News

People who are addicted to pornography show similar brain activity to alcoholics or drug addicts.

People who are addicted to pornography show similar brain activity to alcoholics or drug addicts.

MRI scans of test subjects who admitted to compulsive pornography use showed that the reward centres of the brain reacted to seeing explicit material in the same way as an alcoholic’s might on seeing a drinks advert.

The research (unpublished to date) by Cambridge University assessed the brain activity of 19 addictive pornography users against a control group of people who said they were not compulsive users.

Lead scientist Dr Valerie Voon from the Department of Psychiatry, an honorary consultant neuropsychiatrist, told the Sunday Times: “We found greater activity in an area of the brain called the ventral striatum, which is a reward centre, involved in processing reward, motivation and pleasure.”

“When an alcoholic sees an ad for a drink, their brain will light up in a certain way and they will be stimulated in a certain way. We are seeing this same kind of activity in users of pornography.”

The study is yet to be published, but featured in a Channel 4 documentary called Porn on the Brain, which aired at 10pm on Monday 30 September.

The findings, which tally with recent but unconfirmed reports in the US that porn addiction is no different from chemical or substance addiction, will be seen as an argument in favour of David Cameron's proposals to limit access to some pornographic websites.

Further coverage and comment on this programme can be read in The Independent and The Guardian.

Posted on 11/10/2013