ArticleNeuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology2017
Can Pornography be Addictive? An fMRI Study of Men Seeking Treatment for Problematic Pornography Use.
Article in Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 103 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
103 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 266 citations in OpenAlex.
- Striato-limbic and frontoparietal dysfunction underlying imbalance of reward-motivation and cognitive control in compulsive sexual behaviour disorder: A neuroimaging meta-analysis.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2026Pooled it
- Adolescents' online pornography use and psychopathological symptoms: insights from a systematic review and meta-analysis.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Neural mechanisms of behavioral addiction: An ALE meta-analysis and MACM analysis.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Treatments for internet addiction, sex addiction and compulsive buying: A meta-analysis.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2020Pooled it
- Relationships among impulsive, addictive and sexual tendencies and behaviours: a systematic review of experimental and prospective studies in humans.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2019Pooled it
- Effects of transcranial direct current stimulation of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex on craving and negative emotion regulation in individuals at risk for problematic pornography use: A double-blind, placebo-controlled study.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2025Trial
- Effects of a 7-Day Pornography Abstinence Period on Withdrawal-Related Symptoms in Regular Pornography Users: A Randomized Controlled Study.Archives of sexual behavior · 2023Trial
- Arabic Validation of the Problematic Pornography Consumption Scale: Psychometric Properties, Measurement Invariance, and Gender-Specific Network Analysis.Archives of sexual behavior · 2026Article
- Predicting moments of impaired control over addictive behaviors: Relevance of craving and inhibitory control measured in laboratory and ambulatory settings.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2026Article
- Persistent appetitive memory in problematic pornography users.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2026Article
- Compulsive sexual behavior disorder (CSBD) and problematic pornography use (PPU): A comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and expert-informed narrative review with suggested future directions.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2026Review
- The Effects of Pornographic Context on Working Memory Processing Among Individuals at Risk for Problematic Pornography Use.Archives of sexual behavior · 2026Article
- Problematic Pornography Use and Psychological Distress in the USA: A Nationally Representative Study.Archives of sexual behavior · 2026Article
- Alcohol and cannabis use severity in relation to compulsive sexual behavior and problematic pornography use in a non-clinical sample: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Two sides of the same coin? Prevalence and co-occurrence of binge eating disorder and compulsive sexual behavior disorder in a representative sample of the Polish population.Sexual medicine · 2025Article
- Global research status and trends of compulsive sexual behavior disorder: A comprehensive bibliometric analysis.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2025Review
- Love at first glance: Imbalanced processing to gaming and natural rewards in internet gaming disorder.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2025Article
- Recommendations for Diagnosing and Quantifying treatment outcomes in clinical trials of compulsive sexual behavior disorder.Addictive behaviors reports · 2025Review
- Unraveling the impact of cyberporn motivations on mental health: insights from Chinese college students.BMC psychology · 2025Article
43 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Pornography consumption is highly prevalent, particularly among young adult males. For some individuals, problematic pornography use (PPU) is a reason for seeking treatment. Despite the pervasiveness of pornography, PPU appears under-investigated, including with respect to the underlying neural mechanisms. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined ventral striatal responses to erotic and monetary stimuli, disentangling cue-related 'wanting' from reward-related 'liking' among 28 heterosexual males seeking treatment for PPU and 24 heterosexual males without PPU. Subjects engaged in an incentive delay task in the scanner, in which they received erotic or monetary rewards preceded by predictive cues. Blood-oxygen-level-dependent responses to erotic and monetary cues were analyzed and examined with respect to self-reported data on sexual activity collected over the 2 preceding months. Men with and without PPU differed in their striatal responses to cues predicting erotic pictures but not in their responses to erotic pictures. PPU subjects when compared with control subjects showed increased activation of ventral striatum specifically for cues predicting erotic pictures but not for cues predicting monetary gains. Relative sensitivity to cues predicting erotic pictures vs monetary gains was significantly related to the increased behavioral motivation to view erotic images (suggestive of higher 'wanting'), severity of PPU, amount of pornography use per week, and number of weekly masturbations. Our findings suggest that, similar to what is observed in substance and gambling addictions, the neural and behavioral mechanisms associated with the anticipatory processing of cues specifically predicting erotic rewards relate importantly to clinically relevant features of PPU. These findings suggest that PPU may represent a behavioral addiction and that interventions helpful in targeting behavioral and substance addictions warrant consideration for adaptation and use in helping men with PPU.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.