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. 2015 Mar;4(1):14-21.
doi: 10.1556/JBA.4.2015.1.5.

Getting stuck with pornography? Overuse or neglect of cybersex cues in a multitasking situation is related to symptoms of cybersex addiction

Johannes Schiebener  1 , Christian Laier  1 , Matthias Brand  2
Affiliations

Getting stuck with pornography? Overuse or neglect of cybersex cues in a multitasking situation is related to symptoms of cybersex addiction

Johannes Schiebener et al. J Behav Addict. 2015 Mar.

Abstract

Background and aims: Some individuals consume cybersex contents, such as pornographic material, in an addictive manner, which leads to severe negative consequences in private life or work. One mechanism leading to negative consequences may be reduced executive control over cognition and behavior that may be necessary to realize goal-oriented switching between cybersex use and other tasks and obligations of life.

Methods: To address this aspect,we investigated 104 male participants with an executive multitasking paradigm with two sets: One set consisted of pictures of persons, the other set consisted of pornographic pictures. In both sets the pictures had to be classified according to certain criteria. The explicit goal was to work on all classification tasks to equal amounts, by switching between the sets and classification tasks in a balanced manner.

Results: We found that less balanced performance in this multitasking paradigm was associated with a higher tendency towards cybersex addiction. Persons with this tendency often either overused or neglected working on the pornographic pictures.

Discussion: The results indicate that reduced executive control over multitasking performance, when being confronted with pornographic material, may contribute to dysfunctional behaviors and negative consequences resulting from cybersex addiction. However, individuals with tendencies towards cybersex addiction seem to have either an inclination to avoid or to approach the pornographic material, as discussed in motivational models of addiction.

Keywords: Internet addiction; Internet pornography; cue-reactivity; cybersex; multitasking; psychopathological symptoms.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Results of the simple slope analysis of the moderated regression with s-IATsex as dependent variable and BSI-GSI and BST deviation from set balance as predictors
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Relationship between s-IATsex and the direction of deviation from balanced working on the two task sets of the multitasking task
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Grants and funding

Funding sources: Nothing declared.

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