With the advent of laptops, tablets, smartphones and other gadgets, media multitasking has become common place in this digitally connected world. Findings of a new study, however, suggest that multitasking with media devices may have a possible impact on the structure of the brain.
For the new study published in the journal PLoS One on Sept. 24, Kep Kee Loh and Ryota Kanai, both from the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience of the University College London in the U.K looked at the media device usage as well as examined the brain structures of 75 individuals who are about 24 years old on average.
The researchers surveyed the participants on their use of TV and print media as well as personal media devices such as mobile phones and computer, and then used functional magnetic resonance imaging or fMRI, to examine the brain structures of the participants particularly the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), which is associated with emotion and cognition.
The study authors found that the participants who use more media devices were likely to have less grey matter density in their ACC regardless of their personality traits, supporting results of earlier studies that found a link between high media-multitasking activity and poor attention as well as tendency for anxiety, depression and other emotional problems.
"The present study revealed a significant relationship between media multitasking and brain structure variations: Individuals who reported higher amounts of media multitasking had smaller gray matter density in the ACC," the researchers reported. "This association was significant at a stringent threshold and was independent of the Big Five personality trait differences."
Kep Kee Loh and Ryota Kanai, however, pointed out that their study merely found an association between media multitasking and changes in the brain structure and that it did not establish a cause and effect relationship. The study authors said that the exact mechanisms of the changes remain unclear and that long term study is still needed to determine if high simultaneous usage of media devices indeed causes changes to the structure of the brain
"Although it is conceivable that individuals with small ACC are more susceptible to multitasking situations due to weaker ability in cognitive control or socio-emotional regulation, it is equally plausible that higher levels of exposure to multitasking situations leads to structural changes in the ACC," Kep Kee Loh said adding that a longitudinal study would be needed to fully understand the association and the cause of reduced grey matter.
