Workout For The Brain

Wed, 12 Nov 2008

SEARCHING the Internet may help middle-aged and older adults keep their memories sharp, US researchers said.

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 ageing, said. "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.{Read From Original Source....}