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Researchers: Smartphone Use Changing Our Brain and Thumb Interaction
Rambo Tribble writes Researchers from the University of Zurich, ETH Zurich, and University of Fribourg have found evidence that smartphone use changes the way your brain interacts with your thumbs. Using electroencephalography to study brain activity in smartphone users vs. feature-phone users, they found apparently persistent, increased activity in areas of the brain associated with the thumbs. Of course, this may well be true of other repetitive activities, like keyboard use. Reuters provide a bit more approachable coverage.
I coulda told you that with my Atari 2600 joystick...
I operate my phone with my index finger, you insensitive clod.
When I was learning to play piano I had a lot of difficulty training my fingers at first. I had to concentrate on what my fingers were doing but the more I practiced the more natural it became. Occasionally I would come across a part that had an unusual timing or chord change and I would have to practice it multiple times to get it down.
I imagine that doing any complex repetitive task would eventually change the way it looks on an EEG as the person becomes more practiced.
Yep... You're developing muscle memory.
In a similar vein, Nicholas Carr's "The Shallows -- What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains" discusses something very similar from the standpoint of our using the Internet. It affects how we absorb and retain information and the changes in the brain are measurable. Essentially, the brain rewires itself to adapt to the technology that we use. That one's brain/thumb wiring is strengthened from messaging on smartphones is not a big surprise.
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
You learn to do more automatically what you repeat, whether it's texting, playing the piano, typing, or tapdancing. It makes the brain-muscle interaction more efficient for that area. This is not news.