Is digital technology re wiring your brain

Is digital
technology
re-wiring your
brain?

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Digital technologies are having a profound
impact on our neurological systems. They
have the potential to empower or enfeeble
our brains – the choice is ours.
As its scope, scale and influence

continues to adapt throughout

Alvaro Fernandez, chief executive

extends, the Internet is being

adulthood, forming new neural

officer of Sharpbrains.com, a market

classified by some as an “intellectual

connections and pathways and

research firm that tracks the health

technology”, in the same category

destroying old unused ones,

and wellness applications of brain

as the printed page, the number, the

through a process known as

science. Mr Fernandez believes

clock, the abacus and the typewriter.

neuroplasticity. “Our brains change

such assessments, as well as brain-

These are all tools designed to

as a function of what we do, what

training exercises using online tools,

magnify our mental powers. But in

we’re good at, what we master, and

will provide researchers with an

magnifying our powers, they also

what we don’t do,” says Michael

unprecedented amount of data that

shape how we think.

Merzenich, professor emeritus and

can help identify commonalities

neuroscientist at the University of

in brain and cognitive disorders.

California, San Francisco.

Professor Merzenich believes that

It is already accepted by
neuroscientists that the Internet

if it is leveraged to achieve the

and digital technology will leave

Optimists believe digital technology

right ends, such digital technology,

some physical impression on our

could help improve cognitive health

“will lead to a new awakening”

neurological systems. All interaction

and tackle neurological disease. In

in the diagnosis and treatment

causes changes in the brain. Whilst

the near future, all individuals will

of behavioural and neurological

these changes are particularly

be able to conduct self-assessments

disorders. As age-related

pronounced in childhood, the brain

of their cognitive health, predicts

neurological diseases grow in step

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with the ageing population globally,

can improve spatial attention, mental

neurological distortions in

technologies which help monitor and

rotation, motor responses and visual

individuals. Tailored exercises are

re-shape brains will become useful

processing skills. This could have

then designed to improve different

tools.

beneficial applications in the real

functions, to drive the brain in

world. A study conducted in 2007

corrective ways. Continual exercises

Online exercises are already

found that surgeons who played

are also supposed to be able to help

available to improve brain functions

video games before performing

repair degraded parts of the brain

including memory, attention

laparoscopic surgery (key-hole

and correct hormonal imbalances.

span and people skills. A 2011

surgery) made 37% fewer errors

report in the UK by Nominet, a

than those that had not played.

If this technology is used on young

social technology funder, argued

The potential for video games to

children at high -risk of developing

that brain-training can improve

influence our cognitive functions,

chronic schizophrenia, Professor

our ability to convert short-term

both negatively and positively, will

Merzenich believes an “illness

impressions and thoughts into
long-term knowledge. The findings

only increase as technology becomes that has plagued people from the
beginning of time can probably
more immersive, realistic and

support a 2009 study which argued

interactive.

be corrected by device-controlled

that working memories can be

exercises.” An expansive library

trained and improved through

of ‘apps’ is already on the market,

online exercises. For just 30 minutes

designed to help individuals

a day, over a period of 19 days,

Brain-training tasks can be also

cope with a range of cognitive,

young adults completed a series

intensified to deal with more

neurological and behavioural

of computer-based brain-training
exercises. These included puzzle-

significant neurological dysfunctions. disorders, including mood-tracking
According to Professor Merzenich,
apps designed to help people with

solving, memorizing to-do lists and

brain-training can re-establish

anxiety and depression by allowing

comparing and contrasting symbols

the social and learning abilities

them to monitor, track and reference

and shapes. In this particular study,

of children with attention deficit

their emotional experiences.

improvements in working memory

hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). His

“Technology empowers you to

and fluid intelligence (the ability to

company even has a trial, currently

do things that are unimaginable

solve problems in new situations)

underway in the US, of a training

and scale them. It’s like inventing

were recorded.

programme that aims to correct

neuropharmacology without having

chronic schizophrenia.. Beginning

to come up with the drug stores,”

Even computer games, criticised by

with simple questionnaires, brain-

says Professor Mezernich.

many for their impact on children,

training can initially help identify


Digital backlash
The story is not all rosy, however.

official US document for classifying

amount of time we spend on

Some neuroscientists are worried

mental disorders - as a condition

screens. Young Americans spend

that digital technology and the

“recommended for further study.”

on average more than 53 hours per
week consuming entertainment

internet, while doubtless having
positive neurological impacts, can

Leading neuroscientists fear that

media. When the use of other

also undermine critical mental

the time people spend engaged with

devices, such as mobile phones, is

functions when used to excess.

digital and web-based technologies,

taken into account, young people

China has already declared internet

is time not spent rehearsing physical

spend on average nearly 11 hours

addiction a clinical disorder and has

and social skills. As the brain is

per day engaged with a screen .

built more than 400 rehabilitation

plastic, it operates under a “use it or

camps for treating young people.

