Cognitive Design

A recent news article on a brain scanning study at UCLA suggests that using Google to search the web may in fact be great exercise for your brain.  They looked at a brain reading a book (below to the left) and then using Google to search the web (below to the right).

[Source: Dr. Gary Small, UCLA via the San Francisco Chronicle] 

 Clearly additional stimulation while Googling.   Perhaps it is not surprising that active search requires more mental energy than passive reading but there are still important implications for cognitive designers.  

First, asking people to search for material on-line, when they are not adapted to it likely entails a huge cognitive load.  Be careful assuming functionality that requires Googling-like behavior is easy for everyone to do.

Second, the study above is focused on older brains.  It may be useful when you are developing a psychographic profile (list of important cognitive needs and tendencies) for your design problem.

Finally,  it may be possible to design cognitive training programs especially for older folks that make use of Googling-like activities to achieve significant benefits. Of course more data is required. To quote the authors:

It’s too early to conclude that technology will help vanquish Alzheimer’s disease, but “our study shows that when your brain is on Google, your neural circuitry changes extensively,” said psychiatrist Gary Small, director of UCLA’s Memory & Aging Research Center.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 24th, 2008 at 5:26 pm and is filed under Cognitive Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.