DL5013 The Digital Learner

Slide 1 Brain Research Part 4: Brain Wiring of Digital

Brain activation: Online searching vs. reading printed
words on a page
Digital revolution causing faster brain changes (Gary
Small)
Natives
Did you know that according to a UCLA
study, searching online activates more
brain regions than reading printed
words?

Research shows that the brain remains

plastic, or changeable, over the lifetime.
Gary Small, a neuroscientist, says that
the digital revolution is causing our
brains to change faster than we ever
imagined. In a study of people ages 55
to 76, those using the Internet regularly
showed twice as much signaling in
brain regions responsible for decision
making and complex reasoning than
those with less exposure to the
Internet. On the other hand, Small
says, the neural circuits that control the
more traditional learning methods --
those that engage memory in the
learning process, taking things step by
step and addressing one task at a time
-- are neglected and gradually diminish.

Some researchers hypothesize that

what teens do or don't do during the
brain's growth periods can affect them
for the rest of their lives. Scientists now
know that our brains undergo a period
just before puberty (11 in girls, 12 in
boys) of overproducing synapses,
especially in the frontal cortex, and then
theres a pruning back in adolescence.
So what we do during those years?
What we use in our brain is vital to what
our brain keeps and what it prunes.
This tells us that the structural and
functional effects of new technology on
a young brain are very profound.