New Neurological Evidence That the Internet Makes People Smarter | Popular Science

New Neurological Evidence That the Internet Makes People Smarter | Popular Science: "he new study shows that having people use the Internet can actually change their brain function. The experiment involved 24 adults, between 55 and 78 years old. Half had scant experience on the 'net. The other, web-savvy half served as a control group. Participants underwent fMRI scans of their brains while searching the Internet, before and after a two-week Internet training period, when the participants searched the Internet for an hour a day for seven days total. When the naive group was scanned again while using the web, areas of the brain involved in decision making and working memory (things you quickly hold in your head, like a new telephone number you're about to dial) showed more activity.

'The Internet may be a form of brain exercise,” Small told Popsci.com. 'Whether [the brain changes] translate to other aspects of life, we don’t know yet, but it’s certainly a possibility.”"