Higher media multi-tasking activity is associated with smaller gray-matter density in the anterior cingulate cortex

Media multitasking, or the concurrent consumption of multiple media forms, is increasingly prevalent in today's society and has been associated with negative psychosocial and cognitive impacts. Individuals who engage in heavier media-multitasking are found to perform worse on cognitive control...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2014-09, Vol.9 (9), p.e106698-e106698
Main Authors: Loh, Kep Kee, Kanai, Ryota
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Addictions
Adult
Biology and Life Sciences
Brain
Brain - anatomy & histology
Brain - physiology
Brain research
Cognitive ability
Cognitive tasks
Control tasks
Cortex (cingulate)
Cortex (parietal)
Emotions
Gray Matter - anatomy & histology
Gray Matter - physiology
Gyrus Cinguli - anatomy & histology
Gyrus Cinguli - physiology
Humans
Internet
Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods
Male
Media
Morphometry
Multimedia
Multitasking
Neural networks
Neurosciences
NMR
Nuclear magnetic resonance
Personality
Personality traits
Psychiatry
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Questionnaires
Regression Analysis
Social research
Studies
Substantia grisea
Young Adult
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Summary:Media multitasking, or the concurrent consumption of multiple media forms, is increasingly prevalent in today's society and has been associated with negative psychosocial and cognitive impacts. Individuals who engage in heavier media-multitasking are found to perform worse on cognitive control tasks and exhibit more socio-emotional difficulties. However, the neural processes associated with media multi-tasking remain unexplored. The present study investigated relationships between media multitasking activity and brain structure. Research has demonstrated that brain structure can be altered upon prolonged exposure to novel environments and experience. Thus, we expected differential engagements in media multitasking to correlate with brain structure variability. This was confirmed via Voxel-Based Morphometry (VBM) analyses: Individuals with higher Media Multitasking Index (MMI) scores had smaller gray matter density in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Functional connectivity between this ACC region and the precuneus was negatively associated with MMI. Our findings suggest a possible structural correlate for the observed decreased cognitive control performance and socio-emotional regulation in heavy media-multitaskers. While the cross-sectional nature of our study does not allow us to specify the direction of causality, our results brought to light novel associations between individual media multitasking behaviors and ACC structure differences.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0106698