Smartphones have been accused of adversely affecting the brain, but researchers have found that fingertip interaction with touchscreens also results in increased brain activity.
A new study published in the journal “Current Biology” states that smartphone users posses “an enhanced thumb sensory representation in the brain.”
Arko Ghosh of the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich in Switzerland led the research team and saw widespread smartphone use as an opportunity to examine the brain malleability of everyday people.
“I think first we must appreciate how common personal digital devices are and how densely people use them,” Ghosh said. “What this means for us neuroscientists is that the digital history we carry in our pockets has an enormous amount of information on how we use our fingertips and more.”
Scientists studied 37 volunteers, 26 of whom used smartphones and 11 of whom used less technologically advanced mobile phones.
Researchers used electroencephalography (EEG) to measure brain activity by placing multiple electrodes on the scalps of participants. Their results indicated that smartphone users had more EEG brain activity when the tips of the thumb and index and middle fingers touched their phone screens.
Additionally, findings indicate that the more time users spent on their smartphones, the higher the level of cortical activity.
Researchers say their findings make sense since the brain can be molded by experience.
Ghosh said this increased brain activity “could mean that cortical sensory processing in today’s brain is constantly being trained by personal digital gadgets,” according to AFP.
“I was really surprised by the scale of the changes introduced by the use of smartphones,” Ghosh said.
The study further states that plasticity of fingertip sensory representation is not limited to skillful movements and cites that monkeys trained to repeatedly grasp and release a handle have demonstrated malleability.
Findings suggest that repetitive touchscreen tapping has reshaped sensory processing from the hand.
“We propose that cortical sensory processing in the contemporary brain is continuously shaped by the use of personal digital technology,” the study states.
(With reports from AFP and BBC)
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Weekend January 3-6, 2015 Sec. D pg.2)
