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. 2014 Sep 24;9(9):e106698.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0106698. eCollection 2014.

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

Kep Kee Loh  1 , Ryota Kanai  2
Affiliations

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

Kep Kee Loh et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

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.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. VBM regression analyses revealed that MMI scores were significantly associated with gray matter density in the ACC (t(70) = 5.16, PFWE-corrected <0.05, Cluster size = 158 voxels x 1.53 = 533 mm3; peak MNI coordinate: x = 12, y = 41, z = 3).
Adjusted gray matter density in the peak voxel (Y-axis) was negatively correlated (r = −0.54, p<0.001) with MMI scores (X-axis).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Regression analyses revealed that connectivity between the ACC ROI and the Precuneus (intersection of blue lines) was negatively associated with MMI scores (Precuneus; t(40) = 5.22, PFWE-uncorrected<0.001, Cluster size = 159 mm3; Peak MNI coordinate: x = 10, y = −50, z = 18).
There was a negative relationship (r = −0.68, p<0.001) between adjusted Z-transformed ACC-Precuneus correlations (Y-axis) and MMI scores (X-axis).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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