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Impact of Technology on Learning and the Brain
Gary Small, MD
University of California, Los Angeles
Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences
New Technology and the Brain
• Changing our lives and our BRAINS
• Young person’s brain most sensitive and most
exposed
– digital natives
– digital immigrants
• Bridging the brain gap – Tech skills
– Face-to-face communication skills
Our Relationship with Technology
• IT’S PERSONAL!
• Let’s do an experiment
• Turn ON your cell phone
• How do you feel?
• Swap your phone with your neighbor
• Take your phone back and turn it off
Is this how you feel?
Your Brain is Changing from Moment
to Moment
When you look at a computer screen
Every sensory stimulation causes a corresponding chemical reaction in the brain
Glance at a book page
or at look someone’s facial expression
Your Brain is Changing from Moment to Moment
These Brain Stimulations Cause
Physiological Responses
• Light to eye
• Neurotransmitters/chemical reactions through optic nerve
• Messages travel along neural networks
Neural Network Organization
Only 3 lbs
1,000,000,000,000,000 synapses
The Specialized Brain
Perception of Image or
Sensation
• Stir intense emotional reactions
• Jog repressed memories
• Trigger an automatic response
Brain Neural Networks
Brain Plasticity
• Like a new computer
– Basic programs built-in
– Plenty of room on hard-drive for new info
– Specialized circuits (computer “macros”)
• Neural circuits/synapses
– “strengthen” with use
– “weaken” when not used
Malleable Young Brains
• Upside – learning is fast
– Languages
– Musical instruments • Downside – still a lot to learn
– Frontal lobe
– Amygdala
• By adolescence, 60% of synapses are trimmed away or “pruned”
Courtesy of A. Toga, P. Thompson
Brain Evolution
Major Milestone in Brain Evolution
Neanderthal
Homo sapien
Cascade of Events
• Discovery of hand-held tool, handedness
• Enlarged frontal lobe, goal-directed behavior
• Grammatical language, social networking
Natural Selection
• Charles Darwin
• Genetic variants that adapt best to
environment, most likely to survive
As Our Environment Changes, Our
Brains Adapt
Is the environment really changing? Young
people between age 8 and 18 put in a total
of how much tech time (computer, TV, etc.)
each day?
4 hours
5 hours
7.5 hours
Roberts DF, Foehr UG, Rideout V. Generation M: Media in the lives of 8 – 18 year-olds. A Kaiser Family Foundation Study. 2010.
DIGITAL NATIVES
DIGITAL NATIVES: Who Are They?
• Born into technology
– access to limitless information
– 24-hour news and communication
• More time with technology, less time in
direct, face-to-face social interactions
• Brains are still developing
– Empathy skills
– Complex reasoning skills
Slow Down, Brave
Multitasker, and Don’t Read
This in Traffic
By STEVE LOHR
Published: March 25, 2007
Generation Text:
Emailing on the Go
Sends Some Users
Into Harm's Way
‘walk with ur chin @
about 45 degree angle' By DIONNE SEARCEY
July 25, 2008
Social Networks Like Facebook
Spread Moods
• Analysis of emotional content of billions of updates
posted to Facebook (2009 - 2012)
• Negative Facebook posts increased and positive posts
decreased in response to rain
• Every sad post generated 1.29 more negative posts
among people's friends
• Every happy post generated 1.75 positive posts among
friends
Coviello L, et al. Detecting Emotional Contagion in Massive Social Networks. PLOS ONE. March 12, 2014. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0090315
Technology and Addiction
Shaw & Black. CNS Drugs 2008;22:353-65.
Dopamine and anterior cingulate
pathways
Shopping
Virtual games
Gambling
Technology and Addiction
E-mail as an exercise in operant conditioning
• 197 students, age 17 to 23 yrs
• Played video games and then watched a series of calm
faces morph to angry or happy
• Participants were asked to rapidly identify the emotion
during morphing
How Does Technology Affect Face-
to-Face Social Skills?
Kirsh SJ, Mounts JRW. Aggressive Behavior 2007;33:353-358.
• Happy faces were identified faster than angry
faces
• Playing violent video games reduced this
happy face advantage
Video Game Play Impacts Facial
Emotion Recognition
Kirsh SJ, Mounts JRW. Aggressive Behavior 2007;33:353-358.
Teens Without Screens
• Six-graders who spent five days at nature camp without
smartphones, television or any other screen showed
significant improvements in their ability to read
– facial emotions
– other nonverbal cues to emotion
• Control group of students from same school who
continued to use their electronic devices (~4 hrs/d)
showed no improvements
Uhlis Y, et al. Five days at outdoor education camp without screens improves preteen
skills with nonverbal emotion cues. Computers in Human Behavior. 2014;39:387–92.
• Computer use associated with ADHD in
elementary school children
• > 1 hr video games per day
– Increases symptoms of ADHD
– Lowers overall GPA
• BUT cause and effect relationship not certain
Technology and Attention Deficit
Chan & Rabinowitz. Ann Gen Psychiatry 2006;5:16; Yoo et al. Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 2004;58:487-94.
