Christian Montag

Ulm University | UULM · Institute of Psychology and Education

Recent meta-analytical evidence indicates a mild association between higher neuroticism and lower conscientiousness scores and a tendency towards problematic social media use (PSMU). However, fear of missing out (FoMO) has emerged as a critical variable in understanding the positive link between neuroticism and PSMU. Given the replication crisis in...

A growing number of researchers investigate individual differences in attitudes toward artificial intelligence (AI), which is not surprising given that the AI revolution is impacting societies around the globe. Different frameworks have been proposed to study both positive and negative attitudes toward AI. To our knowledge, the present work is the...

Background Previous research has linked smartphone and Instagram use to higher body dissatisfaction (BD) as well as eating disorder (ED) symptomatology. However, these studies have typically been limited to using self-report measures for technology use which, as shown by scientific literature, might not be reliable. In the present work, we combine...

Serotonin (5-HT) has long been implicated in adaptive emotion regulation as well as the development and treatment of emotional dysregulations in mental disorders. Accumulating evidence suggests a genetic vulnerability may render some individuals at a greater risk for the detrimental effects of transient variations in 5-HT signaling. The present stu...

In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, many individuals turned to synchronous online video communication technologies as a substitute for real-world face-to-face interactions. Evidence indicates that some users of such technologies show symptoms of exhaustion and fatigue during and after videoconferences (VCs) – this pheno...

Social networking sites (SNS), with Facebook as a prominent example, have become an integral part of our daily lives and more than four billion people worldwide use SNS. However, the (over-)use of SNS also poses both psychological and physiological risks. In the present article, we review the scientific literature on the risk of Facebook (over-)use...

The present study investigated the extent to which the concepts of the individual tendency to trust in (automated) technology, technology self-efficacy, accepting/fearing artificial intelligence and trust in AI overlap. This research question is of relevance because trust in automation literature is rich, whereas only a few studies exist in the con...

Background and aims: The present study investigated processing bias for game-related cues in problematic mobile gamers (PMGs) under or above the threshold of conscious awareness. Methods: In Experiment 1, all participants (20 PMGs and 23 casual players (CPs)) finished a masked visual probe task during a brief (17ms) masked exposure condition. In...

Background Problematic internet and smartphone use are significant health challenges for contemporary adolescents. However, their mutual relationship is unclear because studies investigating these phenomena are scarce. The present study aimed to investigate the psychological risks and protective factors associated with problematic internet and smar...

The concept of “reserve” is defined as the resources being available to deal with adverse environmental influences on the human brain, and it has been proposed to account for the mismatch between brain pathology and clinical expression. New multidimensional approaches take into account the complexity and dynamic relation between the construct of re...

Purpose of the Review Social media attracts billions of users worldwide, and research has investigated how screen time or time spent online is linked to well-being. Additionally, addictive-like behaviors towards the social media platforms are a focus of many studies. However, related research often neglects the simple fact that social media compani...

In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, many individuals turned to synchronous online video communication technologies as a substitute for real-world face-to-face interactions. Evidence indicates that some users of such technologies show symptoms of exhaustion and fatigue during and after videoconferences – this phenomenon...

Background Parental separation has been suggested to be associated with depression development in offspring. The new family constellation subsequent to separation could be associated with elevated scores of childhood trauma, shaping more emotionally instable personalities. This could ultimately be a risk factor for mood disorders and particularly t...

Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) is described as negative affect resulting from thoughts that one is left out of the rewarding experiences of others. The development of a popular FOMO scale (Przybylski et al., 2013) has generated a wealth of research studies on FOMO. The present study aimed to examine the reliability, factor structure, measurement invari...

The present study examines whether self-reported trust in humans and self-reported trust in [(different) products with built-in] artificial intelligence (AI) are associated with one another and with brain structure. We sampled 90 healthy participants who provided self-reported trust in humans and AI and underwent brain structural magnetic resonance...

Serotonin (5-HT) has long been implicated in adaptive emotion regulation as well as the development and treatment of emotional dysregulations in mental disorders. Accumulating evidence suggests that a genetic vulnerability may render some individuals at a greater risk for the detrimental effects of transient variations in 5-HT signaling. The presen...

