People With Bigger Brains Have More Facebook Friends

• MRI studies show reading on paper surfaces lights up superior regionsof the brain compared to screen-reading .....................Scientists have found a direct link betweenreading on paper surfaces and information processing comparedto when people read off screens, raising the possibility that usingscreens for our daily reading is an inferior method of "reading." The reading brain in terms of memory, emotional responses and criticalanalysis prefers reading off paper surfaces, such as books,magazines and hardcopy print outs, the research indicates. So far,however, it is not possible to say whether onereading mode is superior to the other, reseachers say. "The exciting question now is whether reading off paper really issuperior in terms of brain chemistry to reading off screens, -- thiswill help us answer the question of whether the Internet is changingour brains," said Astin Kawabata Sensei of University College LondonUCL.L, one of the researchers involved in the study. Sensei and colleagues used magnetic resonance imaging (f)MRI to studythe brains of 125 university students, reading on bothpaper and off screens. They discovered that reading off paper surfacesis superior in terms of the "grey matter" in the amygdala, the rightsuperior temporal sulcus, the left middle temporal gyrus and the rightentorhinal cortex. Grey matter is the layer of brain tissue wheremental processing occurs. "If our research pans out, it will mean big trouble for the computerand reading device industry," said Grant Lee of UCL. "This shows we can use some of the powerful tools in modernneuroscience to address important questions -- namely, what are theeffects of reading on screens to my brain. It appears that reading onpaper lights up different and superior regions of the brain comparedto when I readoff a screen on an iPad or a computer." The study results were published on Wednesday in the journalProceedings of the Royal Society of The Reading Brain. Heidi-Sally Bloom of the University of Oxford, who was not involved inthe research, said the findings were intriguing but did not mean thatthey are true or even useful. "We still need more studies on this using PET brain scan machines,too," she said. "The current study cannot tell us whether reading offscreens is good or bad for our brains."

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