Googling is good for the ageing brain
Could Googling actually be good for you? That is the
conclusion drawn by researchers who believe that searching the internet could
improve brain function – at least among older people.
A team from the Center on Aging at the University of
California, Los Angeles, found that searching the web can stimulate the brain
more than other activities such as reading a book.
In a study to be published in the American Journal of
Geriatric Psychiatry, the researchers say they examined the neurological
activity of adults aged between 55 and 76 as they conducted a number of tasks.
The study took two groups of older people, one picked for
their knowledge of the internet, the other for being less technologically
adept. The participants were then placed inside an MRI scanner and asked to
take part in a series of activities including reading books and performing internet
searches.
While both groups saw overall brain activity increase
during the tasks, the internet-based assignments created a greater burst of
activity in the web-savvy users. In particular, the researchers said, they
stimulated areas of the brain linked to decision making and reasoning –
producing up to twice as much activity as their technologically challenged
counterparts.
Although the study group was small – just 24 subjects –
lead researcher Professor Gary Small said he believed the findings showed that
engaging with technology could have important benefits for mental fitness.
"The study results are encouraging: emerging computerized
technologies may have physiological effects and potential benefits for
middle-aged and older adults," he said. "Internet searching engages
complicated brain activity, which may help exercise and improve brain
function."
Some technological gizmos aimed at older people have come
in for criticism – particularly "brain training" games, which make
explicit claims about helping keep the mind young by guiding users through
mental gymnastics.
The craze led to millions of Japanese adults buying video
game systems in order to play quizzes and logic puzzles. Since then heavy
marketing from companies like Nintendo – which has used famous faces such as
Julie Walters, Chris Tarrant and Johnny Ball – has encouraged millions of
British adults to follow suit.
Elsewhere search engines such as Google have been accused
of presiding over a dumbing down of information. Internet critic Nicholas Carr
claimed websites were reducing levels of concentration and encouraging flighty behavior.
That opinion was reflected by research showing that readers of academic texts
on the web often engage in so-called "horizontal skimming" – reading
a small portion and then heading off somewhere else. But Small said that his
study showed using technology could have positive effects on the mind.
"There's so much interest in exercising our minds as
we age," he said. "One result of this study is that these
technologies are not all bad. They may be good in keeping our brains
active."