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Oxytocin erregte aufgrund seiner Rolle für das menschliche Sozialverhalten in den letzten Jahren vermehrt Aufmerksamkeit hinsichtlich der Erforschung der Ätiologie depressiver Erkrankungen. Aktuelle Forschungsergebnisse legen die Komplexität des Oxytocinsystems und sowohl pro- als auch antisoziale Effekte des Neuropeptids offen, wes...

Based on current theoretical frameworks, there has been increasing research examining psychopathology leading to problematic smartphone use (PSU). However, less is known about the affective and cognitive processes linked to PSU. The present study aimed at analyzing the fear of missing out (FoMO) as a mediator in the association between emotion dysr...

Background and aims: Fear of missing out (FOMO) promotes the desire or urge to stay continuously connected with a social reference group and updated on their activities, which may result in escalating and potentially addictive smartphone and social media use. The present study aimed to determine whether the neurobiological basis of FOMO encompasse...

Objective: Since the first study linking recorded smartphone variables to self-reported personality in 2011, many additional studies have been published investigating this association. In the present meta-analyses, we aimed to understand how strongly personality can be predicted via smartphone data. Method: Meta-analytical calculations were used...

The smartphone represents a transformative device which dramatically changed our daily lives, including how we communicate, work, entertain us, and navigate through unknown territory. Given its ubiquitous availability and impact on nearly every aspect of life, debates on the potential impact of smartphone (over-)use on the brain and if smartphone u...

Background: This study aimed at investigating the interaction between genetic and environmental factors in predicting executive function in children aged four to six years. Methods: Response inhibition as index of EF was assessed in 197 children using a go/nogo task. A cumulative dopamine (DA) genetic score was calculated, indexing predispositio...

According to Cloninger’s biosocial model of personality touching upon temperament and character, personality development is a lifelong adaptive process that begins in early childhood. Similarly, theories of parenting behavior and attachment predict that associations between personality and parenting behavior should be found in young children. The p...

It is well established that the e4 allele of the APOE gene is associated with impaired brain functionality and cognitive decline in humans at elder age. However, it is controversial whether and how the APOE e4 allele is associated with superior brain function among young healthy individuals, thus indicates a case of antagonistic pleiotropy of APOE...

The present study aimed at investigating associations of both ideological attitudes and personal value types with the personality traits derived from the Affective Neuroscience Theory (ANT). For that, data of N = 626 (n = 403 men, n = 220 women, n = 3 identifying as neither a man nor a woman) participants of an online survey in the German language...

The aim of this chapter is to introduce and describe how digital technologies, in particular smartphones, can be used in research in two areas, namely (i) to conduct personality assessment and (ii) to assess and promote physical activity. This area of research is very timely, because it demonstrates how the ubiquitously available smartphone technol...

In this chapter a short overview on the many topics falling under the umbrella terms digital phenotyping and mobile sensing are provided. The key terms digital phenotyping and mobile sensing are also shortly introduced. Chapter 1 is meant as a starting point to get insights on the many areas of research being covered in the second edition of this b...

In this chapter, we will first give a brief overview of the mobile instant messaging landscape. Subsequently, we focus on the instant messaging application “WhatsApp” and describe its current features and which kinds of data can be extracted from it. Based on the existing literature, we provide practical advice for researchers seeking to work with...

In this chapter we introduce digital phenotyping and its applications to healthcare. Despite the promise of this new form of clinical diagnosis in medicine and psychiatry, use of digital phenotyping raises several ethical concerns. We use insights derived from a clinical case study to frame these different ethical questions. We discuss how current...

Este artigo discute a síndrome de FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) sobre experiências gratificantes, uma importante construção psicológica na contemporaneidade. Apresentamos uma síntese da construção da síndrome de FOMO e sua definição e mensuração operacional. Em seguida, revisamos pesquisas empíricas recentes sobre a relação da síndrome de FOMO com nív...

Seit Beginn der COVID-19-Pandemie nutzen immer mehr Menschen Videokonferenz-Applikationen via Internet, um im Beruf- und Privatleben zu kommunizieren. Neben den vielen Vorteilen der Videokonferenzen wird zunehmend unter Expertinnen und Experten diskutiert, ob es ein Zuviel an Videokonferenzen gibt. Dieses Zuviel könnte sich in einer Videokonferenz-...

