Poster No:
1463
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Jihyeong Ro1, Yong Jeon Cheong1, Seonkyoung Lee1, Jihyun Bae1, Minyoung Jung1
Institutions:
1Korea Brain Research Institute, Daegu, Korea, Republic of
First Author:
Jihyeong Ro
Korea Brain Research Institute
Daegu, Korea, Republic of
Co-Author(s):
Seonkyoung Lee
Korea Brain Research Institute
Daegu, Korea, Republic of
Jihyun Bae
Korea Brain Research Institute
Daegu, Korea, Republic of
Minyoung Jung
Korea Brain Research Institute
Daegu, Korea, Republic of
Introduction:
As smartphones become widespread worldwide, smartphone overdependence (SO) has emerged as a social issue. In South korea, it is concerning that SO affects approximately 25% of children who own smartphones (Ministry of Science and ICT, 2023, survey on smartphone overdependence). Previous studies have reported that SO is associated either with brain structural and functional abnormality, or with behavioral problems. This study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding while integrating three domains: brain structure, function, and behavior. For this, this study examines the structural and functional brain differences between groups of children with smartphone overdependence (SO-risky group) and those who are normal-use group, as well as the association of these differences with behavioral problems, to investigate the abnormal behaviors and brain development observed in SO-risky group.
Methods:
This study includes 29 children identified as the SO-risky group (8 years old (SD=0.8), 15 boys) and 65 children in the normal-use group (7.8 years old (SD=1.0), 31 boys). To assess the level of SO and multiple aspects of child behavior, their caregiver completed the following questionnaires: SO questionnaire, and Korean Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC). We also collected the FSIQ scores for each child. MRI data of children's brains were collected using 3T MRI scanner. The structural and functional MRI data were preprocessed and analyzed in FreeSurfer 7.0 and CONN 22, respectively. For behavioral and structural data, a significant level was thresholded at p<0.005 (two-sided). For functional data, brain activation maps were thresholded at p<0.001 on a voxel-wise level, and significant cluster-level were corrected at p-FDR<0.05.
Results:
We found significant differences in behavioral scores, brain structure and function between the SO-risky group and the normal-use group. There were no significant differences in intelligence between the two groups. Significant group differences were found across four BASC subscales. Compared the normal-use group, the SO-risky group exhibited high scores for behavioral symptoms (t=3.474, p<0.001), externalizing problems (t=3.132, p=0.002), attention problems (t=2.947, p<0.004), and aggression (t=2.891, p=0.0040). In terms of brain structure, the SO-risky group showed a thicker cortex in the left lateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) (t=3.072, p=0.003), while reduced surface area in the right superior temporal sulcus (STS) (t=-3.035, p=0.003). In terms of brain function, we identified cerebellar network (r=0.581), visual network (r=0.549), sensory motor network (r=0.468), and dorsal attention network (DAN) (r=0.46). Among these networks, only DAN showed differences between SO-risky and normal-use group. The SO-risky group showed lower activation in the left middle frontal gyrus (MFG) (t=-5.65, k=123) and left paracingulate gyrus (PaCG) (t=-4.89, k=88).
Conclusions:
Smartphone overdependence (SO) in children is associated with their behavior and brain. Considering both role of the right STS in integrating multimodal sensory input (Kausel et al., 2024) and the role of the OFC in guiding adaptive behaviors based on multiple sensory cues (Tegelbeckers et al., 2023), our findings suggests that the SO-risky group may have altered processing of multisensory information, which further develop maladaptation to the multisensory environment. Our findings showed that children in the SO-risky group demonstrated altered MFG in DAN and deficits in attention. Functionally, DAN known for maintaining top-down attention control (Tamber-Rosenau et al., 2018) and its, connections with the MFG is associated with the severity of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms (Wang et al., 2024). These alterations in DAN-MFG in addition to ADHD behavioral characteristics may serve as potential neural biomarkers for severe SO in children.
Disorders of the Nervous System:
Neurodevelopmental/ Early Life (eg. ADHD, autism)
Lifespan Development:
Early life, Adolescence, Aging 2
Modeling and Analysis Methods:
fMRI Connectivity and Network Modeling 1
Perception, Attention and Motor Behavior:
Perception and Attention Other
Keywords:
Addictions
Attention Deficit Disorder
Development
FUNCTIONAL MRI
MRI
STRUCTURAL MRI
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
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Please indicate below if your study was a "resting state" or "task-activation” study.
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Healthy subjects only or patients (note that patient studies may also involve healthy subjects):
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Was this research conducted in the United States?
No
Were any human subjects research approved by the relevant Institutional Review Board or ethics panel?
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Please indicate which methods were used in your research:
Functional MRI
Structural MRI
Behavior
For human MRI, what field strength scanner do you use?
3.0T
Which processing packages did you use for your study?
Free Surfer
Other, Please list
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SPM
Provide references using APA citation style.
Kausel, L., Michon, M., Soto-Icaza, P., & Aboitiz, F. (2024). A multimodal interface for speech perception: the role of the left superior temporal sulcus in social cognition and autism. Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991), 34(13), 84–93.
Tegelbeckers, J., Porter, D. B., Voss, J. L., Schoenbaum, G., & Kahnt, T. (2023). Lateral orbitofrontal cortex integrates predictive information across multiple cues to guide behavior. Current Biology, 33(20), 4496-4504.
Tamber-Rosenau, B. J., Asplund, C. L., & Marois, R. (2018). Functional dissociation of the inferior frontal junction from the dorsal attention network in top-down attentional control. Journal of neurophysiology, 120(5), 2498-2512.
Wang, Y., Ma, L., Wang, J., Ding, Y., Men, W., Tan, S., Gao, J. H., Qin, S., He, Y., Dong, Q., & Tao, S. (2024). Connections Between the Middle Frontal Gyrus and the Dorsoventral Attention Network Are Associated With the Development of Attentional Symptoms. Biological psychiatry, S0006-3223(24)01291-5.
No