Internet Searching Benefits Middle-Aged, Older People

October 15, 2008 8:12 a.m. EST

Los Angeles, CA (AHN) - A study by UCLA scientists has discovered that Internet searching helps stimulate brain functions in middle-aged and older people by setting off key centers in the brain responsible for controlling decision-making and complex reasoning.

It is the first academic study to look into the impact of Googling on brain performance. The results of the study will be published in an upcoming issue of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

Brain aging usually has negative effects due to structural and functional changes that take place. Those changes include atrophy, reduction in cell activity and higher deposits of amyloid plaques and tau tangles, which affect the brain's cognitive function.

According to Dr. Gary Small, principal investigator and professor at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, pursuing mind-stimulating activities help keep brain health and cognitive ability. In the pre-computer era, one activity linked with brain stimulation was solving crossword puzzles.

"The study results are encouraging, that emerging computerized technologies may have physiological effects and potential benefits for middle-aged and older adults," Small said.

The study involved 24 volunteers between 55 to 76 with the group divided into two based on Internet experience. Members of the two groups had similar ages, educational levels and genders. While doing Web search or reading books, the volunteers were undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging scans, which recorded brain-circuitry changes while performing the tasks.

Book-reading stimulated regions that control language, reading, memory and visual abilities, found in the temporal, parietal, occipital and other areas of the brain. Googling produces the same brain activities as book-reading, but also showed activity in the frontal, temporal and cingulate areas of the brain, which control decision-making and complex reasoning.

Brain activity registered by the fMRI is measured by a unit called voxel. Based on the UCLA study, the volunteers who had prior Internet experience had 21,782 voxels while Googling, while those with little Internet browsing experience registered 8,646 voxels only. But Small added that over time the inexperienced Googlers would benefit from the brain stimulating activity as well.

"A simple, everyday task like searching the web appears to enhance brain circuitry in older adults, demonstrating that our brains are sensitive and can continue to learn as we grow older," Small concluded.