The smartphone represents a transformative device which dramatically changed our daily lives, including how we communicate, work, entertain us, and navigate through unknown territory. Given its ubiquitous availability and impact on nearly every aspect of life, debates on the potential impact of smartphone (over-)use on the brain and if smartphone u...

Background Brain structural alterations of the striatum have been frequently observed in Internet gaming disorder (IGD); however, the replicability of the results and the associations with social-affective dysregulations such as social anxiety remain to be determined. Methods The present study combined a dimensional neuroimaging approach with both...

This study investigates two concurrent personality theories in the context of depression: Pankseppian affective neuroscience theory (ANT) describes primary emotional systems related to depression, whereas in the five-factor model (FFM), neuroticism is most robustly related with depression. Of note, ANT has been established via neuroscientific cross...

Background: Accumulating evidence suggests brain structural and functional alterations in Internet Use Disorder (IUD). However, conclusions are strongly limited due to the retrospective case-control design of the studies, small samples, and the focus on general rather than symptom-specific approaches. Methods: We here employed a dimensional mult...

Introduction: Excessive internet use can lead to problems for some individuals. The WHO has introduced Gaming Disorder in the International Classification of Diseases-11 (ICD-11). Previous research has shown that other internet applications can cause serious mental health problems as well. It is important to provide measures of prevention, early i...

Fear of missing out (FOMO) promotes the desire or urge to stay continuously connected with a social reference group and updated on their activities, which may result in escalating and potentially addictive smartphone and social media use. The present study aimed to determine whether the neurobiological basis of FOMO encompasses core regions of the...

Given the worldwide importance of Chinese culture, the present work revisited a questionnaire assessing individual differences in importance ratings of Chinese values and their associations with well-established personality traits in Western and Eastern populations. Three samples were recruited and completed German ( N = 813), English ( N = 404), a...

Aims: The problematic use of social networks is discussed as a further specific type of Internet-use disorders. Our project aims to clarify whether social-networks-use disorder (SNUD) is marked by characteristics of addictive behaviors by tracking behavior and investigating the relevance of 1) implicit cognitions, 2) the experiences of gratificatio...

In 2019, Gaming Disorder (GD) was officially recognised by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an official mental health disorder. Currently, the Gaming Disorder Test (GDT) is one of the most widely utilised psychometric tools to assess GD symptoms according to the WHO framework. In this context, the present study aimed to develop the Polish ver...

Social media has captured a large share of the public sphere at a pace far quicker than any other means of communication did in the past but the initial techno-optimism that marked this ascent has recently started giving way to critical assessments of its wide-ranging effects. In this article, we argue that just as there is a need to assess and hig...

The Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales (ANPS) were designed to provide researchers in the mental sciences with an inventory to assess primary emotional systems according to Pankseppian Affective Neuroscience Theory (ANT). The original ANPS, providing researchers with such a tool, was published in 2003. In the present brief communication, abo...

Zusammenfassung. Digitale Phänotypisierung stellt einen neuen, leistungsstarken Ansatz zur Realisierung psychodiagnostischer Aufgaben in vielen Bereichen der Psychologie und Medizin dar. Die Grundidee besteht aus der Nutzung digitaler Spuren aus dem Alltag, um deren Vorhersagekraft für verschiedenste Anwendungsmöglichkeiten zu überprüfen und zu nut...

Since the proliferation of smartphones, the general public as well as researchers have shown a growing interest in their potentially addictive effects. Over the past years, smartphone use research has grown exponentially. While scholars have moved away from “smartphone addiction” terminology in contemporary research and opted for alternative termin...

Background: The serotonin transporter polymorphism 5-HTTLPR is an extensively investigated genetic marker of autistic traits or autism spectrum disorder, and recently has also been studied in the realm of internet use disorder (IUD), yet the findings remain controversial. Therefore, the present study aimed to explore associations between 5-HTTLPR...

