The DOI matches its Crossref record; 156 of the 158 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Prefrontal Control and Internet Addiction: A Theoretical Model and Review of Neuropsychological and Neuroimaging Findings
Open accessAbstract
Most people use the Internet as a functional tool to perform their personal goals in everyday-life such as making airline or hotel reservations. However, some individuals suffer from a loss of control over their Internet use resulting in personal distress, symptoms of psychological dependence, and diverse negative consequences. This phenomenon is often referred to as Internet addiction. Only Internet Gaming Disorder has been included in the appendix of the DSM-5, but it has already been argued that Internet addiction could also comprise problematic use of other applications with cybersex, online relations, shopping, and information search being Internet facets at risk for developing an addictive behavior. Neuropsychological investigations have pointed out that certain prefrontal functions in particular executive control functions are related to symptoms of Internet addiction, which is in line with recent theoretical models on the development and maintenance of the addictive use of the Internet. Control processes are particularly reduced when individuals with Internet addiction are confronted with Internet-related cues representing their first choice use. For example, processing Internet-related cues interferes with working memory performance and decision making. Consistent with this, results from functional neuroimaging and other neuropsychological studies demonstrate that cue-reactivity, craving, and decision making are important concepts for understanding Internet addiction. The findings on reductions in executive control are consistent with other behavioral addictions, such as pathological gambling. They also emphasize the classification of the phenomenon as an addiction, because there are also several similarities with findings in substance dependency. The neuropsychological and neuroimaging results have important clinical impact, as one therapy goal should enhance control over the Internet use by modifying specific cognitions and Internet use expectancies.
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“Second, functional neuroimaging studies have shown that the same areas of the brain that are active in other substance and behavioral addictions are active in the brains of those who meet the diagnostic criteria for internet addiction (Brand, Young, & Laier, 2014; Han, Bolo, Daniels, Arenella, Lyoo, & Renshaw, 2011; Holden, 2001; Ko et al., 2009; Ko, Liu, Yen, Yen, Chen, & Lin, 2013; Kuss & Grif”
From Ethics of the Attention Economy: The Problem of Social Media Addiction (2021) · cites this paper as Brand, Young, & Laier, 2014
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“The neurobiological similarities between substance addiction and compulsive social media usage are striking, particularly in terms of prefrontal cortex (PFC) dysfunction, which is critical for impulse control and decision-making [32, 33].”
From The Impact of Social Media & Technology on Child and Adolescent Mental Health (2025) · cites this paper as [32]
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Citations
Cites
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Williams, J. B. W., & First, M. B. (2013) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.013.104 · Cited by 109,845
Internet Addiction: The Emergence of a New Clinical Disorder
YOUNG, K. S. (1998) · CyberPsychology & Behavior · doi:10.1089/cpb.1998.1.237 · Cited by 5,513 · cited 4×
“…see patients suffering from severe negative consequences due to an overuse of the Internet in general or certain Internet applications, the terminology used for this phenomenon and its classification are still under debate (Young, 1998b, 1999; Charlton and Danforth, 2007; Starcevic, 2013).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialSelf-citationDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition
(2013) · American Psychiatric Association Publishing eBooks · doi:10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596.893619 · Cited by 4,407
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Alexander, G. E., & Crutcher, M. D. (1990) · Trends in Neurosciences · doi:10.1016/0166-2236(90)90107-l · Cited by 4,131 · cited 4×
“…(via the thalamus) and the limbic loop connecting limbic structures, such as the amygdala, and structures that are linked to motivational aspects of behavior, such as the nucleus accumbens, with the orbitofrontal and ventromedial part of the prefrontal brain area (Alexander and Crutcher, 1990).”
BackgroundInfluentialNeural systems of reinforcement for drug addiction: from actions to habits to compulsion
Everitt, B. J., & Robbins, T. W. (2005) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn1579 · Cited by 3,785 · cited 6×
“They are consistent with neurobiological and psychological models of addition (Robinson and Berridge,2003; Everitt and Robbins,2006) and with neuropsychological and neuroimaging findings in substance dependency and other forms of behavioral additions (Grant et al., 2006; van Holst et al., 2010).”
