Googling for a better brain

Neuroscientists agree that the brain is healthier when people perform mentally challenging tasks. The variety of tasks that can be performed using a computer or smartphone provides new opportunities for mentally challenging tasks. A quick Google search for "brain exercises" offers up "about 3,430,000 results" that provide users access to articles about how to exercise their brain as well as games to play online to challenge the brain. But, what if the search for brain exercises is actually a mentally challenging and healthy task in itself?

This is what a 2009 study entitled "Your Brain on Google: Patterns of Cerebral Activation during Internet Searching" conducted by Gary W. Small, Teena D. Moody, Prabba Siddarth, and Susan Y. Bookheimer suggests. While my previous post examined how the brain changed due to traditional studying, Small et al. set out to examine how performing internet searches activated and impacted different parts of the brain. The team performed MRI scans on 24 subjects aged 55-78 while they used simulated search engines to learn about various topics; the subjects were told they would be assessed on the topic they were researching afterwards. The groups were divided into "Net Naive" and "Net Savvy" depending upon their prior experience with computers. The researchers also had the subjects view their information in two different formats: one was identical to a web page (called Internet search task in the study), while the other was formatted like a page from a book (called text reading task in the study). The informative content was the same in both.

This is an example of the types of searches the subjects did. The top two images are for people who saw a book page format. The bottom two are what people saw if they were viewing an simulated Internet search engine and web page.

Researchers found that, during the text reading task, the Net Naive group's brains were activated mostly in the left hemisphere in their frontal, temporal, and parietal regions; there was also activation of the visual cortex, hippocampus, and posterior cingulate. These same regions were activated during the Internet search task, with the exception of the hippocampus and posterior cingulate. The Net Savvy group showed activity in the same areas of the brain as the Net Naive during the text reading task. However, during the Internet search task, there was additional activity in the frontal pole, right anterior temporal cortex, the anterior and posterior cingulate, and the right and left hippocampus.

The top images represent the Net Naive group; the bottom represent the Net Savvy. The images on the left are activation patterns during the text reading task; those on the right are during the Internet search task.

What does all of this mean? Small et al. note that the Net Savvy group experienced a more than twofold greater spatial extent than did the Net Naive group; essentially, more of the brain is activated in order to perform Internet searches than to research questions using books. Also, the Net Savvy group showed greater activation in areas that control complex reasoning and decision making. The implication of these findings is that the Net Savvy of the world have developed additional skills in order to use the Internet effectively. Another key aspect of this study is that it was only those with substantial experience with computers experienced greater brain activation. This reemphasizes the findings of Draganski et al. in my previous entry because it shows how the brain adapts to consistent practice of an activity.

So, habitual Googlers unite and celebrate; our internet search habits may be exercising the brain's ability to reason effectively.