AfterTek

For years we have been told to get off the computers and get outside into the fresh air. Sitting in front of a computer screen and surfing the net all day was thought to make us duller people with straining eye problems. New research may prove this wrong and show the many benefits of surfing the net.

A research team from Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA are trying to prove that searching the web on a regular basis may be able to stimulate and improve the functions of the brains. The research team was supervised by Professor Dr. Gary Small and was though of 24 volunteers. The ages were between 55 and 76. Half of them were asked to search the Internet and the other half were not on the Internet at all. There were no significant differences between their levels of education and age.

“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,” Small explained for TechNewsWorld.

The studies also had the people not only searching the Internet but also reading books. Researchers recorded their brain activity and brain circuitry and the changes that they made using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Those who read the books proved that the activity in the brain was intensified. However, the ones who used the Internet showed an extended activation of certain areas of the brain. Mainly the frontal lobes - which help to make decisions and reasoning skills.

“There is a lot of interest in exercising the brain - the idea of ‘use it or lose it.’ There are new technologies to help us do that. This study suggests that a simple, everyday task like searching the Internet could be yet another way of strengthening neural circuits and creating greater brain efficiency in the frontal lobe,” said Small, who is the author of iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind.

Dr. Small believes that everyone should be made aware of the positives and enhancements that a computer can bring to people’s lives. However, there is also a risk with using them too much. Those who spend nine to twelve hours on a computer every day may not have much activity in the end. “What’s going to be the impact of that on our survival of the fittest? That could make it difficult for people to draw conclusions based on another’s facial expressions,” Small concluded.