Sissela Bergman Nutley

Karolinska Institutet | KI · Department of Clinical Neuroscience

Introduction Although not yet recognized as an official disorder, Social Media Disorder (SMD) has recently received considerable interest in the research. However, relatively little is known about underlying motives for social media use and to what extent motives show differential associations with SMD symptom severity and SMD diagnosis. The overal...

Introduction This study examined associations between screen time and addictive use (i.e., heavy involvement and negative consequences) of gaming and social media, and their independent effects on health outcomes. Methods Survey data were collected from 2,265 participants (mean age = 21.57). Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) and Social Media Disorder...

While studies have reported effects on digital media during the COVID-19 restrictions, few have included data prior to the pandemic, and most have only measured screen time. We therefore investigated changes in specific digital media activities, as well as mental health and lifestyle habits, in a longitudinal study of adolescents spanning from befo...

Currently, there is no screening instrument available for assessing both internet gaming disorder (IGD) and social media disorder (SMD). This study aimed to examine the reliability and factor structure of a new screening instrument for adolescents and adults, the Gaming and Social Media Questionnaire (GSMQ-9), and to investigate its association wit...

Background and aims: It has been argued that it is important to consider underlying mechanisms of mental health problems. Previous studies have shown that executive deficits, delay aversion, and emotion dysregulation are related to Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) and Social Media Disorder (SMD). However, the present study is the first to investigat...

Previous reviews have often shown a link between digital media ADHD symptom levels. However, longitudinal studies are needed to find stronger evidence of a causal effect as well as to determine the direction of effects. The aim of the present review (PROSPERO CRD42021262695) was therefore to provide a systematic review of studies meeting the follow...

This report was written to compile the scientific evidence on possible links between digital media and mental health problems in children and adolescents. This was part of the Swedish Media Council's contribution to the development of the Swedish government's national strategy to tackle mental health problems.

Background: Previous research has shown that addictions to digital media can have negative impact on psychosocial health. Although Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) has received most scholarly recognition, the potential negative consequences of Social Media Disorder (SMD) have also been found. However, few studies have assessed the symptoms of these t...

Repeated and targeted training of working memory typically leads to improvements as observed using cognitive assessments of working memory and different methods of brain imaging. A more controversial topic is whether these improvements transfer to improvements in other cognitive functions and if behavior in everyday life is impacted. If such transf...

Working memory (WM) is one of our core cognitive functions, allowing us to keep information in mind for shorter periods of time and then work with this information. It is the gateway that information has to pass in order to be processed consciously. A well-functioning WM is therefore crucial for a number of everyday activities including learning an...

Training working memory (WM) using computerized programs has been shown to improve functions directly linked to WM such as following instructions and attention. These functions influence academic performance, which leads to the question of whether WM training can transfer to improved academic performance. We followed the academic performance of two...

Mathematical ability is dependent on specific mathematical training but also associated with a range of cognitive factors, including working memory (WM) capacity. Previous studies have shown that WM training leads to improvement in non-trained WM tasks, but the results regarding transfer to mathematics are inconclusive. In the present study, 176 ch...

Practicing a musical instrument is associated with cognitive benefits and structural brain changes in correlational and interventional trials; however, the effect of musical training on cognition during childhood is still unclear. In this longitudinal study of child development we analyzed the association between musical practice and performance on...

Children with intellectual disabilities show deficits in both reasoning ability and working memory (WM) that impact everyday functioning and academic achievement. In this study we investigated the feasibility of cognitive training for improving WM and non-verbal reasoning (NVR) ability in children with intellectual disability. Participants were ran...

Cognitive deficits and particularly deficits in working memory (WM) capacity are common features in neuropsychiatric disorders. Understanding the underlying mechanisms through which WM capacity can be improved is therefore of great importance. Several lines of research indicate that dopamine plays an important role not only in WM function but also...

Fluid intelligence (Gf) predicts performance on a wide range of cognitive activities, and children with impaired Gf often experience academic difficulties. Previous attempts to improve Gf have been hampered by poor control conditions and single outcome measures. It is thus still an open question whether Gf can be improved by training. This study in...

Working memory capacity is usually measured as the number of stimuli correctly remembered. However, these measures lack precision when assessing individuals with low capacity. This study aimed to create a more precise measure of visuospatial working memory capacity, using intra-level differences in difficulty between items. In two experiments, chil...

Executive functions, including working memory and inhibition, are of central importance to much of human behavior. Interventions intended to improve executive functions might therefore serve an important purpose. Previous studies show that working memory can be improved by training, but it is unknown if this also holds for inhibition, and whether i...

Behavioural findings indicate that the core executive functions of inhibition and working memory are closely linked, and neuroimaging studies indicate overlap between their neural correlates. There has not, however, been a comprehensive study, including several inhibition tasks and several working memory tasks, performed by the same subjects. In th...