People who frequently check Facebook on their smartphone tend to have less gray matter in a reward-related area of the brain, according to new research.
Montag and his colleagues were particularly interested in the nucleus accumbens, a small structure located deep in the center of the brain.
The nucleus accumbens is a core region of the mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic system, which plays an important role in addiction.
The researchers found that participants who opened the Facebook app more frequently and those who stayed on Facebook longer tended to have reduced gray matter volume in the nucleus accumbens.
“In short, the lower the gray matter volume in this area, the higher Facebook usage/frequency could be observed.”.
Does less gray matter in the nucleus accumbens lead to more Facebook use or does using Facebook lead to less gray matter?
The study, “Facebook usage on smartphones and gray matter volume of the nucleus accumbens“, was also co-authored by Alexander Markowetz, Konrad Blaszkiewicz, Ionut Andone, Bernd Lachmann, Rayna Sariyska, Boris Trendafilov, Mark Eibes, Julia Kolb, Martin Reuter Bernd Weber and Sebastian Markett. »
