The Internet is Good for Your Brainby Patrick J. Kiger
 WebMD reports on a new study by UCLA researchers, which shows that middle-aged and older adults who frequently use the Web have more highly stimulated brains than their peers who use the Web infrequently. Moreover, the study found that surfing the Web stimulated more areas of the brain than reading a book does. The study, led by Gary Small, director of UCLA’s Memory and Aging Research Center and a professor at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, involved 24 adults from 55 to 78 years old, half of whom routinely used the Web from once to many times a day. The other half of the study subjects used the Web less frequently, from not at all to no more than once a month. The participants didn't have any neurological conditions such as dementia and were similar in age and educational level. In order to measure their brain activity during reading and Web searches, the 24 adults underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans while separately performing both activities, either a new Internet search or reading text on a computer screen that was formatted to look like a book. While reading stimulated the same areas of the brain in both groups, those subjects who regularly searched the Internet showed twice the increase in brain activity when performing the new Internet search than their counterparts did, especially in the areas of the brain that control decision making and complex reasoning. “The study results are encouraging, that emerging computerized technologies may have physiological effects and potential benefits for middle-aged and older adults,” Small told WebMD. “Our most striking finding was that Internet searching appears to engage a greater extent of neural circuitry that is not activated during reading — but only in those with prior Internet experience.” Small concludes that the more experience the subject had in searching, the greater his or her brain was engaged. Less Web-savvy people might not have grasped the strategies for accessing information online, but with more time “may demonstrate the same brain activation patterns as the more experienced group,” he noted. The study will be published in an upcoming issue of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. More Stories |
advertisement
WATCH VIDEOTAKE A QUIZ
|
-
our sites
-
video
-
shop
-
stay connected
-
corporate
