How computers and smartphones can affect our brains

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Smartphones and computers are already firmly established in our lives. But scientists are sounding the alarm because such devices can alter the structure of the brain. A Chinese science newspaper reports on research that has proven that overuse of gadgets impairs our memory and makes us more distracted.

Nowadays, it has become the norm for most young people to simultaneously watch TV and play on a computer, view information on a tablet or play on a mobile phone. Some polls show that young people spend at least 11 hours a day on electronic devices, and almost 29% of them use two or more electronic devices at the same time. But is this "charging" for the brain, which receives and processes information, or does it harm it? The answer may lean towards the latter.

Games on computers and mobiles can change the structure of the brain

A 2014 study published in the scientific journal PLoS One found that the simultaneous use of multiple electronic devices (also known as media multitasking) can have a negative impact on people's social emotions and cognitive perception.

In a multitasking environment, several areas of the brain must perform different functions. For example, the anterior and posterior cingulate gyrus will participate in retrospective memory, while the prefrontal region will participate in prospective memory and behavior planning. After a long time receiving a variety of new impulses, the structure of these areas of the brain may change, for example, the density of the gray matter of the anterior cingulate gyrus, which controls emotions and regulates mood, may decrease.

This behavior can also influence the connections between the anterior cingulate gyrus and the precuneus, which is responsible for many high-level cognitive functions, such as episodic memory.

A review study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in 2018 shows that even for a mature brain, prolonged exposure to this state can affect cognitive ability, behavior, and neuronal metastructure.

In addition to affecting the structure of the brain, media multitasking can also affect the ability to remember. A 2015 study by Stanford University professor Anthony D. Wagner and colleagues found that this multitasking approach affects working memory in the human brain and even long-term memory.

With frequent media multitasking, memory deteriorates

Anthony D. Wagner's research group recently published a study in the journal Nature on media multitasking.

They found that the participants who were most frequently in the media multitasking state had reduced working memory and episodic memory capabilities.

The researchers believe that constant attention is critical before the brain is ready to encode neural signals and memories. However, in multitasking conditions, since human eyes must "switch" between several screens, attention will be scattered, and therefore the subsequent coding of neural signals and the ability to memorize will be weakened, and therefore later we cannot remember our actions.

In addition, when people have different levels of sustained attention, the brain's ability to form working memory will also differ, and this effect will extend to long-term memory. Lead author and postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychology at Stanford University, Kevin Mador, said: "Those who are often in a state of multitasking have mediocre memories because they have a low ability to keep constant attention on something for long periods."

This conclusion has been confirmed by other studies as well. A paper published in 2016 examined the brain activity of 149 participants (including adolescents and adults, ages 13 to 24) while reading and listening to a lecture at the same time. The results showed that this multitasking approach not only exacerbated neural activity in the anterior cingulate brains of the participants, but also led to memory impairment.

Multitasking makes the brain more inclined to explore but not memorize

What contributes to loss of attention and impairment of memory?

Some researchers believe that certain neurons in the brain maintain some balance between "exploration" (new content) and "processing" (content to be remembered) states. However, in a state of media multitasking, as the amount of information that the brain becomes familiar with increases, the range of information that people receive visually expands, and the brain is probably more prone to transition into a state of "exploration" and is able to discover more new information instead of memorizing. information related to the task at hand.

Although the human brain has already gone through a long process of evolution, the way the brain processes information has probably not changed much. Some scientists say that constantly confronting information in the long term can be detrimental to the brain. And some memory training and interventions can help people focus better.

Researchers at Stanford University have come up with a detector that can track a person's pupil, so that the device can remind the user to focus on the task at hand. Perhaps, in the future, such a device will gain immense popularity in schools and among parents.