Role of frontostriatal connectivity in adolescents with excessive smartphone use

As smartphone use has grown rapidly over recent decade, it has been a growing interest in the potential negative impact of excessive smartphone use. In this study, we aim to identify altered brain connectivity associated with excessive smartphone use, and to investigate correlations between withdrawal symptoms, cortisol concentrations, and frontostriatal connectivity. We focused on investigating functional connectivity in frontostriatal regions, including the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), midcingulate cortex (MCC), and nucleus accumbens (NAcc), which is related to reward processing and cognitive control. We analyzed data from 38 adolescents with excessive smartphone use (SP) and 42 healthy controls (HC). In the SP group compared with HC, we observed lower functional connectivity between the right OFC and NAcc, and between the left OFC and MCC. Moreover, functional connectivity between the MCC and NAcc was greater in SP compared with HC. Subsequently, we examined the relationship between Internet use withdrawal symptoms, cortisol concentrations, and functional connectivity between the OFC and NAcc in SP and HC. We observed that more severe withdrawal symptoms were associated with higher cortisol concentrations in adolescents with excessive smartphone use. The most interesting finding was that we observed a negative correlation between OFC connectivity with the NAcc and both withdrawal symptoms and cortisol concentrations. The functional connectivity between the OFC and NAcc, and between the OFC and MCC are related to cognitive control of emotional stimuli including reward. The current study suggests that adolescents with SP had reduced functional connectivity in these regions related to cognitive control. Furthermore, Internet use withdrawal symptoms appear to elicit cortisol secretion, and this psychophysiological change may affect frontostriatal connectivity. Our findings provide important clues to understanding the effects of excessive use of smartphones on brain functional connectivity in adolescence.