These
days, it seems like smartphones are an integral part of people's daily lives —
and a new study suggests that texting on these devices may actually change
certain processes in the brain.
Texting may cause
some people's brain waves to change temporarily, resulting in a
pattern unique to texters, the researchers found.
The scientists called
this unique pattern of brain waves the "texting rhythm."
They
were surprised that the rhythm could be reproduced in different patients in the
study, said Dr. William Tatum, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic College of
Medicine in Jacksonville, Florida, and the lead author of the study. The
discovery of new brain-wave patterns is rare — it was more common in the years
following the late 1920s, when the electroencephalogram (EEG) device, which
shows brain activity, was invented, he said.
In the study, the
researchers used EEG monitoring to look at the brain waves of 129 people while
they texted or did other activities. Some of the
patients in the study had been diagnosed with epilepsy, according to the
study.
In
addition to texting, the people in the study were asked to complete other tasks
— such as various movements, cognitive activities and speech — to see if these
tasks would result in the same rhythm, Tatum told Live Science. However, the
brain-wave pattern that the researchers observed when people were texting,
either on a smartphone or a tablet, was not seen when they were doing any other
activity, he said.
Twenty-seven
of the people in the study were found to demonstrate the texting rhythm,
including some of the patients with epilepsy and some of the people without the
condition, the researchers wrote in their study, published in the June issue of
the journal Epilepsy & Behavior.
It's unclear why
every person in the study did not exhibit the texting rhythm, Tatum said.
However, other "reactive" brain rhythms that researchers have found
previously — such as those triggered by things including flashing lights, hyperventilation and mental concentration — also do not
occur in everyone, he said.
The
researchers are currently investigating which people are most likely to
experience the texting rhythm, he said. There are still many questions about
the findings, and more studies of this brain-wave pattern are needed, the
researchers said.
Tatum
added that, at this point, there's no indication that people need to change the
way they use their smartphones because of the texting rhythm. "We are
making an effort to verify that this is an active rhythm without harm given the
time-synced nature of the rhythm when it appears," he said.
However, the findings
do suggest that texting can indeed alter brain activity, lending further
credence to laws that ban texting and driving, the researchers
wrote. Texting is more than a "simple distraction," they wrote.
Representative
Image
Source: livescience
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