Watching too much TV may not be good for you but this does not mean videos aren't beneficial. Watching the right videos may actually help you with your learning skills and give your brain the boost that it needs.
In a new study that will be presented at the 66th annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Philadelphia, April 26 to May 3, 2014, researchers tested the strengths and hand skills of 36 healthy adults and had them undergo 3-D MRI brain scans.
The researchers then asked the participants to undergo training sessions for two weeks and divided them into two groups. Those in the first group watched videos of particular tasks such as handling coins, typing and hammering a nail, and they were asked to do the tasks themselves. Participants in the second group watched videos of landscape but were also asked to do the same tasks.
Two weeks later, the researchers tested the strengths and hand skills of the participants again as well as had them undergo 3-D MRI brain scans to check for brain volume changes. They found that the participants who watched the instructional videos improved their motor skills abilities, notably in terms of strengths, 11 times more than the participants who merely watched the landscape videos. The volume of their brain's cuneas, which plays a role in visual processing, and insula, which is associated with motor control and cognitive functioning, also increased.
"Our study lends credence to the idea that even as an adult, your brain is able to better learn skills just by watching the activity take place. With a dramatic increase of videos available through mobile phones, computers, and other newer technology, this topic should be the focus of more research," said study author Paolo Preziosa, a neurologist at the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, Italy. "The results might also contribute to reducing disability and improving quality of those who are impaired or who are undergoing physical rehabilitation."
Glen Finney, an assistant professor of neurology at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville, Florida, said he was surprised by the study's findings, particularly in terms of the brain's plasticity i.e. the brain's ability to change as a result of experience, which it loses as it ages.
"It just shows how plastic the brain is, that even observing activity can remodel the brain," Finney said. "That suggests we have a lot more ability to change the brain even with low-level rehabilitation therapies than people appreciate. I was surprised they got that much change over a short period of time."
Preziosa believes that the findings of the study would be beneficial to stroke victims and people who suffer from motor neuron diseases. "Evidence suggests that this approach is an effective therapeutic intervention for regaining motor function," he said. "It might become a good strategy to use along with conventional physical and occupational therapy to help people with motor deficits."
