Text messaging is a popular mode of communicating, so researchers set out to find the neurological effects of smartphone use. The team, led by Mayo Clinic researcher William Tatum, tracked the brain waves of 129 patients with and without epilepsy. The brain waves were monitored for 16 months, using electroencephalograms (EEGs) and video footage, and the findings were published in the Epilepsy & Behavior journal.
Dr. Tatum and his team found a new, unique ‘texting rhythm’ in roughly 1 out of 5 patients using their phones to text. (More research needs to be conducted to understand why the effect was not observed in 4 out of 5 participants).
Participants performed several activities, such as message texting, finger tapping, and audio phone use. Only text messaging generated the never-before-described brain rhythm.
Texting may sound simple, but several events occur to send a message. On top of producing a short, nonverbal message, smartphone users need to hold the device, apply finger motion, and concentrate on a small screen. Collectively, these tasks tap into different interconnected portions of the brain and create the new rhythm.
The same neurological effect was exhibited when participants used an iPad.
The researchers say the rhythm is not correlated to demographics, including age, gender, epilepsy type, presence of a brain lesion on MRI, or ictal EEG.
“We believe this new rhythm is an objective metric of the brain's ability to process non-verbal information during use of electronic devices and that it is heavily connected to a widely distributed network augmented by attention or emotion,” Dr. Tatum remarked.
The research team believes that their results could have significant implications on brain-computer interfacing and gaming.
More importantly, the group states that their work can help expose the perils of texting and driving.
“There is still a lot more research needed,” Dr. Tatum commented, but “we have begun to unravel the responses generated by the brain when it interfaces with computerized devices.”
