Is dIgItal technology re-wIrIng your braIn?

Is digital
technology
re-wiring your
brain?
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Digital technologies are having a profound
impact on our neurological systems. They
have the potential to empower or enfeeble
our brains – the choice is ours.
As its scope, scale and influence
continues to adapt throughout
Alvaro Fernandez, chief executive
extends, the Internet is being
adulthood, forming new neural
officer of Sharpbrains.com, a market
classified by some as an “intellectual
connections and pathways and
research firm that tracks the health
technology”, in the same category
destroying old unused ones,
and wellness applications of brain
as the printed page, the number, the
through a process known as
science. Mr Fernandez believes
clock, the abacus and the typewriter.
neuroplasticity. “Our brains change
such assessments, as well as brain-
These are all tools designed to
as a function of what we do, what
training exercises using online tools,
magnify our mental powers. But in
we’re good at, what we master, and
will provide researchers with an
magnifying our powers, they also
what we don’t do,” says Michael
unprecedented amount of data that
shape how we think.
Merzenich, professor emeritus and
can help identify commonalities
neuroscientist at the University of
in brain and cognitive disorders.
California, San Francisco.
Professor Merzenich believes that
It is already accepted by
neuroscientists that the Internet
if it is leveraged to achieve the
and digital technology will leave
Optimists believe digital technology
right ends, such digital technology,
some physical impression on our
could help improve cognitive health
“will lead to a new awakening”
neurological systems. All interaction
and tackle neurological disease. In
in the diagnosis and treatment
causes changes in the brain. Whilst
the near future, all individuals will
of behavioural and neurological
these changes are particularly
be able to conduct self-assessments
disorders. As age-related
pronounced in childhood, the brain
of their cognitive health, predicts
neurological diseases grow in step
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with the ageing population globally,
can improve spatial attention, mental
neurological distortions in
technologies which help monitor and
rotation, motor responses and visual
individuals. Tailored exercises are
re-shape brains will become useful
processing skills. This could have
then designed to improve different
tools.
beneficial applications in the real
functions, to drive the brain in
world. A study conducted in 2007
corrective ways. Continual exercises
Online exercises are already
found that surgeons who played
are also supposed to be able to help
available to improve brain functions
video games before performing
repair degraded parts of the brain
including memory, attention
laparoscopic surgery (key-hole
and correct hormonal imbalances.
span and people skills. A 2011
surgery) made 37% fewer errors
report in the UK by Nominet, a
than those that had not played.
If this technology is used on young
social technology funder, argued
The potential for video games to
children at high -risk of developing
that brain-training can improve
influence our cognitive functions,
chronic schizophrenia, Professor
our ability to convert short-term
both negatively and positively, will
Merzenich believes an “illness
impressions and thoughts into
long-term knowledge. The findings
only increase as technology becomes that has plagued people from the
beginning of time can probably
more immersive, realistic and
support a 2009 study which argued
interactive.
be corrected by device-controlled
that working memories can be
exercises.” An expansive library
trained and improved through
of ‘apps’ is already on the market,
online exercises. For just 30 minutes
designed to help individuals
a day, over a period of 19 days,
Brain-training tasks can be also
cope with a range of cognitive,
young adults completed a series
intensified to deal with more
neurological and behavioural
of computer-based brain-training
exercises. These included puzzle-
significant neurological dysfunctions. disorders, including mood-tracking
According to Professor Merzenich,
apps designed to help people with
solving, memorizing to-do lists and
brain-training can re-establish
anxiety and depression by allowing
comparing and contrasting symbols
the social and learning abilities
them to monitor, track and reference
and shapes. In this particular study,
of children with attention deficit
their emotional experiences.
improvements in working memory
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). His
“Technology empowers you to
and fluid intelligence (the ability to
company even has a trial, currently
do things that are unimaginable
solve problems in new situations)
underway in the US, of a training
and scale them. It’s like inventing
were recorded.
programme that aims to correct
neuropharmacology without having
chronic schizophrenia.. Beginning
to come up with the drug stores,”
Even computer games, criticised by
with simple questionnaires, brain-
says Professor Mezernich.
many for their impact on children,
training can initially help identify
Digital backlash
The story is not all rosy, however.
official US document for classifying
amount of time we spend on
Some neuroscientists are worried
mental disorders - as a condition
screens. Young Americans spend
that digital technology and the
“recommended for further study.”
on average more than 53 hours per
week consuming entertainment
internet, while doubtless having
positive neurological impacts, can
Leading neuroscientists fear that
media. When the use of other
also undermine critical mental
the time people spend engaged with
devices, such as mobile phones, is
functions when used to excess.
digital and web-based technologies,
taken into account, young people
China has already declared internet
is time not spent rehearsing physical
spend on average nearly 11 hours
addiction a clinical disorder and has
and social skills. As the brain is
per day engaged with a screen .
built more than 400 rehabilitation
plastic, it operates under a “use it or
camps for treating young people.
