For middle-aged and older adults, searching the Internet could be a boost to the brain, a new study suggests. 
    In recent years, several studies have showed a link between pursuing activities that keep the mind engaged, such as crossword puzzles and memory games, and a lowered risk of cognitive decline later in life.

    As the brain ages, a number of structural and functional changes occur, including atrophy, reductions in cell activity, and increases in deposits of amyloid plaques and tau tangles (both associated with Alzheimer's disease ), all of which can affect cognitive function. 

    Keeping your brain active could drive some of these brain chemistry signals in the opposite direction compared to where they go as dementia sets in, and now it looks like surfing the Web could be another way to do that. The new study, to be detailed in an upcoming issue of the journal American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, looked at the brain activity of 24 neurologically normal volunteers between the ages of 55 and 76 as they searched the Internet. Half of the participants had experience surfing the Web, while the others did not. 

    The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging scans to record subtle brain-circuitry changes in the patients as they performed Web searches and read book passages. fMRI scans track the intensity of cell responses in the brain by measuring the level of blood flow through the brain.

    All the study participants showed significant brain activity during the book-reading task, specifically in the temporal, parietal and occipital lobes of the brain, which are involved in controlling language, reading, memory and visual abilities .

    But Internet searches revealed differences between the two groups. While all the participants showed the same activity as during the book-reading, the Web-savvy group also registered activity in the frontal, temporal and cingulate areas of the brain, whereas those new to the net did not. (These areas of the brain control decision-making and complex reasoning.)

    "Our most striking finding was that Internet searching appears to engage a greater extent of neural circuitry that is not activated during reading — but only in those with prior Internet experience," said study leader Gary Small of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA. 

    Compared with reading, the wealth of choices on the Internet requires that people make decisions about what to click on, which engages important cognitive circuits in the brain.

    "A simple, everyday task like searching the Web appears to enhance brain circuitry in older adults, demonstrating that our brains are sensitive and can continue to learn as we grow older," Small said. The work was funded by the Parvin Foundation.

    With more time and experience, the group that was new to the Web could eventually show the same brain activation patterns as their more Internet-savvy peers.

    The researchers noted that more research must be done to address both the positive and negative ways that new technologies might influence the aging brain. 

    一份最新的研究提出,對于中年人和老年人來說,上網瀏覽可以促進大腦活動.
近些年來,好幾份研究都顯示,如果多從事一些類似于縱橫拼字游戲和記憶類游戲的活動來保持大腦活力,可以幫助老年人提高抵抗認知能力降低之類

    疾病的能力。
    由于大腦老化,許多的結構性和功能性的病變出現,包括細胞活力的萎縮,降低,還有類淀粉斑的沉積和tau糾結(同時也可以引起老年癡呆證)增加,所有

    這些都可以影響認知功能.
    大腦保持活動就可以在反方向推進出許多大腦的化學信號,做個比喻就像是癡呆病癥在哪里,這些信號就去哪里,現在看來似乎上網沖浪可以以另一種

    方式來實現這個目的.這份研究報告詳細發表在即將發行的<<美國老年精神病雜志>>上,該研究基于從網上征集的24名年齡在55-76歲之間的精神

    正常的志愿者.其中一半的志愿者有上網瀏覽的經歷,而剩下的則沒有。
    研究者讓志愿者上網瀏覽或者看書,同時使用功能磁共振成像掃描并記錄他們的大腦環的細微變化.功能磁共振成像通過測量大腦中血液流動的級別

    來追蹤掃描大腦細胞反映的強度.
所有參與實驗的志愿者在讀書實驗期間都顯示出顯著的大腦活動跡象,其中非常明確的顯示在大腦的顳葉,頂葉,以及枕葉部位,這些部位都與控制語言

    ,讀,記憶和視覺能力有關.
但是當進行網絡實驗的時候卻在兩組之間顯示出不同.所有的參與者除了顯示出與讀書調查期間相同的大腦活動跡象外,有網絡使用歷史的一組還在

    大腦的額,顳,扣帶回等部也展現出活動跡象,反之,第一次接觸網絡的人卻沒有這些跡象.(大腦的這些地區是來控制決定和復雜原因的.)
"我們最驚人的發現是網絡實驗顯示上網能使神經網絡環更寬廣,而這些活動在閱讀實驗中是沒有的----但也是僅僅針對那些先前有過上網經歷的人來

    說,"來自UCLA塞默勒神經系統與人類行為科學學院,同時也是這次研究負責人的Gary Small如是說.
"舉個簡單的例子,在年長些的人中,每天進行上網之類的活動能夠增強大腦環,這說明我們的大腦是敏感的并且即使我們慢慢變老也能持續學

    習,"Small說.這項工作的資助來自與Parvin基金會.
    只要有更多的時間和經驗,這些第一次接觸網絡的人們最終也能夠像那些有較長上網經驗的人一樣展現出相同的大腦活動模式.
    研究者提醒人們,應該做更多的研究來揭示那些可能會影響老化大腦的新技術的積極和消極的一面.