“Older people with minimal experience, performing Internet searches for even a relatively short period of time can change brain activity patterns and enhance function.”

Research out of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), presented at the Neuroscience 2009 meeting in Chicago, IL, demonstrated signs of enhanced neural stimulation in parts of the brain that control decision-making and reasoning in the brains of middle aged and older first time Internet users after only seven days of internet use – specifically, doing searches.

They contend that learning to use the Internet stimulates neural activation patterns and could enhance brain function and cognition in older adults.

As a long time habitual web surfer, and aging Baby Boomer, I’m absolutely delighted to read this! On the other hand, I’m left with one less excuse for forgetting where I left my keys – again!!

Senior research associate at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA and study author Teena D Moody told the press, “The results suggest that searching online may be a simple form of brain exercise that might be employed to enhance cognition in older adults.”

I suppose it’s a little like doing mental jumping jacks – what you exercise you tend to strengthen. The same was said long ago when video games were studied to see if playing them had any deleterious effects on students and young adults. It seemed then that playing video games helped older adults in a number of ways both physical and mental. This new study out of UCLA goes to show that you don’t have to get beat up on the virtual battle field to enhance mental capabilities and stave off mental aging – you can do it quite easily just by surfing the web. Now that is some good news for us non-gamers.

Co-author Dr Gary Small, a professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute, who has written a book titled iBrain that describes the impact of new technology on the brain and behavior adds, “We found that for older people with minimal experience, performing Internet searches for even a relatively short period of time can change brain activity patterns and enhance function.” Sweet!

The aging brain changes over time – atrophy, in which cell activity slows down, deposits like amyloid plaques, and tau tangles increase, impacting cognitive functions like thinking, learning and memory. Basically, the more we use our brain, the better off we are as we age.

The study showed that after just seven days of using the Internet at home, novice Internet users showed brain activation patterns that were very similar to those seen in a group of experienced Internet users.

Even for experienced internet users like me there is good news – in previous studies, the UCLA researchers showed that older adults with previous Internet experience searching the Internet experienced a twofold increase in brain activity compared to those with little or no experience. Even sweeter!

“Googling” and “Binging” and “Yahoo-ing” may just slow your brain aging – keeping your brain sharp as you get older. For us “older” folks, that’s really good news. As computers and web surfing gain popularity among the up-coming older generations, more of us will reap the benefits over time.

“Neural activation patterns in older adults following Internet training.” TD Moody, H Gaddipati, GW Small, SY Bookheimer. Poster Session 382.3/GG2, Human Cognition and Behavior: Aging Studies Presented Mon, Oct 19, at Neuroscience 2009 in Chicago.