Social Networking: It is Good for Your Mind, Study Says August 5th, 2009
Tom Amontree

We know social networking holds the power to reunite us with old friends or help land a job, but is it good for our minds too?  A new study released by the University of Washington’s Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences says so.

The analysis found that students who interacted with language tools in the same way they might in a social media environment had higher neural concentrations and comprehension than those who learned by more passive traditional methods, such as reading, watching, and listening.  What’s driving this higher capacity for retention?  Professor and researcher Patricia Kuhl says the social part of the brain stimulates computational skills—a finding that is supported by another University of Washington study demonstrating that infant brains can only retain knowledge when learning is combined with personal interaction or activity.

According to the study, learning combined with social stimulation is even more important for adults.  Researchers point to how adult language learning success is accelerated when they are immersed in an environment with foreign-language speakers.  The analysis also indicates that just as bilingual people “build new bridges in the brain,” social interaction creates new learning connections.

So the next time someone tells you sites like Facebook and Twitter are turning your mind to mush, you can legitimately tell them broadband-powered social technologies are actually enhancing your ability to learn.  To hear more on this theme, tune into Professor Kuhl’s podcast: Being Human in the Digital World.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 5th, 2009 at 2:51 pm and is filed under Benefits of Broadband, Reports and Studies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.