In recent years, different studies have been warning that we are more and more dependent on the Internet. In essence, we use the Internet as a kind of external hard drive that we can access instantly from anywhere in the world. Over time, we tend to retain less information and connect more, which affects memory .
Now, a team of researchers coordinated by neuroscientists and experts in experimental psychology from University College London has found that the use of GPS also reduces activity in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex , two regions of the brain that intervene, respectively, in our capacity. to remember and guide us and in the planning and decision-making processes. To determine this, they examined how these areas responded in 24 volunteers as they moved around a virtual map of Soho, a London neighborhood.
In an essay published in the journal Nature Communications , scientists indicate that people who did not use a navigator were more active when they reached a new street. And this increased even more when they had to opt for different options. On the contrary, none of this happened in those who allowed themselves to be guided.
According to Hugo Spiers, director of the Spatial Cognition Group of the aforementioned London institution and one of the authors of the study, while the hippocampus simulates the possible paths, the prefrontal cortex helps us to determine which one will take us to our destination. “However, when a technological device tells us which way to go, these areas do not respond in the same way. It is as if they ignore the streets that surround us, “says Spiers in a statement.
A previous study also coordinated by experts from University College and carried out among taxi drivers in the British capital had already shown that after some time on the streets they experience an increase in gray matter in the back of the hippocampus, which proves that the brain maintains its plasticity and can change with training and learning .
Image: Joao Pinelo Silva / UCL
