Are we all becoming "digitally demented"?

There is no denying it – we as a society have become reliant on technology in our daily lives. Can you imagine writing a paper without using Word’s spell checker? Or writing a text message without relying on autocorrect to avoid an awkward typo? But does overindulging in the technical conveniences of our digitalized lives mean that we are depriving ourselves of our skills?

Worries about losing our cognitive acuity thanks to technology are not completely new. Especially in South Korea, one of the most thoroughly digitalized countries in the world, physicians are concerned by what they call “digital dementia”. The concept behind this is known to all of us. Imagine our cognitive functions working like our muscles. If you don’t train them, they’ll slowly atrophy and lose strength. Take the author of this article as a warning example: According to many, map reading and spatial navigation have never figured among his strengths. The advent of satellite navigation and Google Maps, however, have made him lazy and, as a consequence, he is often seen wandering the corridors of his lab, completely disoriented.
It is easy to see why digital dementia advocates are especially worried about kids. Constant exposure to television, the internet and computer games, they claim, deprives them of “real-world experiences”. This supposedly harms their healthy development and turns them into socially disinterested loners. German weekly Der Spiegel quotes Manfred Spitzer, a psychiatrist and one of the most avid proponents of digital dementia, vowing that "(…) as shown here many times over, they [the digital media] truly do make us fat, dumb, aggressive, lonely, sick and unhappy." [1] But is this really anything more than fearmongering?

Image source: Zentrale Mediendienstleistungen, Charité (C.N.)

Dumb, aggressive, and lonely because of digital media?
Besides the obviously lurid term dementia, let’s get one thing straight first: Digital media cannot be bad per se - it depends on how you use them. If your online experience is restricted to cat videos or DIY makeup tutorials, it is easy to see why your cognitive abilities won’t benefit much. On the other hand, that is not what most people do. They use the internet to look up information, connect with friends and extend their knowledge.
Similarly, whether digital media have a positive or negative effect on kids depends on many factors, including content. Take TV shows: An easily relatable study found that watching “Dora the Explorer” was associated with better verbal skills, while Teletubbies was associated with worse verbal skills, among kids [2]. A similar case could be argued for video games, which have even been linked with improved cognitive skills [3], but depending on content, may also lead to less pro-social behavior and empathy and more aggression [4].

DORA THE EXPLORER OR TELETUBBIES?

What is more, research on this topic is methodologically tricky. This is because many variables of interest are correlated, a problem that often is not controlled for and may introduce bias. For example, it is easy to imagine that people who watch a lot of TV, on average, have lower academic achievement. Equally plausible, however, is that teens from disadvantaged backgrounds score lower grades – and watch more TV. Often, if you correct for these confounding associations statistically, the negative impact of digital media evaporates [5]. Also, many studies often assess screen time per se, lumping together exposure to any kind of electronic device. This implies that watching an hour of WWE Smackdown on TV is comparable to an hour playing online chess – and that can’t be right.

There is no good or bad – and definitely no "dementia"
So, is the story about digital dementia really grounded in facts or are these scare tactics propagated by technology-averse Luddites? Again, there is something to both sides of the coin. While undoubtedly over-relying on apps for every small juggle of mental arithmetic’s can’t be conducive to cognitive brilliance, there is no imaginable life without pocket calculators, GPS or spelling checking. More important, however, the way we use digital media determines whether they are beneficial for our grey matter or not.
There is no question that technological progress and digitalization have a huge impact on the way we grow up – also in terms of cognitive abilities. Likewise, it is obvious that something as complex and multi-sided as technology can’t be uniformly good or bad. Maybe, though, it is a good idea to give those kittens on YouTube a break and turn to something more “intellectual” – such as the many marvelous articles in this issue of the CNS Newsletter.

[1] http://bit.ly/2n3Ppbz
[2]Linebarger, Am Behav Sci, 2005
[3]Green and Seitz, Policy Insights from Behav Brain Sci, 2015
[4]Anderson et al, Psychol Bull, 2010
[5]Schmidt et al, Pediatrics, 2009


by Helge Hasselmann, PhD student AG Otte/Paul
this article originally appeared June 2017 in CNS Volume 10, Issue 2, Digital Health and Big Data 

The Dancing Brain

Neural Correlates of Dance

Dancing is most definitely my favorite form of art. It is actually one of the few forms that can be placed in both the categories of arts and sports (maybe we should start calling it a ‘spart’!). Dancing beautifully integrates complex motor learning and memory, rhythmic musical synchronization, and creative emotional expression. As a neuroscientist and a dancer, I feel compelled to summarize here the links between these two fascinating fields and some interesting features of the dancing brain.