Gambling Disorder (GD) is a prominent psychiatric disorder affecting individuals worldwide. Research suggests that key risk factors for GD include stressful life events (SLEs) and specific psychological factors, such as gambling-related cognitive distortions. The present study investigated the potential mediating role of specific psychological fact...

Problematic smartphone use (PSU) symptoms are related to mental health symptoms, such as depression and anxiety. However, less investigated are current psychopathology-related processes in mediating these relationships. We analyzed boredom proneness and rumination, two variables involving negative affectivity, as possible mediators between mental h...

Individual differences in the magnitude of semantic priming effects are associated with executive functions (EF). Striatal dopamine has been shown to be associated with EF as well as impulsivity and could therefore be associated with differences in the magnitude of semantic priming. We investigated n = 155 individuals in an unmasked as well as in a...

Background Prevention in psychiatry provides a promising way to address the burden of mental illness. However, established approaches focus on specific diagnoses and do not address the heterogeneity and manifold potential outcomes of help-seeking populations that present at early recognition services. Conceptualizing the psychopathology manifested...

Videoconference fatigue (hereafter VC fatigue) presents a new psychological construct, which gained momentum in course of the COVID-19 pandemic with the rise of videoconferences taking place in everyday (work-)life. In order to better characterize videoconference fatigue, it is of importance not only to investigate associations with age, gender and...

In this commentary paper, it is discussed if Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder (CSBD) is best categorized as an Impulse Control Disorder, an Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder or in light of the overlap of characteristics with both Gaming and Gambling Disorder as an addictive behavior. The overlapping features are: loss of control over the respective...

Background: Few studies have conducted latent profile analysis (LPA) of problematic smartphone use (PSU) severity to examine underlying subgroups of individuals with diverse PSU symptom presentations. We explored such latent profiles and relations with anxiety and fear variables, including severity of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), social anxi...

Background and aims We aimed to systematically identify, evaluate and summarize the research on adolescent emotion dysregulation and problematic technology use. We critically appraise strengths and limitations and provide recommendations for future research. Methods We followed the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews...

The present study investigates the relationship between Gaming Disorder (GD) and how gaming motives might differ between three groups of gamers. The first group stated to be professional gamers (n = 129; 2,49%), the second group consisted of non-professional gamers, who intended to become professional gamers (n = 646; 12,45%), and the third group w...

Studies that apply digital phenotyping and mobile sensing strategies have increased in recent years enabling a better understanding of psychiatric and psychological conditions, as well as neurodegenerative disorders. Although in this context the study of so-called “digital biomarkers” is proliferating, few studies have actually linked digital footp...

Introduction: There are currently no approved drug interventions for social behavior dysfunction in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous trials investigating effects of daily intranasal oxytocin treatment have reported inconsistent results and have not combined it with positive social interaction. However, in two preclinical studies we establi...

Background Accumulating evidence suggests brain structural and functional alterations in Internet Use Disorder (IUD). However, conclusions are strongly limited due to the retrospective case-control design of the studies, small samples, and the focus on general rather than symptom-specific approaches. Methods We here employed a dimensional multi-me...

The present data set contains self-report data of German individuals participating in a longitudinal data assessment via online surveys conducted in the year before general elections in Germany. Data of N = 122 individuals are included in the data set. Those individuals participated in an initial, extensive survey between November 2020 and February...

The WHO recently included Gaming Disorder as a psychiatric diagnosis. Whether there are distinct groups of adolescents who differ based on severity of gaming disorder and their relationships with other mental health and addictive behavior outcomes, including problematic smartphone use (PSU), remains unclear. The current study explored and identifie...

Introduction The American Psychiatric Association (APA) proposed ‘Internet Gaming Disorder’ (IGD) as a tentative disorder (APA framework) in 2013 and in 2019 the World Health Organization (WHO) has fully recognized ‘Gaming Disorder’ (GD) as a mental health disorder (WHO framework). These two frameworks have not yet been jointly investigated in the...

Recent years have seen a sharp rise in studies linking digital phenotypes to psychological functions. Digital phenotyping has been defined as the prediction of psychological traits and states from digital variables, which typically includes mobile sensing via smartphone data logs, smartphone sensors, and social media activity. The psychological sci...