Are Your Smarter Because You Search Online?
Posted on | October 20, 2008 | drew stauffer
Have you ever thought that because you search online that you’re smarter than the next guy? According to a new study from UCLA, searching the Internet may help to stimulate and possibly improve brain functions.
Traditionally, taking part in activities like crossword puzzles have helped keep the mind sharp and preserve brain health and cognitive abilities. With technology increasingly becoming part of everyone’s life, scientists have begun to assess the influences of computer use and the Internet.
According to principal investigator Dr. Gary Small, a professor at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA who holds UCLA’s Parlow-Solomon Chair on Aging,
“The study results are encouraging, that emerging computerized technologies may have physiological effects and potential benefits for middle-aged and older adults. Internet searching engages complicated brain activity, which may help exercise and improve brain function.”
The team at UCLA studied 24 volunteers between the ages of 55 and 76. Half of the participants had experience searching the Internet while the other half had no experience. Education level and gender were similar between the two groups. The study mainly consisted of the difference in brain activity between book-reading and Internet searching while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans.
“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,” said Small, who is also the director of UCLA’s Memory and Aging Research Center.
Further research and additional details on the study can be found in Small’s new book, “iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind,” published on Oct 14th.
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