• Ars Technica, Friday, October 17, 2008 11:15 AM

It's long been known that challenging mental activity helps strengthen the mind. But does searching the Web count as challenging mental activity? According to a new study of older Web surfers, it apparently does.

Using some fancy MRI technology, the administrators of the test monitored the brain waves of participants-both regular Internet users and novices-when they performed several tasks, such as reading a line of text or searching the Internet for information. Those who don't frequently use the Net didn't show much brain activity when asked to search, but regular Internet users showed high levels of brain function when searching, particularly compared to when simply reading.

The sample size was small, but the administrators say the findings could suggest that frequent access to information on the Internet can create a higher mental engagement with the content. These results will be published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

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