Neuroscience
From The BBC:
Internet use 'good for the brain'
Read the full article
[snip]
Lead researcher Professor Gary Small said: "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 latest study was based on 24 volunteers aged between 55 and 76. Half were experienced internet users, the rest were not.
Each volunteer underwent a brain scan while performing web searches and book-reading tasks.
Both types of task produced evidence of significant activity in regions of the brain controlling language, reading, memory and visual abilities.
However, the web search task produced significant additional activity in separate areas of the brain which control decision-making and complex reasoning - but only in those who were experienced web users.
The researchers said that compared with simple reading, the internet's wealth of choices requires that people make decisions about what to click on in order to get the relevant information.
[snip]
- Children's Understanding Of The Internet
How much do young children understand about the internet? Zheng Yan at the University of Albany recruited 83 children, aged from 5 to 12 years, to find out how much they used and understood the internet. Children aged from five to eight years tended to...
- Cognitive Decline
A report from the BBC: Brain function can start declining 'as early as age 45' BBC 5 January 2012 Last updated at 20:08 ET [snip] "The brain's ability to function can start to deteriorate as early as 45, suggests a study in the British Medical...
- Truth-telling And The Brain
Can brain-imaging technologies show whether we are being truthful or not? A current study, reported by Reuters (as found on the Houston Chronicle website), takes a look:Brain scans can tell who's lying, who's not Reuters News Service Nov. 29,...
- Memories And Memories
From a press release earlier today from Toronto's Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care:What happens in the brain when we remember our own past? Toronto, CANADA --Researchers are using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to probe brain activity...
- "connected But Hassled"
Those awesome folks at the Pew Internet & American Life Project have a new report out called A Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users, in which they say "half of all American adults are only occasional users of modern information gadgetry,...
Neuroscience
Internet Use Good For Brain Circuitry, As Well As For The WWW
From The BBC:
Internet use 'good for the brain'
Read the full article
[snip]
Lead researcher Professor Gary Small said: "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 latest study was based on 24 volunteers aged between 55 and 76. Half were experienced internet users, the rest were not.
Each volunteer underwent a brain scan while performing web searches and book-reading tasks.
Both types of task produced evidence of significant activity in regions of the brain controlling language, reading, memory and visual abilities.
However, the web search task produced significant additional activity in separate areas of the brain which control decision-making and complex reasoning - but only in those who were experienced web users.
The researchers said that compared with simple reading, the internet's wealth of choices requires that people make decisions about what to click on in order to get the relevant information.
[snip]
- Children's Understanding Of The Internet
How much do young children understand about the internet? Zheng Yan at the University of Albany recruited 83 children, aged from 5 to 12 years, to find out how much they used and understood the internet. Children aged from five to eight years tended to...
- Cognitive Decline
A report from the BBC: Brain function can start declining 'as early as age 45' BBC 5 January 2012 Last updated at 20:08 ET [snip] "The brain's ability to function can start to deteriorate as early as 45, suggests a study in the British Medical...
- Truth-telling And The Brain
Can brain-imaging technologies show whether we are being truthful or not? A current study, reported by Reuters (as found on the Houston Chronicle website), takes a look:Brain scans can tell who's lying, who's not Reuters News Service Nov. 29,...
- Memories And Memories
From a press release earlier today from Toronto's Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care:What happens in the brain when we remember our own past? Toronto, CANADA --Researchers are using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to probe brain activity...
- "connected But Hassled"
Those awesome folks at the Pew Internet & American Life Project have a new report out called A Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users, in which they say "half of all American adults are only occasional users of modern information gadgetry,...