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      Decreased functional connectivity between ventral tegmental area and nucleus accumbens in Internet gaming disorder: evidence from resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging

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          Abstract

          Background

          Internet gaming disorder (IGD) has become an increasing mental health problem worldwide. Decreased resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) between the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) has been found in substance use and is thought to play an important role in the development of substance addiction. However, rsFC between the VTA and NAcc in a non-substance addiction, such as IGD, has not been assessed previously. The current study aimed to investigate: (1) if individuals with IGD exhibit alterations in VTA-NAcc functional connectivity; and (2) whether VTA-NAcc functional connectivity is associated with subjective Internet craving.

          Methods

          Thirty-five male participants with IGD and 24 healthy control (HC) individuals participated in resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Regions of interest (left NAcc, right NAcc and VTA) were selected based on the literature and were defined by placing spheres centered on Talairach Daemon coordinates.

          Results

          In comparison with HCs, individuals with IGD had significantly decreased rsFC between the VTA and right NAcc. Resting-state functional connectivity strength between the VTA and right NAcc was negatively correlated with self-reported subjective craving for the Internet.

          Conclusions

          These results suggest possible neural functional similarities between individuals with IGD and individuals with substance addictions.

          Electronic supplementary material

          The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12993-015-0082-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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          Most cited references46

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          The neural basis of drug craving: an incentive-sensitization theory of addiction.

          This paper presents a biopsychological theory of drug addiction, the 'Incentive-Sensitization Theory'. The theory addresses three fundamental questions. The first is: why do addicts crave drugs? That is, what is the psychological and neurobiological basis of drug craving? The second is: why does drug craving persist even after long periods of abstinence? The third is whether 'wanting' drugs (drug craving) is attributable to 'liking' drugs (to the subjective pleasurable effects of drugs)? The theory posits the following. (1) Addictive drugs share the ability to enhance mesotelencephalic dopamine neurotransmission. (2) One psychological function of this neural system is to attribute 'incentive salience' to the perception and mental representation of events associated with activation of the system. Incentive salience is a psychological process that transforms the perception of stimuli, imbuing them with salience, making them attractive, 'wanted', incentive stimuli. (3) In some individuals the repeated use of addictive drugs produces incremental neuroadaptations in this neural system, rendering it increasingly and perhaps permanently, hypersensitive ('sensitized') to drugs and drug-associated stimuli. The sensitization of dopamine systems is gated by associative learning, which causes excessive incentive salience to be attributed to the act of drug taking and to stimuli associated with drug taking. It is specifically the sensitization of incentive salience, therefore, that transforms ordinary 'wanting' into excessive drug craving. (4) It is further proposed that sensitization of the neural systems responsible for incentive salience ('for wanting') can occur independently of changes in neural systems that mediate the subjective pleasurable effects of drugs (drug 'liking') and of neural systems that mediate withdrawal. Thus, sensitization of incentive salience can produce addictive behavior (compulsive drug seeking and drug taking) even if the expectation of drug pleasure or the aversive properties of withdrawal are diminished and even in the face of strong disincentives, including the loss of reputation, job, home and family. We review evidence for this view of addiction and discuss its implications for understanding the psychology and neurobiology of addiction.
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            Getting formal with dopamine and reward.

            Recent neurophysiological studies reveal that neurons in certain brain structures carry specific signals about past and future rewards. Dopamine neurons display a short-latency, phasic reward signal indicating the difference between actual and predicted rewards. The signal is useful for enhancing neuronal processing and learning behavioral reactions. It is distinctly different from dopamine's tonic enabling of numerous behavioral processes. Neurons in the striatum, frontal cortex, and amygdala also process reward information but provide more differentiated information for identifying and anticipating rewards and organizing goal-directed behavior. The different reward signals have complementary functions, and the optimal use of rewards in voluntary behavior would benefit from interactions between the signals. Addictive psychostimulant drugs may exert their action by amplifying the dopamine reward signal.
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              Relationship of Smartphone Use Severity with Sleep Quality, Depression, and Anxiety in University Students

              Background and Aims The usage of smartphones has increased rapidly in recent years, and this has brought about addiction. The aim of the current study was to investigate the relationship between smartphone use severity and sleep quality, depression, and anxiety in university students. Methods In total, 319 university students (203 females and 116 males; mean age = 20.5 ± 2.45) were included in the study. Participants were divided into the following three groups: a smartphone non-user group (n = 71, 22.3%), a low smartphone use group (n = 121, 37.9%), and a high smartphone use group (n = 127, 39.8%). All participants were evaluated using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory; moreover, participants other than those in the smartphone non-user group were also assessed with the Smartphone Addiction Scale. Results The findings revealed that the Smartphone Addiction Scale scores of females were significantly higher than those of males. Depression, anxiety, and daytime dysfunction scores were higher in the high smartphone use group than in the low smartphone use group. Positive correlations were found between the Smartphone Addiction Scale scores and depression levels, anxiety levels, and some sleep quality scores. Conclusion The results indicate that depression, anxiety, and sleep quality may be associated with smartphone overuse. Such overuse may lead to depression and/or anxiety, which can in turn result in sleep problems. University students with high depression and anxiety scores should be carefully monitored for smartphone addiction.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                8610-5880-0728 , zhangjintao@bnu.edu.cn
                xlxmss@163.com
                sarah.yip@yale.edu
                wanglingjiao0613@126.com
                tuwei7119568@163.com
                ycg.yan@gmail.com
                liuluxl@163.com
                bluein89@aliyun.com
                denglinyuan@yahoo.com.cn
                liuqinxue@126.com
                fangxy@bnu.edu.cn
                Journal
                Behav Brain Funct
                Behav Brain Funct
                Behavioral and Brain Functions : BBF
                BioMed Central (London )
                1744-9081
                18 November 2015
                18 November 2015
                2015
                : 11
                : 37
                Affiliations
                [ ]State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
                [ ]Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
                [ ]CASA Columbia, Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT USA
                [ ]Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science and Magnetic Resonance Imaging Research Center, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
                [ ]The Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY USA
                [ ]Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/NYU Langone Medical Center Child Study Center, New York University, New York, NY USA
                [ ]Institute of Developmental Psychology, School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
                [ ]Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
                [ ]Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyber Psychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Wuhan, China
                [ ]Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
                Article
                82
                10.1186/s12993-015-0082-8
                4652358
                26582309
                cbca515f-69fb-4c63-9814-0bd85834377e
                © Zhang et al. 2015

                Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

                History
                : 28 December 2014
                : 5 November 2015
                Categories
                Research
                Custom metadata
                © The Author(s) 2015

                Neurology
                internet gaming disorder,resting-state functional connectivity,ventral tegmental area,nucleus accumbens,craving

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