DIGITAL IMMIGRANTS
• Learn technology later in life
• Older brains may be slower
– Reaction time, memory, motor function
• Resistance to technological innovation
DO YOU REMEMBER . . .
• the first time you watched color TV?
• when you really dialed a number?
• the IBM Selectric typewriter?
DO YOU REMEMBER . . .
• your first mobile phone?
• the first video game?
Effect of Technology on the Brain:
Computer Use According to Age
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
18-29 30-39 40-49 50-64 65-74 75+
% of
people
using
computers
• 3-5 times
• 5-10 times
• More than 10
Digital Immigrants:
How many times a day do you
check your email?
Constant Bombardment of Digital
Information
• Multitasking inefficiencies
• Digital fog
• Memory decline in the
middle-aged brain
Regression of surface projections of FDDNP-PET scans of 20
subjects (8 controls, 6 MCIs, 6 ADs)
More Protein
Less Protein Memory Score
FDDNP Shows Full Picture of Progression of Neurodegeneration
Your Brain on Google UCLA Study of the Effects of Internet
Searching on Neural Circuitry
Small, Moody, Siddarth,
Bookheimer. Am. J. Geriatr.
Psychiatry. 2009;17:116-26.
Funded by the Parvin
Foundation
Study Methods
• Recruit middle-aged and older people with minimal
Internet experience
Functional MRI
Stimulation Tasks During fMRI
Reading a text page Searching the Internet
Your Brain on Google
Text Internet
Net Naïve Net Savvy
Your Brain on Google
Net Savyy Group
Time
Bra
in A
ctiv
ation
Cognitive efficiency with task repetition
Neural Network Responses to Mental
Challenge
Unfamiliar task
Task strategy engagement
Brain Training: Calisthenics for the
Older Mind
Computer Brain Training Alters Neural
Circuitry
• Internet searching activates frontal circuits (Small et al, 2009)
• Video gaming increases and decreases activity – Frontal circuits
– Amygdala
• Brain responses depend on content and novelty of tasks
Mathiak & Weber. Hum Brain Mapp. 2006;27:948-56; Matsuda & Hiraki.. NeuroImage. 2006;29:707-11.
Is Technology Weakening Your
Memory Ability?
• How many phone numbers
do you know by heart?
• Does relying
on your PDA
shrink your
hippocampus?
818-555-1234 800-555-8000
212-555-8787
We Can Use Technology to Assist
Our Memory Capacity
• Pick & choose what we commit to
brain memory storage
Use your brain for
names & faces
Use your PDA for
birthdates &
anniversaries
LUCY
How Can We Nurture Creativity in a
Technological Age?
Early Inspiration for Today’s Digital
Tools
• 1945 Essay in Atlantic Monthly, by Vannevar Bush of
M.l.T.
– Proposal for technologies to automate the more
routine aspects of thought in order to free up more
time for scholars to devote to creative aspects of
their work
– Aim was to solve the problem of information
overload from the increasing specialization and
inaccessibility of information
Negative Impact of New Technology on
Thoughtfulness
• Limitation in:
– variety of mental activities
– exposure to new ideas
• Negative impact on attention
• Development of “staccato” pattern of thinking
• Activation of brain’s dopamine reward system, making it
difficult to stop using technology
• Accelerating pace reduces time for thoughtful reflection
• Rather than focusing on problems in depth, we jump from
idea to idea, just as we jump from website to website
Fluid Intelligence
• Ability to reason and solve new problems
independently of previously acquired knowledge
• Closely related to professional and educational
success
Computer Game Boosts Working
Memory & Fluid Intelligence
• 70 healthy young participants (mean age, 26 yrs)
• Video game trained working memory
• Fluid intelligence improved
• Training effect was dose dependent
Jaeggi SM, et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2008. May 13, 105:6829-33.
Training Multi-Tasking Skills
• Videogame training can enhance cognitive control
• Playing a NeuroRacer trained multi-tasking skills
in older adults (60 to 85 years) beyond those of
untrained 20-year-olds, with gains persisting for 6
months
Anguera JA, et al. Video game training enhances cognitive control in older adults. Nature.
2013 Sep 5;501(7465):97-101.
Technology Can Train Our Brains
• Surgeons who play video games
make fewer surgical errors
Improved visual attention
and reaction time
Rosser et al. Arch Surg 2007;142:181-6; Green & Bavelier. Nature 2003;423:534-7.
Off-Line Brain Training
Finding Balance to Bridge the Brain
Gap
Upgrade tech skills of
immigrants
Finding Balance to Bridge the Brain
Gap
Improve social skills
of natives
Dalton et al. Biol Psychiatry. 2007;61:512-20.
Innovate With Technology
To improve our lives
and our brains
Find Time Off-Line
Managing the Technology To
Preserve Our Humanity
Conclusions
• Technology is not only changing our lives, it’s changing
our BRAINS
• The new generation gap is a brain gap
• We can find balance in our lives and bridge the brain
gap
– by improving technology and social skills
– knowing when to use them
• For more info:
– www.longevity.ucla.edu
– www.DrGarySmall.com
Thank you.
Now you can check your email and
Facebook.
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