Slashdot Mirror
Doing Internet Searches Boosts Older Brains
Hugh Pickens writes "Medical News Daily reports that researchers have found signs of enhanced neural stimulation in parts of the brain that control decision-making and reasoning when they scanned the brains of middle-aged and older first-time Internet users after only seven days of performing Internet searches. '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,' says Dr Gary Small, a professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA. At the start of the study, the participants performed Internet searches while the researchers took fMRI scans of their brains to track changes in blood flow in the brain and record subtle changes in neural activity. After practicing searching the Internet for 7 days over 2 weeks at home, the brains of the Internet novices showed activity in the same regions as before, but this time there was new activity in the middle frontal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus, the parts of the brain that are important for working memory and decision-making. 'You can exercise your mind by using the Internet, but it depends on how it's used,' adds Small. 'If you get hooked on gambling or eBay shopping, that may not be positive.'"
First Thought!
"His name was James Damore."
If searching stimulates brain activity, then I ought to have found all the zeros to the Riemann zeta function, cured cancer and AIDS, and devised a way to travel to Mars for 50 cents.
SSC
Performing or learning uncommon or new tasks stimulates brain activity.
Up next, how IMPORTANT SCIENCE TYPE PEOPLE claim that thinking causes increased brain activity.
More at eleven...
to get those damn kids off their lawn, and the internet can help!
I would have gotten first post but I had to Google to find what a "post" was. I think I found one.
Now get off my.... uh, what was I talking about again?
Free Martian Whores!
Hey, come up with a way for the common man to go to Mars. Rich rappers like 50 Cents can pay their own way!
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
However I think internet searching may be more effective then just learning a new skill. When you search threw the stuff you find a lot of stuff that you have never though about based on that topic... For example I just did a google search for well. Thinking of a Well for water where Little Timmy can fall in. Then the first search result was for Wells Fargo then there are a bunch of site for wellness and there is a result for digging a well. So for that search result I was exposed 3 different idea at once. My brain needed to do what a computer cant and process the information for relevancy for the search. So I saw Wells Fargo, I went well that is a Bank (Or the traditional shipping carrier of the old days) So my brain processed all that information and heck even the tune from the Music Man. Then there is wellness my brain scolded me for having a sandwich at McDonalds today saying I need to eat healthier. Then finally I see information about Well. So that was a lot or processing for my brain. Much more if I was just trying to learn a new skill.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.