TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of frequency of internet use on development of brain structures and verbal intelligence
T2 - Longitudinal analyses
AU - Takeuchi, Hikaru
AU - Taki, Yasuyuki
AU - Asano, Kohei
AU - Asano, Michiko
AU - Sassa, Yuko
AU - Yokota, Susumu
AU - Kotozaki, Yuka
AU - Nouchi, Rui
AU - Kawashima, Ryuta
N1 - Funding Information:
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, Grant/Award Number: KAKENHI 23700306; Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B), Grant/Award Number: KAKENHI 23700306; JST/RISTEX, JST/CREST; Tohoku University
Funding Information:
We respectfully thank Yuki Yamada for operating the MRI scanner, for being an examiner of psychological tests. We also thank study participants, the other examiners of psychological tests, and all of our colleagues in Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer and in Tohoku University for their support. This study was supported by JST/RISTEX, JST/CREST. This study was supported by Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) (KAKENHI 23700306) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. The authors would like to thank Enago (www.enago.jp) for the English language review.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
PY - 2018/11
Y1 - 2018/11
N2 - Excessive internet use is shown to be cross sectionally associated with lower cognitive functioning and reduced volume of several brain areas. However, the effects of daily internet use on the development of verbal intelligence and brain structures have not been investigated. Here, we cross sectionally examined the effects of the frequency of internet use on regional gray/white matter volume (rGMV/rWMV) and verbal intelligence as well as their longitudinal changes after 3.0 ± 0.3 (standard deviation) years in a large sample of children recruited from the general population (mean age, 11.2 ± 3.1 years; range, 5.7–18.4 years). Although there were no significant associations in cross sectional analyses, a higher frequency of internet use was found to be associated with decrease of verbal intelligence and smaller increase in rGMV and rWMV of widespread brain areas after a few years in longitudinal analyses. These areas involve areas related to language processing, attention and executive functions, emotion, and reward. In conclusion, frequent internet use is directly or indirectly associated with decrease of verbal intelligence and development to smaller gray matter volume at later stages.
AB - Excessive internet use is shown to be cross sectionally associated with lower cognitive functioning and reduced volume of several brain areas. However, the effects of daily internet use on the development of verbal intelligence and brain structures have not been investigated. Here, we cross sectionally examined the effects of the frequency of internet use on regional gray/white matter volume (rGMV/rWMV) and verbal intelligence as well as their longitudinal changes after 3.0 ± 0.3 (standard deviation) years in a large sample of children recruited from the general population (mean age, 11.2 ± 3.1 years; range, 5.7–18.4 years). Although there were no significant associations in cross sectional analyses, a higher frequency of internet use was found to be associated with decrease of verbal intelligence and smaller increase in rGMV and rWMV of widespread brain areas after a few years in longitudinal analyses. These areas involve areas related to language processing, attention and executive functions, emotion, and reward. In conclusion, frequent internet use is directly or indirectly associated with decrease of verbal intelligence and development to smaller gray matter volume at later stages.
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U2 - 10.1002/hbm.24286
DO - 10.1002/hbm.24286
M3 - Article
C2 - 29956399
AN - SCOPUS:85054724072
SN - 1065-9471
VL - 39
SP - 4471
EP - 4479
JO - Human Brain Mapping
JF - Human Brain Mapping
IS - 11
ER -