N - Google affects the brain

The act of searching with Google changes patterns of cognition, research has shown. An exploratory study of people aged 55-76 found that internet searching may engage neural circuitry that is not activated while reading text pages, in people with prior computer and internet search experience. The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging of the brain to compare activity in net savvy and net naive users. The net savvy group had more signal intensity in additional regions controlling decision making, complex reasoning, and vision, including the frontal pole, anterior temporal region, anterior and posterior cingulate, and hippocampus. More research is needed, particularly in younger web users. (American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 2009;17:116-26, http://journals.lww.com/ajgponline/Abstract/2009/02000/Your_Brain_on_Google__Patterns_of_Cerebral.4.aspx.)
Thanks to Margaret Cooter

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