Effects of excessive smartphone use on sensory processing and developing brain

1553 

Abstract Submission 

Ji Hyeong Ro¹, Yong Jeon Cheong¹, Seonkyoung Lee¹, Jihyun Bae¹, Minyoung Jung¹

¹Korea Brain Research Institute, Daegu, Korea, Republic of

Ji Hyeong Ro  
Korea Brain Research Institute
Daegu, Korea, Republic of

Yong Jeon Cheong  
Korea Brain Research Institute
Daegu, Korea, Republic of

Seonkyoung Lee  
Korea Brain Research Institute
Daegu, Korea, Republic of

Jihyun Bae  
Korea Brain Research Institute
Daegu, Korea, Republic of

Minyoung Jung  
Korea Brain Research Institute
Daegu, Korea, Republic of

Does increased exposure to smartphone affect child development? If then, how? Considering smartphone simultaneously provides strong multisensory inputs (Cho, 2021), excessive use of smartphone is highly thought to be associated with sensory processing problems (Harrison, 2019). Accordingly, recent research has demonstrated that excessive use of smartphone is associated with changes in the brain among developing children (Horvath, 2020; Montag, 2023; Pomper, 2014). In line, this study aims at investigating the role of excessive use of smartphone in brain structure of children in terms of sensory processing.

This study includes 128 child participants (70 boys, 58 girls, mean age [SD] = 7.86[0.08]). We assessed the levels of excessive use of smartphone and behavior response to sensory information using Children Sensory Profile (CSP) and Children's Smartphone Overdependence index (SO), respectively. Using 3T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner we collected structural MRI data. The institutional boards of the Korea Brain Research Institute granted ethical approval for this study (KBRI-202206-HR-001).
Using FreeSurfer, we computed values of 68 parcellated surface area of children's brain. We conducted partial correlation analyses 1) between CSP and SO scores, and 2) between SO score and values of each surface area after adjusting age, sex, handedness, and intracranial volume. P-values for significant correlations are corrected at FDR q = 0.05. Next, we performed mediation analysis to identify directionality between CSP, SO, and the cortical feature with a 95% confidence interval using 5000 bootstrapping.

We found significant correlations: (1) between SO and two CSP subscales ('Sensitivity': r = 0.3; 'Auditory processing': r = 0.3) and (2) between SO and area of the right superior temporal sulcus (STS) (r = -0.31). Indirect mediating effects of SO were observed in two models: (1) the relationship between 'Sensitivity' and the right STS area was mediated by SO (path a = .31, p = 0.000; path b = -0.35, p = 0.000, path c' = 0.22, p = 0.013, path c = 0.11 p = 0.2) and (2) the relationship between 'Auditory processing' and the right STS area was mediated by SO (path a = 0.3, p = 0.001; path b = -0.35, p = 0.000, path c' = 0.22, p = 0.014, path c = 0.12 p = 0.2).

Previous studies have demonstrated negative effects of excessive use of smartphone on various aspects of children development including psychological factors and brain structure. The present study added new aspects of excessive use of smartphone in terms of sensory processing in association with developing brain : We showed 1) excessive smartphone use is associated not only with sensory processing but with the right STS area. It was interesting that both 'Sensitivity' and 'Auditory processing' of CSP subscales lead to changes in right STS area, which confirms the role of STS in auditory processing. Our finding proposed that excessive use of smartphone may link both sensory processing and the STS in a sophisticated way, which requires further investigation.

Early life, Adolescence, Aging ²

Connectivity (eg. functional, effective, structural) ¹

Cortical Anatomy and Brain Mapping

Addictions

Cortex

STRUCTURAL MRI

Other - Sensory processing, Smartphone addiction