Potential Impact of Short Video Application Addiction on Adolescents’ Cognitive Functioning: Behavioral and Neural Evidence

• In Event: Neural Correlates of Engagement During Learning and Assessment

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate adolescent short video application (SVA) addiction and how it potentially influences cognitive development from both behavioral and neural perspectives. With a sample of adolescents from two age cohorts (i.e., age 12-13 and 15-16), behavioral results show daily usage significantly contributed to SVA addiction, which further predicted lower academic delay of gratification for both cohorts. SVA addiction also mediates the negative correlation of daily use with younger adolescents’ working memory and verbal ability. Meanwhile, daily use may shape late adolescents’ resting-state brain activity through SVA addiction, indicating impaired cognitive functioning among heavy and problematic SVA users. Taking a developmental stance, this study further points out the differentiating patterns of SVA addiction impact between the two cohorts.

Authors

• Ziyan Xu, Tsinghua University

• Xiaobo Liu, Tsinghua University

• Yu Zhang, Tsinghua University