BackgroundInfluentialConflict monitoring and anterior cingulate cortex: an update
Botvinick, M. M., Cohen, J. D., & Carter, C. S. (2004) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2004.10.003 · Cited by 3,623 · cited 2×
“All authors are accountable for all aspects of the work.”
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A “components” model of addiction within a biopsychosocial framework
Griffiths, M. (2005) · Journal of Substance Use · doi:10.1080/14659890500114359 · Cited by 3,088 · cited 2×
“…parallels between Internet addiction and other so-called behavioral addictions (e.g., Grant et al., 2013) and substance dependency (see also Griffiths, 2005; Meerkerk et al., 2009), which we will summarize in Sections “Neuropsychological Correlates of Internet Addiction” and “Neuroimaging…”
BackgroundResultA cognitive-behavioral model of pathological Internet use
Davis, R. A. (2001) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/s0747-5632(00)00041-8 · Cited by 3,010 · cited 5×
“Davis (2001) introduced a theoretical cognitive–behavioral model on pathological or problematic Internet use and differentiates between a generalized pathological Internet use, which we call generalized Internet addiction (GIA), and a specific pathological Internet use, for which we use the term…”
BackgroundResultInfluentialMotivations for Play in Online Games
Yee, N. (2006) · CyberPsychology & Behavior · doi:10.1089/cpb.2006.9.772 · Cited by 2,939 · cited 1×
“This has already been shown, for example for cybersex addiction (Brand et al., 2011; Laier et al., 2013a) and is most likely also a mechanism for online gaming (e.g., Tychsen et al., 2006; Yee, 2006).”
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Flagged first, then by citations
2 of the 158 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- 2008, Executive Function and the Frontal Lobes: A Life Span Perspective
- Young, 1999, Internet addiction: symptoms, evaluation, and treatment, Innov. Clin. Pract., 17, 19
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Brand, M., Young, K. S., Laier, C., Wölfling, K., & Potenza, M. N. (2016) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.08.033 · Cited by 2,416
“Features of Internet addiction may co-vary positively with both positive expectancies (e.g., to experience pleasure) and avoidance expectancies (e.g., to escape from reality) on a bivariate level (Brand et al., 2014a; Lee et al., 2014; Turel et al., 2011; Xu et al., 2012).”
InfluentialSelf-citationLissak, G. (2018) · Environmental Research · doi:10.1016/j.envres.2018.01.015 · Cited by 1,024
“Studies have utilized brain imaging techniques to determine the involvement of neural circuits in executive functions and craving behavior in individuals who experience a lack of control over their Internet and games time (Brand et al., 2014).”
BackgroundCheng, C., & Li, A. Y.-L. (2014) · Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking · doi:10.1089/cyber.2014.0317 · Cited by 727
Wegmann, E., Oberst, U., Stodt, B., & Brand, M. (2017) · Addictive Behaviors Reports · doi:10.1016/j.abrep.2017.04.001 · Cited by 458
Self-citationInternet addiction in adolescence: neurobiological, psychosocial and clinical issues
Cerniglia, L., Zoratto, F., Cimino, S., Laviola, G., Ammaniti, M., & Adriani, W. (2017) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.12.024 · Cited by 371
Metadata
- Authors
- Brand, M., Young, K. S., & Laier, C.
- Affiliations
- Erwin L. Hahn Institute for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DE)
- St. Bonaventure University (US)
- University of Duisburg-Essen (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Brand, Matthias
- Venue
- Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2014-05-27
- Volume
- 8
- Pages
- 375-375
- ISSN
- 1662-5161 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4034340
- OpenAlex
- W2111982163
- Cited by
- 565
- References
- 158
- Citations by year
- 2026: 42 · 2025: 50 · 2024: 42 · 2023: 50 · 2022: 62 · 2021: 58 · 2020: 33 · 2019: 49 · 2018: 43 · 2017: 44 · 2016: 38 · 2015: 43 · 2014: 9
- FWCI
- 14.74
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DuEPublico (University of Duisburg-Essen) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Gambling Behavior and Treatments
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology
- Keywords
- internet addiction, prefrontal control, executive function, cue reactivity, craving, decision-making, working memory, behavioral addiction, gambling addiction, internet gaming disorder, DSM-5, online shopping addiction, cybersex addiction
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