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To what extent is technology having a positive effect on cognitive…
To what extent is technology having a positive effect on cognitive processes?
Positive
Kühn et al (2013)
On average, they were larger in the gaming group than in the control group.
Guiding question: Do young adults' brains change when playing video games for a prolonged time frame? If so, how?
This study wanted to investigate if gaming could actually change our brains. Their participants were all young adults, and they wanted to see the changes in their brains after playing video games for a prolonged period of time.
Found that the volume of grey matter in the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and cerebellum had increased for those who played were in the videogame group.
prefrontal cortex: strategic planning, decision making, cognitive control
cerebellum: fine motor
hippocampus: memory formation, spatial navigation (right side)
Weakness: For starters, the sample size was quite tiny. To be confident in these findings, the study would need to be reproduced and similar results obtained.The lack of transfer metrics is another problem of this study. Future research should use test batteries that include a wider range of abilities, such as executive control and working memory, that are supposedly being improved by the game.
The researchers had the participants play the game Super Mario 64 for half an hour (30 minutes) everyday for two months. Before they started playing however, the researchers did an MRI scan in all participants. After the two month period was over, they conducted another MRI scan.
Having the participants do an MRI scan before and after gaming indicates a pre-test and post-test design.
There was also a control group that did not play video games that also had MRI scans.
Negative
Participants were undergraduates who volunteered to take part in this study. The total number of participants was 60.
First phase:
The researchers used three conditions: internet, memory, and baseline. Those in the internet group could use Google to answer a series of eight hard questions on general knowledge. Those in the memory group had to answer those same questions, but without using the internet (fully relying on memory). Whilst those in the baseline group did not answer any questions whatsoever.
Second phase:
All participants were asked to answer eight easy general knowledge questions as quickly as possible. They had access to Google/internet, but were not explicitly told to use it.
Storm et al (2016)
Guiding question: Are we too reliant on technology for memory?
Aim: to see if successful use of Google for retrieving information made participants more willing to use Google in the future instead of recalling information from their own memory store.
.
83% of people in the Internet group used google search
63% of people in the Memory group used Google search
65% of the Baseline group used google search
These findings show that using online search engines such as google to obtain information encourages us to do it again in the future (and hence less likely to rely on our own memories).
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