Science & Technology

Mobile phones can reduce your brain power

By T.K. Randall
June 27, 2017

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) In a recent study conducted at the University of Texas, Assistant Professor Adrian Ward and colleagues conducted a series of experiments involving 800 volunteers.

For one of these, the participants were each asked to complete a number of tests on a computer, some with their smartphone placed face down on the desk next to them, some with their phone inside their pocket and some with their phone placed in a different room entirely.

The results of the experiment showed that those who had left their mobile in another room performed consistently better at the tests than those whose phone was still nearby."We see a linear trend that suggests that as the smartphone becomes more noticeable, participants' available cognitive capacity decreases," said Professor Ward. "Your conscious mind isn't thinking about your smartphone, but that process -- the process of requiring yourself to not think about something -- uses up some of your limited cognitive resources. It's a brain drain."

A second experiment, which focused on how smartphone dependence impacted someone's ability to concentrate, also showed the same results.

"It's not that participants were distracted because they were getting notifications on their phones," said Ward. "The mere presence of their smartphone was enough to reduce their cognitive capacity."

Source: Science Daily

Tags: Mobile Phone, Brain