Dance Performance

Not surprisingly, the brain areas that are activated during dancing are mostly the ones involved in the planning and execution of movements (motor cortex and basal ganglia), in receiving feedback from the muscles (somatosensory cortex), and in the fine tuning and coordination of movements (cerebellum) [1].

Brown and colleagues looked more deeply into which brain areas are activated by particular aspects of dancing. They placed amateur tango dancers in a positron emission tomography scanner while performing leg movements on a designed apparatus. The putamen (part of the basal ganglia) was strongly activated only when the subject danced to regular, metric music, but not to an irregular rhythm. The cerebellum was implicated in matching dance steps to music and the superior parietal lobule was engaged in spatial guidance of leg motions [2].These findings suggest that different areas of the central nervous system are responsible for the control of specific and distinct tasks in dancing.

Source: Chris Gash

Dance Observation

Other neuroimaging studies observed the brain's response to visual observation of dance. Dancers trained in either ballet or capoeira (a Brazilian martial art) and non-dancers watched videos of both these styles while their brains were scanned. All subjects showed activation of brain areas involved in action observation and simulation networks – the “mirror neuron system”.

However, activation of these areas was stronger in dance experts and even stronger when the dancers saw movements they had been trained to perform, compared to watching movements they were unfamiliar with. There was no difference in the brain activity of non-dancers while watching ballet or capoeira [3]. This shows that even passive observation of dance activates movement areas in the brain as if you were moving yourself, and that dancers have an enhanced neural representation of their personal motor repertoire.

With Practice Comes Adaptation

An interesting study showed that the brain of ballet dancers adapts to prevent them from feeling dizzy. Brain scans revealed that the vestibular cerebellum, an area responsible for the perception of dizziness, is smaller in dancers compared to non-dancers [4]. This demonstrates that even the vestibular response is sensitive to training. Also, skilled dancers depend less on vision for postural control compared to non-dancers. Instead, they rely on their highly accurate proprioception – the sense of awareness of body parts’ positions in space [5].

DANCING INCREASES NEURAL CONNECTIVITY

Professional dancers are also trained with motor techniques to perform highly demanding moves in apparently effortless ways. An electromyography study showed that, when performing swinging leg movements, skilled ballet dancers selectively applied minimal muscle tension at the very same position where the sway force was maximal. This means that they learn to optimize motor function and consequently reduce energy costs in terms of force and muscle contraction [6].

Benefits of Dancing

Several studies have observed better balance, posture, proprioception, and cardio-respiratory resistance in dancers compared to non-dancers. But don’t think you would have to become a professional to profit from these benefits. Even short episodes of breakdance training increase balance skills in young amateurs [7].

Dance practice has the potential to improve not only motor, but also cognitive skills. An impressive 21-year study showed that frequent dancing is highly protective against dementias, such as Alzheimer’s disease, lowering the risk as much as 76%! It was also found to be much more beneficial than doing crossword puzzles (47% reduced risk), reading (35%) or swimming or bicycling (0% – no difference at all) [8].

DANCERS RELY ON PROPRIOCEPTION MORE THAN VISION

Neuroplasticity is likely responsible for this effect. When we dance, we enrich our brain, making split-second decisions and creating new synapses and neural paths that become especially valuable as we age.

Dancing is not only physically demanding, it is cognitively demanding as well. So when you dance, you are exercising both your body and your brain. Regular dance training makes you improve innumerable motor and cognitive skills, contributes to brain plasticity, and enhances social interaction. And, all health benefits aside, dancing is simply fun! How much better can it possibly get?

[1] Hänggi et al, Hum Brain Mapp, 2010
[2] Brown et al, Cereb Cortex, 2006
[3] Calvo-Merino et al, Cereb Cortex, 2005
[4] Nigmatullina et al, Cereb Cortex, 2013
[5] Golomer and Dupui, Int J Neurosci, 2000
[6] Lepelley et al, Exp Brain Res, 2006
[7] Ricotti and Ravaschio, Gait Posture, 2011
[8] Verghese et al, N Engl J Med, 2003

by Mariana Cerdeira, PhD Student AG Harms

This article originally appeared 2015 in CNS Volume 8, Issue 2, Art. And the Brain.