People who multi-task on media devices such as mobile phones and laptops have less grey matter, a latest study shows. This means that these people have reduced thinking and memory skills.
Researchers explain that the findings show that this changing structure of the brain affects cognition and social and emotional well-being.
Grey matter houses most of the brain's neuronal cell bodies. It includes regions of the brain involved in muscle control, and sensory perception such as seeing and hearing, memory, emotions, speech, decision making and self-control. While 20 percent of all oxygen taken in by the body goes to the brain, 95 percent of that goes particularly into the grey matter. The job of grey matter is to process information in the brain.
According to the researchers of this study, people who frequently use multiple media devices at the same time have lower grey-matter density in the part of the brain known as the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) - an area mainly responsible for cognitive and emotional control functions.
"Media multitasking is becoming more prevalent in our lives today and there is increasing concern about its impacts on our cognition and social and emotional well-being. Our study was the first to reveal links between media multi-tasking and brain structure," neuroscientist, Kep kee Loh from the University of Sussex in Britain said in a press statement.
The findings of the study support previous studies that found an association between media multi-tasking activity and poor attention span along with severe emotional problems such as depression and anxiety.
Researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and scanned the brain structures of 75 adults.
Past researchers had demonstrated that brain structure can be changed after long exposure to novel environments and experience. Neural pathways and synapses change based on these exposures at the cellular level and sometimes even a cortical remapping occurs . "The exact mechanisms of these changes are still unclear," Kep kee Loh added.
Researchers, however, did not find a cause to the association.
The researchers stated that long-term study was required to determine whether high concurrent media usage caused changes in the brain structure, or whether those with less-dense grey matter were more attracted to media multi-tasking.
The findings of the study were published in the journal PLOS ONE.
