[caption id="" width="218" caption="Areas of the brain stimulated by Web Searching"][/caption] A recent University of California at Los Angeles study provides some good news both about withstanding the results of aging on our brains and using the Web. The researchers found that for middle-aged and older people, at least, searching the web stimulated centers in the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning and may even help counteract the age-related changes that cause our brains to slow down. This study is consistent with the concept that we've writing about before that playing certain mental computer games will increase brain activity and keep the brain functioning. So it would seem that just doing our day-to-day work if it involves the use of the Web is good for our mental stimulation and our brains. From the UCLA press release:

For the study, the UCLA team worked with 24 neurologically normal research volunteers between the ages of 55 and 76. Half of the study participants had experience searching the Internet, while the other half had no experience. Age, educational level and gender were similar between the two groups. Study participants performed Web searches and book-reading tasks while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans, which recorded the subtle brain-circuitry changes experienced during these activities. This type of scan tracks the intensity of cell responses in the brain by measuring the level of cerebral blood flow during cognitive tasks. All study participants showed significant brain activity during the book-reading task, demonstrating use of the regions controlling language, reading, memory and visual abilities, which are located in the temporal, parietal, occipital and other areas of the brain. Internet searches revealed a major difference between the two groups. While all participants demonstrated the same brain activity that was seen during the book-reading task, the Web-savvy group also registered activity in the frontal, temporal and cingulate areas of the brain, which 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 Dr. Gary Small, a professor at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA.

The study will be published in an upcoming issue of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. Read the UCLA Press Release and the BBC Story.