Másképp működik az internetezők agya

Gyakran elfelejtkezünk arról, hogy az internetnek nem csak veszélyei vannak.

Adults with little Internet experience show changes in their brain activity after just one week online, a new study finds. The results suggest Internet training can stimulate neural activation patterns and could potentially enhance brain function and cognition in older adults. As the brain ages, a number of structural and functional changes occur, including atrophy, or decay, reductions in cell activity and increases in complex things like deposits of amyloid plaques and tau tangles, which can impact cognitive function. Research has shown that mental stimulation similar to the stimulation that occurs in individuals who frequently use the Internet may affect the efficiency of cognitive processing and alter the way the brain encodes new information.
"We found that for older people with minimal experience, performing Internet searches for even a relatively short period of time can change brain activity patterns and enhance function," Dr. Gary Small, study author and professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, said in a statement.
Previous research by the UCLA team found that searching online resulted in a more than twofold increase in brain activation in older adults with prior experience, compared with those with little Internet experience. The new findings suggest that it may take only days for those with minimal experience to match the activity levels of those with years of experience, said Small.
Additional studies will be needed to address the impact of the Internet on younger individuals and help identify aspects of online searching that generate the greatest levels of brain activation.
The findings were presented Oct. 19 at the meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Chicago, Illinois.

IT3 komment: Újabb bizonyítékát találták annak, hogy az internetezésnek nem csak káros hatásai vannak. Kutatási eredmények azt mutatják, hogy az internetes keresés képes olyan agyi területeket is aktiválni, amelyeket a könyvolvasás és a tévézés nem. A hatás ráadásul tartós, és már egy hetes, napi egy órás tréninggel is kiváltható.


Forrás: www.foxnews.com