Compulsive users of porn show the same signs of addiction in their brain as those hooked on alcohol or drugs, according to researchers at Cambridge University in the UK The brains of young men who are obsessed by online pornography “lit up like Christmas trees” upon being shown erotic images, a pioneering study, the first of its kind in the world, has found. The area stimulated – the part of the brain involved in processing reward, motivation and pleasure – is the same part that is highly active among drug and alcohol addicts. Dr Valerie Voon, a Cambridge University neuroscientist specializing in addictions, studied 19 self-confessed compulsive pornography users. The men, aged 19 to 34, had tried and failed to break their habit and had lost relationships and jobs as a result. All fed their habit using online porn. When they were shown erotic video clips, a part of their brains lit up called the ventral striatum. It is the same part of the brain that springs to life when a drug addict sees a dealer or an alcoholic sees an advert for drink. When they were shown non-erotic but exciting sports images, the men’s brains reacted far less strongly. Some doctors have argued that heavy users of porn show the same traits of addiction as alcoholics and drug addicts. As evidence to the United States Congress in 2008, psychiatrist Jeffrey Satinover said: “Modern science allows us to understand that the underlying nature of an addiction to pornography is chemically nearly identical to a heroin addiction: only the delivery system is different.”