lose it” principle. Susan Greenfield, a
Unlike television, the internet’s
“Internet use disorder” has, since
British scientist and author of Mind
presence is truly ubiquitous and
May 2013, even been included
Change, is particularly concerned
immersive. Professor Greenfield
in the Diagnostic and Statistical
by the “quantitative” shift in the
argues the mind can be constantly
Manual of Mental Disorders - the
engaged by a variety of sources
from mobile phones to laptops and
experiment in the 1940s, the
brain has three different types of
iPads, all vying for our attention. An
psychologist, Donald Hebb,
memory; short term, long-term and
environment in which people are
compared the problem-solving
‘working memory’, with the latter
intensively staring at screens and
capabilities of rats confined to
converting new information into
only using their hands and fingers
the laboratory with rats that
long-term memories. This process
is unnatural, preventing the brain
had been freed. Within a matter
is slow and requires the careful
from making an accurate model of
of weeks the “free-range” rats
gestation of incoming information.
the real world and of the body. This
outperformed their counterparts in
As Carr describes, “imagine filling
degree of physical inertia marks a,
captivity across all problem-solving
a bathtub with a thimble; that’s the
“radical change in the way the brain
exercises . This concept, known as
challenge involved in transferring
is engaging with the body … and
“environmental enrichment” asserts
information from working memory
there will be substantial neurological
that exposure to new, challenging
into long-term memory.”
and medical consequences in
environments can lead to positive
future years,” says Professor
differences in the composition of
Unlike a book, which provides one
Merzernich. The consequences
the brain including; increased brain
continuous stream of information,
could be more severe for younger
weight, increased neuron cell size
the internet offers the mind many
people, particularly those growing
and the increased thickness of the
streams which can overfill the small
up using digital technologies from
brain’s cortex.
thimble, causing what is known as
“cognitive overload”. The internet
an early age (a group referred to as
‘digital natives’ or the ‘millennials’).
A further area of concern is the
also delivers a particularly rich form
Young brains are more susceptible
impact on concentration. The
of media, known as “hypermedia”,
to their external environment and
internet and digital sphere is full
which is full of audio and visual
this generation is spending the
of applications that compete for
signals, including hypertext links,
longest amounts of time plugged in
our attention. These distractions,
images, sounds and moving pictures.
to screens.
Nicholas Carr believes, make the
With these factors combined, minds
internet an “interruption system”.
struggle to convert information into
Concerned neuroscientists point
Human brains are unable to process
long term memories.
to studies that show outdoor
the vast quantities and various
activity is essential to healthy
sources of information, degrading
brain development. In a seminal
the way that we learn and think. The
Everything in moderation
Both the negative and positive
and author of the book “Great Myths
the operation and design of digital
arguments are hard to prove
of the Brain”.
technologies, he argued, dismissing
claims that the Internet is breeding
empirically. Brain-scanning
technology is not yet developed
There is no single experiment that
an increasingly narcissistic youth
enough to provide scientists with a
can be conducted which will lay the
culture.
detailed enough picture of neural
matter to rest. And given the brain’s
activity. As Susan Greenfield notes,
sensitivity to external conditions it
“brain scans are like old Victorian
becomes nearly impossible to prove
photographs that show static
a causal relationship. As Christian
Neuroscientists can recognise
buildings but exclude any people
Jarrett quips, “yes, the internet
the great potential that digital
or animals, which would have been
will change your brain but so will
technology offers in the diagnosis
moving too fast for the exposure
deciding on whether or not to have a
and treatment of brain disorders
time.”
cup of tea.”
and strengthening of cognitive
Current experiments also lack the
Don Tapscott, adjunct professor
memory. But at the same time, they
sophistication to separate out cause
of management at the Joseph L.
see the damage that excessive use
and effect. Many studies lump
Rotman School of Management
of screen-based digital technologies
together internet use with watching
at the University of Toronto and a
can inflict. These technologies will
TV and playing games, for instance.
leading authority on innovation,
have a very uneven impact across
“They fail to control for social and
believes the headlines concerning
the human race, as Professor
educational factors that correlate
the young generation and digital
Merzenich predicts: “In some ways
with media use, and they provide
technology stem from ignorance
we’re driving the mind to new
only a single snapshot of evidence …
and fear. This is a unique time in
heights, and in other ways we’re
they are purely correlational,” says
history, in which children are more
carrying it into the dumpster.”
Christian Jarrett, a neuroscientist
advanced than their parents in
functions like spatial awareness and
About this
report
Is digital technology re-wiring your brain? was written by Tom Upchurch,
contributing author at The Economist Intelligence Unit. It examines how
digital technologies are impacting human cognition, neurology and behaviour.
The report is based upon interviews with four globally recognised experts,
spanning the fields of neuroscience and behavioural psychology. The Economist
Intelligence Unit would like to thank the following individuals for sharing their
insights and expertise in the production of this report:
Baroness Susan Greenfield, Senior Research Fellow, Lincoln College Oxford
Christian Jarrett, Author, Wired magazine, and Author, Great Myths of The
Brain
Michael M. Merzenich, Professor Emeritus Neuroscientist, University of
California & Chief Scientific Officer, BrainHQ
Don Tapscott, Adjunct Professor of Management, Joseph L. Rotman School of
Management, University of Toronto and Author of Grown Up Digital

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