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. 2012 Sep;46(9):1212-6.
doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2012.05.015. Epub 2012 Jun 22.

Diffusion tensor imaging reveals thalamus and posterior cingulate cortex abnormalities in internet gaming addicts

Guangheng Dong  1 , Elise DeVito, Jie Huang, Xiaoxia Du
Affiliations

Diffusion tensor imaging reveals thalamus and posterior cingulate cortex abnormalities in internet gaming addicts

Guangheng Dong et al. J Psychiatr Res. 2012 Sep.

Abstract

Internet gaming addiction (IGA) is increasingly recognized as a widespread disorder with serious psychological and health consequences. Diminished white matter integrity has been demonstrated in a wide range of other addictive disorders which share clinical characteristics with IGA. Abnormal white matter integrity in addictive populations has been associated with addiction severity, treatment response and cognitive impairments. This study assessed white matter integrity in individuals with internet gaming addiction (IGA) using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). IGA subjects (N = 16) showed higher fractional anisotropy (FA), indicating greater white matter integrity, in the thalamus and left posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) relative to healthy controls (N = 15). Higher FA in the thalamus was associated with greater severity of internet addiction. Increased regional FA in individuals with internet gaming addiction may be a pre-existing vulnerability factor for IGA, or may arise secondary to IGA, perhaps as a direct result of excessive internet game playing.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
MNI (Montreal Neurological Institute) T1 template is used to localize brain regions showing significant correlations. Green color on the T1 image shows ‘group mean_FA_skeleton’. Only clusters surviving correction for multiple comparisons of voxel-wise whole brain analysis are shown on brain images. ‘Tbss_fill’ command was used to make the figure easier to visualize. Higher FA was found in thalamus and posterior cingulate cortex in the IGA group relative to healthy controls. Scatter-plots show correlations between internet addiction test scores (x axis) and mean values of FA in thalamus (top) and PCC (bottom) (y axis), calculated from all voxels within clusters that survived corrections for multiple comparisons in the IGA versus healthy control group analyses.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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