Comparison of Neural Circuitry Mechanisms between Internet Game Addiction and Heroin Addiction

Internet game addiction and heroin addiction have many similar clinical manifestations, but whether they share similar neural mechanisms is yet clearly known. Based on MRI data, it was found that the two types of addictions have some damages in the same brain structure and function, and the four addiction-related circuits as cognitive control loop, reward prediction and pleasure loop, motivation drive and salience attribution loop, and learning and memory loop showed widespread and enhanced activation. However, the brain damage area of heroin addiction is biased towards the higher cognitive control circuit and reward circuit, and the scope of damage is wider showing the functional connectivity of the four circuits is reduced, while the brain damage of internet game addiction mainly occurs in relatively low-level memory-learning circuits and motivation circuits, and the scope of damage is also relatively narrow by indicating decreased functional connectivity only occurs between cognitive control and memory-learning circuits. This indicates that the neural mechanisms underlying the two types of addictive behaviors have both similarities and differences. This review compares above-mentioned four circuitry mechanisms between internet game addiction and heroin addiction to highlight the underlying neural similarities between them and provide insights into potential interventional strategies.