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Web surfing could keep dementia at bay

Study: Internet searches may provide the same benefit as memory games


By Andrea Thompson
Senior Writer

For middle-aged and older adults, searching the Internet could be a boost to the brain, a new study suggests.

In recent years, several studies have showed a link between pursuing activities that keep the mind engaged, such as crossword puzzles and memory games, and a lowered risk of cognitive decline later in life.

Keeping your brain active could drive some of these brain chemistry signals in the opposite direction compared to where they go as dementia sets in, and now it looks like surfing the Web could be another way to do that.

The new study, to be detailed in an upcoming issue of the journal American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, looked at the brain activity of 24 neurologically normal volunteers between the ages of 55 and 76 as they searched the Internet. Half of the participants had experience surfing the Web, while the others did not.

All the study participants showed significant brain activity during the book-reading task, specifically in the temporal, parietal and occipital lobes of the brain, which are involved in controlling language, reading, memory and visual abilities .

But Internet searches revealed differences between the two groups. While all the participants showed the same activity as during the book-reading, the Web-savvy group also registered activity in the frontal, temporal and cingulate areas of the brain, whereas those new to the net did not.

(These areas of the brain control decision-making and complex reasoning.)
"Our most striking finding was that Internet searching appears to engage a greater extent of neural circuitry that is not activated during reading — but only in those with prior Internet experience," said study leader Gary Small of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA.

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[Tondtar]

I am sorry ...but does this include p0rn surfing also?

[Griz]

The MSNBC story seems a bit sensationalized given the scope of the study. Unfortunately, most health writers don't have a clue what they're writing about...