Abstract: The techniques and methods of cognitive neuroscience are increasingly used in the study of internet addiction as the deepening of research. The current studies are mainly focusing on the impairment of the cognitive processing functions, the attentional bias, the preference of cognitive processing, the inhibitory control and sensation seeking of internet addicts, as well as the neural pathways of internet addiction. On this base, this paper points out the value of these results in the exploration into the mechanism of internet addiction and its practical application, and it puts forward some suggestions that future research should clarify the relationship between internet addiction and the impairment of higher cognitive functions, integrate the current research methods, expand research object and indexes, and highlight the application value of research results in the identification and intervention of internet addiction.

Key words: internet addiction, cognitive neuroscience, physiological mechanism