgenual ACC-seeded analysis between the groups.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Network model of problematic smartphone users. ACC, anterior cingulate cortex; DLPFC, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; FIC, frontoinsular cortex; VLPFC, ventolateral prefrontal cortex.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Wike R, Oates R. Emerging Nations Embrace Internet, Mobile Technology: Cell Phones Nearly Ubiquitous in Many Countries. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center; (2014).
    1. Maxwell R, Miller T. How Green Is Your Smartphone? Cambridge: Polity; (2020).
    1. Van Deursen AJ, Bolle CL, Hegner SM, Kommers PA. Modeling habitual and addictive smartphone behavior: The role of smartphone usage types, emotional intelligence, social stress, self-regulation, age, and gender. Comput Human Behav. (2015) 45:411–20. 10.1016/j.chb.2014.12.039 - DOI
    1. Hadar A, Hadas I, Lazarovits A, Alyagon U, Eliraz D, Zangen A. Answering the missed call: initial exploration of cognitive and electrophysiological changes associated with smartphone use and abuse. PLoS ONE. (2017) 12:e0180094. 10.1371/journal.pone.0180094 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Demirci K, Akgönül M, Akpinar A. Relationship of smartphone use severity with sleep quality, depression, and anxiety in university students. J Behav Addict. (2015) 4:85–92. 10.1556/2006.4.2015.010 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources