Brain Scans Show Porn Is as Addictive as Alcohol, Drugs (VIDEOS)

Numerous studies have discussed extensively porn and the role of the Internet in making lewd images available with the click of the mouse.

Brain scans of people who love to view pornography show that they exhibited the same indicators of addiction similar to those hooked on alcohol and drugs, a study by Cambridge University researchers said.

The study on the brains on young men, released on Monday, said that when these males were show erotic images, the part of the brain that was stimulated lit up similar to a Christmas tree. That is the part that deals with processing reward, motivation and pleasure, and the same part highly active in other dangerous forms of addiction.

"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," Sunday Times quote lead scientist Dr Valerie Voon.

"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," she added.

The study has 19 self-confessed compulsive porno users as respondents. They were males aged 19 to 34 who tried but failed to stop their habit, and as a result broke relationships and lost jobs. They source the erotic images online.

The study is still unpublished, but it will be featured in a documentary titled Porn On The Brain, to be aired 10 pm on Sept 30, Monday, and presented by the former editor of the male magazine Loaded, Martin Daubney.

"The age of innocence is over ... The Internet is now a rolling buffet of online depravity. Given what we now know about porn seemingly being addictive, it's like leaving heroin around the house for kids to take," News.com.au quoted Mr Daubney.

However, another survey confirmed that watching porn online is normal for boys as young as 13, but as they increase their porn intake as they reach their teens, campaigners warn that the erotic images warp their view of sex and causes them to treat girls as sex objects only.