Many smartphone users spend excessive amounts of time online and cannot control their behavior, and the addictive overuse of social-networking services has been shown to be associated with diminished executive control. Attentional control is a cognitive process crucial to exerting executive functions. The purpose of this study was to investigate functional connectivity (FC) characteristics of attention networks in problematic social-network users. We performed seed-based resting-state FC analyses for 29 males and 10 females with excessive social network use and 32 healthy males and 17 healthy females. The right intraparietal sulcus and frontal eye fields were considered seeds of the dorsal attention network (DAN), and the right temporoparietal junction and ventral frontal cortex were considered seeds of the ventral attention network (VAN). Clinical characteristics predictive of FC findings in problematic social network users were identified through hierarchical multiple regression analysis. In FC analysis with DAN seeds, FC between the right intraparietal sulcus and the right middle occipital gyrus was stronger in problematic social network users than in controls, and FC between the right frontal eye field and the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was weaker than that in controls. There was no significant difference between the groups in FC analysis with VAN seeds. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that usage times on social networking platforms significantly predicted the negative effects on the strength of FC between the intraparietal sulcus and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. These findings indicated that problematic social network use reflects changes in the neural circuits underlying attentional control. Weaking of prefrontal control for attention networks would have a significant impact on failure to control one’s time spent on social networks.

许多智能手机用户在网络上花费大量时间，无法控制自己的行为，社交网络服务的过度使用令人上瘾，这与执行控制的减少有关。注意控制是对执行功能至关重要的认知过程。这项研究的目的是调查有问题的社交网络用户中注意网络的功能连接（FC）特性。我们对29名男性和10名女性过度使用社交网络以及32名健康男性和17名健康女性进行了基于种子的静止状态FC分析。右顶壁沟和额叶视野被认为是背侧注意力网络（DAN）的种子，而右颞顶交界和腹额叶皮层被认为是腹侧注意网络（VAN）的种子。通过分层多元回归分析确定了可预测有问题的社交网络用户中FC发现的临床特征。在使用DAN种子进行FC分析时，有问题的社交网络用户的右顶壁沟和右枕中回之间的FC比对照组强，并且右额眼视野和右前外侧前额叶皮层之间的FC比对照弱。 。在用VAN种子进行FC分析中，各组之间没有显着差异。分层回归分析显示，社交网络平台上的使用时间显着预测了顶内沟与背外侧前额叶皮层之间对FC强度的负面影响。这些发现表明有问题的社交网络使用反映了注意力控制背后的神经回路的变化。注意网络的前额控制能力弱将严重影响无法控制自己在社交网络上花费的时间。