Google is the best exercise for the brain

Searching on the Net with Google will make your brain "exercise" twice as much as reading alone.

The above conclusion is drawn from the study of brain activity of 24 people from 55-76 years, divided into two groups. The first group includes Internet users who are knowledgeable about information technology, and the second group who are not familiar with the technology, are only familiar with reading. All test participants were scanned by an MRI resonator through the brain while using the Net and reading books.

Want to keep your mind clear, practice . surf the Net

The first group is tasked with finding information about cars, or information about the benefits of eating chocolate or drinking coffee. The second group is simply asked to read books on a screen that is equivalent to two extended book pages.

Magnetic resonance imaging results show that brain activity in brain regions is related to the decision-making and speculation of surfers, who search through Google twice as often as "read-only" people. More specifically, when reading books, the brain regions in charge of the language work hard, while if asked to search, both the frontal brain area in charge of complex decision making and speculation are also "mobilized". take part.

Professor Gary Small, the leader of the research team, commented that this result "is very promising": "The more computing technology has emerged in recent times, is not only good for young people, but also good for health of the middle-aged to the elderly ".

" The search for content on the Internet requires the brain to perform complex tasks, which not only help the brain exercise but also improve the thinking function ."

In fact, many recent studies claim to find a way to solve difficult tasks that help "exercise" the brain, such as Brain Age games on Nintendo Wii gaming machines that require solving problems. Quizzes, short tales, or charades, Sodoku are quite popular in both paper and online newspapers.