Intimidated by technology?
Don't be. A new study shows that everyday computer tasks such as doing searches on the internet are good brain-training exercises.
When researchers at UCLA looked at older adults who had only recently learnt to use the Internet, they found a surge of activity in key decision-making and reasoning centres of the brain.
"People with minimal experience performing Internet searches for even a relatively short period of time can change and enhance brain activity," says Gary Small, a professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institiute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior UCLA.
The researchers found that browsing the web was superior to simple tasks such as reading. Searching online requires constant decision-making and the ability to hold information in working memory, says Small . "[It] appears to engage a greater extent of neural circuitry not activated during reading."
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