Why Googling Is Good For An Aging Brain

Searching the Internet may help middle-aged and older adults keep their memories sharp, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles studied people doing Web searches while their brain activity was recorded with functional magnetic resonance imaging scans.

"What we saw was people who had Internet experience used more of their brain during the search," Dr. Gary Small, a UCLA expert on aging, said in a telephone interview.

"This suggests that just searching on the Internet may train the brain -- that it may keep it active and healthy," said Small, whose research appears in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

Many studies have found that challenging mental activities such as puzzles can help preserve brain function, but few have looked at what role the Internet might play.

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Comments

[larry278]

07:48 PM on 10/19/2008

The web is much more fun than bingo or tossing bean bags. I don't have to associate with the brain dead either. Seeing & hearing them when I eat is bad enough. There is a chance that many of them never had learned to think.

[PuddyKatz]

05:46 PM on 10/17/2008

Can I Haz Cheesburger is very educational,

[Diogenis]

02:14 PM on 10/16/2008

We've only just begun!

[JScott]

11:07 AM on 10/16/2008

Thank god for the intenet, I'd forget half of what I know if it weren't around.

[ballerinagirl]

08:09 PM on 10/15/2008

Me too!

[Village]

04:15 PM on 10/15/2008

I'm gonna live forever.