Brain Development and Addictive Screen Use in Adolescents

In this episode of The Biological Psychiatry Podcast, Dr. Elvisha Dhamala sits down with Dr. Omid Kardan from the University of Michigan to discuss his recent paper published in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging.Screen time concerns are everywhere, but it's not just how much time young people spend on screens, it's how they use them. In this conversation, we explore whether differences in brain development during childhood can predict addictive patterns of screen use in early adolescence. Using data from the ABCD Study, Dr. Kardan's team found that delayed cortical maturation at ages 9-10 predicted addictive screen use two years later, with videogaming showing the strongest association. We discuss what cortical maturation means, why reward processing told a different story, and what these findings mean for parents, clinicians, and policymakers.Paper:The roles of delayed cortical maturation and lower anticipatory reward activation in predicting addictive screen use in youthDOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2026.03.012Follow Biological Psychiatry:Biological PsychiatryBiological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and NeuroimagingBiological Psychiatry: Global Open ScienceInstagram: @biologicalpsychLinkedIn: Biological PsychiatryBluesky: Biological PsychiatryThis podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical or professional advice. The views expressed are those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect those of the Society of Biological Psychiatry, its family of journals, or its editors. © 2026 Society of Biological Psychiatry. All rights reserved, including those for text and data mining or use in AI systems.