lose it” principle. Susan Greenfield, a

Unlike television, the internet’s

“Internet use disorder” has, since

British scientist and author of Mind

presence is truly ubiquitous and

May 2013, even been included

Change, is particularly concerned

immersive. Professor Greenfield

in the Diagnostic and Statistical

by the “quantitative” shift in the

argues the mind can be constantly

Manual of Mental Disorders - the

engaged by a variety of sources


from mobile phones to laptops and

experiment in the 1940s, the

brain has three different types of

iPads, all vying for our attention. An

psychologist, Donald Hebb,

memory; short term, long-term and

environment in which people are

compared the problem-solving

‘working memory’, with the latter

intensively staring at screens and

capabilities of rats confined to

converting new information into

only using their hands and fingers

the laboratory with rats that

long-term memories. This process

is unnatural, preventing the brain

had been freed. Within a matter

is slow and requires the careful

from making an accurate model of

of weeks the “free-range” rats

gestation of incoming information.

the real world and of the body. This

outperformed their counterparts in

As Carr describes, “imagine filling

degree of physical inertia marks a,

captivity across all problem-solving

a bathtub with a thimble; that’s the

“radical change in the way the brain

exercises . This concept, known as

challenge involved in transferring

is engaging with the body … and

“environmental enrichment” asserts

information from working memory

there will be substantial neurological

that exposure to new, challenging

into long-term memory.”

and medical consequences in

environments can lead to positive

future years,” says Professor

differences in the composition of

Unlike a book, which provides one

Merzernich. The consequences

the brain including; increased brain

continuous stream of information,

could be more severe for younger

weight, increased neuron cell size

the internet offers the mind many

people, particularly those growing

and the increased thickness of the

streams which can overfill the small

up using digital technologies from

brain’s cortex.

thimble, causing what is known as
“cognitive overload”. The internet

an early age (a group referred to as
‘digital natives’ or the ‘millennials’).

A further area of concern is the

also delivers a particularly rich form

Young brains are more susceptible

impact on concentration. The

of media, known as “hypermedia”,

to their external environment and

internet and digital sphere is full

which is full of audio and visual

this generation is spending the

of applications that compete for

signals, including hypertext links,

longest amounts of time plugged in

our attention. These distractions,

images, sounds and moving pictures.

to screens.

Nicholas Carr believes, make the

With these factors combined, minds

internet an “interruption system”.

struggle to convert information into

Concerned neuroscientists point

Human brains are unable to process

long term memories.

to studies that show outdoor

the vast quantities and various

activity is essential to healthy

sources of information, degrading

brain development. In a seminal

the way that we learn and think. The


Everything in moderation
Both the negative and positive

and author of the book “Great Myths

the operation and design of digital

arguments are hard to prove

of the Brain”.

technologies, he argued, dismissing
claims that the Internet is breeding

empirically. Brain-scanning
technology is not yet developed

There is no single experiment that

an increasingly narcissistic youth

enough to provide scientists with a

can be conducted which will lay the

culture.

detailed enough picture of neural

matter to rest. And given the brain’s

activity. As Susan Greenfield notes,

sensitivity to external conditions it

“brain scans are like old Victorian

becomes nearly impossible to prove

photographs that show static

a causal relationship. As Christian

Neuroscientists can recognise

buildings but exclude any people

Jarrett quips, “yes, the internet

the great potential that digital

or animals, which would have been

will change your brain but so will

technology offers in the diagnosis

moving too fast for the exposure

deciding on whether or not to have a

and treatment of brain disorders

time.”

cup of tea.”

and strengthening of cognitive

Current experiments also lack the

Don Tapscott, adjunct professor

memory. But at the same time, they

sophistication to separate out cause

of management at the Joseph L.

see the damage that excessive use

and effect. Many studies lump

Rotman School of Management

of screen-based digital technologies

together internet use with watching

at the University of Toronto and a

can inflict. These technologies will

TV and playing games, for instance.

leading authority on innovation,

have a very uneven impact across

“They fail to control for social and

believes the headlines concerning

the human race, as Professor

educational factors that correlate

the young generation and digital

Merzenich predicts: “In some ways

with media use, and they provide

technology stem from ignorance

we’re driving the mind to new

only a single snapshot of evidence …

and fear. This is a unique time in

heights, and in other ways we’re

they are purely correlational,” says

history, in which children are more

carrying it into the dumpster.”

Christian Jarrett, a neuroscientist

advanced than their parents in

functions like spatial awareness and


About this
report
Is digital technology re-wiring your brain? was written by Tom Upchurch,
contributing author at The Economist Intelligence Unit. It examines how
digital technologies are impacting human cognition, neurology and behaviour.

The report is based upon interviews with four globally recognised experts,
spanning the fields of neuroscience and behavioural psychology. The Economist
Intelligence Unit would like to thank the following individuals for sharing their
insights and expertise in the production of this report:

Baroness Susan Greenfield, Senior Research Fellow, Lincoln College Oxford
Christian Jarrett, Author, Wired magazine, and Author, Great Myths of The
Brain

Michael M. Merzenich, Professor Emeritus Neuroscientist, University of
California & Chief Scientific Officer, BrainHQ

Don Tapscott, Adjunct Professor of Management, Joseph L. Rotman School of
Management, University of Toronto and Author of Grown Up Digital