TheSunAlsoRises wrote:
aghogday wrote:
It's amazing what can be learned through research. A study released a few days ago on the effects of internet addiction in adolescents suggests it results in changes in white matter fibers connecting brain regions involving impairment of emotional generation and processing, executive attention, decision making, and cognitive control; and additionally, impairments in social interaction are also involved.
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0030253Quote:
In conclusion, we used DTI with TBSS analysis to investigate the microstructure of white matter among IAD adolescents. The results demonstrate that IAD is characterized by impairment of white matter fibers connecting brain regions involved emotional generation and processing, executive attention, decision making, and cognitive control. The findings also suggest that IAD may share psychological and neural mechanisms with other types of impulse control disorders and substance addiction. In addition, the associations between FA values in white matter regions and behavioral measures indicate that white matter integrity may serve as a potential new treatment target for IAD, and DTI may be valuable in providing information on prognosis for IAD, and FA may be a qualified biomarker to assess the effectiveness of specific early interventions in IAD.
This is an environmental agent, that can potentially alter the characteristics of the phenotype associated with autism and ADHD. It's not the kind of thing many people likely want to hear anywhere, but it can't reasonably be ignored, any more than the rat studies with the environmental agent valporic acid, that led to the intense world theory of autism.
The study of what environmental agents may potentially make autism an impairing condition for some.
And this study doesn't have anything to do with autism or autism speaks, nor did the first studies on rats and valporic acid that suggested that environmental agent caused birth defects in pregnancy. Research studies often eventually result in answers not related to the original purpose.
I wonder IF it's the internet in general OR a specific part of the internet.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/ ... 34,00.htmlTheSunAlsoRisesThe study was focused on 14 to 24 year olds, 15 males and 2 females.
This study didn't specifically indicate the content, but another study from China indicates that 14% of individuals under the age of 29 are addicted to the internet, and of that 14%, 70% engaged in the internet activity are addicted to online video gaming. 50% of internet users, under age 29, use the internet there, primarily for gaming. The same issue that exists in South Korea, per your reference does appear to be an issue in China as well.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/government/225700969This article linked below addresses other studies that replicate these studies regarding structural changes in the brain with online video gaming. Per the article the influence of online videogaming as opposed to pornography can be isolated in south korea and china, because they censor pornography on the web.
A link to new research in that article suggests that pornography potentially may have a more powerful affect; not much surprise there.
They relate the structural changes in the brain, of those addicted to online gaming, as simliar to those found in individuals addicted to cocaine.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cupids-poisoned-arrow/201106/ominous-news-porn-users-internet-addiction-atrophies-brainsQuote:
Behavioral addictions
The study of non-drug addictions is still quite new. Yet already experts have uncovered decisive physical evidence that today's extreme versions of natural rewards can change the brain in ways that drugs do. "Natural rewards" are activities/substances that entice us because they enhanced our ancestors' survival, or the survival of their genes.
Moreover, it's not just a tiny minority with pre-existing disorders who are at risk. Normal, healthy brains can also change.
So far, here's the research scorecard. (Dates indicate when brain-scan research turned up evidence of the last of the three key addiction-related brain changes.)
•Pathological gambling - studied for 10 years, and added to the upcoming DSM-5 as an addiction (2010)
•Food addiction - (2010)
•Internet video-gaming addiction - (2011)
•Internet porn addiction - still not studied via brain scans
As one can see, even more interesting, is that this is definitely not an internet only phenomenon, this phenomenon has been found in other areas where there are strong rewards for "instant gratification", including food addiction, and our endless supply of fats and sugars, that our distant ancestors would not have been able to imagine.
This is a powerful and hidden epigentic influence, beyond what we might normally concern ourselves with, like pollution, chemicals, medications, etc.
The world is an intense one, not only in respect to pain, but also in respect to pleasure, and each extreme has it's human consequence.
Philosophers, understood this stuff thousands of years ago, without the brain scans, through simple observation of life experiences.
Moderation........ is key. I'm not sure how some born in the last couple of decades, could even have a reference point of what that means. We likely won't see the full impact for several decades.
The problem with food addiction is reflective in obesity rates, and is not a new issue, but the newer phenomenons of extreme rewards like extreme video gaming, and extreme pornography available free to almost anyone, 24/7, is something relatively new in the last three decades, peaking in the last decade, and continuing forward.
South Korea has taken extreme action in censorship to control the problem they see with online videogaming addiction. Both China and South Korea already did it with pornography; likely for different reasons.
It's not likely any easier for some to avoid this as it is for the monkey pressing the lever for the cocaine. And, the only solution for some may be to take the cocaine away from the monkey.
And, no US politician is likely going to support such a policy; politics won't allow it. It's not just the video gaming, and the porn; it's the sugar, and the fats, and likely many other factors that aren't even being considered for study.
Earlier in the discussion the focus was on perceived negative epigenetic factors like medications, toxins, and viruses.
Those are factors beyond our ability to control in many cases.
The epigenetic factors seen as pleasurable are likely going to be just as hard to control, as research continues to provide evidence they can lead to impairments in functioning for some.
There were crack wars in the mid 80's, that some suggest were responsible for a great deal of crime in the country, as people would do almost anything to get there fix. Crack still exists but the wars have faded in the past.
Even through horrible economic times crime continues to decrease, since the 90's.
There are lots of suggestions why, backed up by research, including better law enforcement, higher rates of incarceration, legal abortion, and more law enforcment officials on the streets.
Could part of it be that crack is close to free today? In the form of Videogaming, pornography, smartphones, etc.
This epigenetic influence is not restricted to autistic individuals, but they could be potentially more vulnerable to it, because of underlying genetics related to the reward center of the brain, similiar to those studied in introverted vs. extroverted individuals.
There was one study recently done that suggests that playing violent video games keeps potential criminals inside and out of the streets, reducing crime. If so, that's a powerful influence.
Autism speaks hasn't even touched any of this research, as far as I know. It's another valid area of research, that I doubt many are going to want to hear about, if they do. The reward centers of the brain are an extremely sensitive area. There is no way to escape that reality.
14 Jan 2012, 6:23 pm
