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Research Exhibits Brain Pattern of Facebook Addicts

by Julia Samuel on Jan 29 2015 1:06 PM

Research Exhibits Brain Pattern of Facebook Addicts
A new study found that these compulsive urges of some Facebook users have similar brain patterns as drug addicts.
A team of researchers wanted to estimate addiction-type symptoms associated with Facebook use, including withdrawal, anxiety and conflict over the site.

Questionnaires were issued to 20 undergraduate students and used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the participants' brains.

A series of computer images were developed as the students were told to either press or not press a button in response to some Facebook logos and neutral traffic signs.

The researchers found that the higher a student scored on the survey, the more likely they were to like a picture of a cat on the social media site.

Study co-author Ofir Turel, a psychologist at California State University, Fullerton, said, "These results indicate that if you're driving on a street next to someone who has a compulsive relationship with Facebook, they are going to respond faster to beeps from their cellphone than to street signs."

The Facebook "addicts" showed greater activation of their amygdala and striatum, brain regions that are involved in impulsive behaviour. But unlike in the brains of cocaine addicts, for instance, the Facebook users showed no quieting of the brain systems responsible for inhibition in the prefrontal cortex.

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Source-Medindia


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