By Tim Brunson

Discoveries in the area of neuroplasticity over the past few decades have highlighted the ability for our minds to influence the structure of our brains. Scientists from around the globe have discovered that our experiences will affect how we are neurologically organized. While surgery, medications, and the various forms of psychotherapy, to including hypnosis, have their effects, our existence in an environment of exponentially rapid technological growth is becoming a major factor in the future direction of our minds and the history of humanity. Our electronic "toys" not only affect our professional and social lives. They also impact on how we remember, think, and imagine.

In a very few short decades we have experienced a revolution as the rate of technological innovation has grown seemingly out of control. I vividly remember one evening in Germany where I was performing a tour as our battalion's Staff Duty Officer. The year was 1980. Upon visiting a squad room in headquarters company, I came upon a young soldier, who had recently arrived from the States. He was sitting at his desk intensely looking at the screen of a small TV hooked up to a 4K Tandy computer. I was amazed. At that time my most sophisticated tech device was an expensive TI four-function calculator. Yet today with our smart homes, iPods, Web-enabled, multimedia cell phones, and our 24/7 access to the Internet, the way we think, remember, and communicate has drastically changed.

For decades most neurologists believed that all brain functions were localized in specific geographic areas and that once a capability was lost through trauma or abuse, it was gone forever. However, researchers such as Michael Merzenich, PhD, at UCSF, Edward Taub, PhD, at UAB, and Alvaro Pascual-Leone, MD, at the Harvard Medical School have shown that experience can restructure the brain. When neural substrates or subordinate networks of neurons become dormant, nearby networks extend into the underutilized areas with all the obsessive enthusiasm of Alabama kudzu. When networks are repeatedly used, then they become denser and more dominant. And, when entire substrates become dysfunctional due to stroke or trauma, entire functions may be relocated to another area. So, what does this mean in our technologically driven world?

On one hand, technology allows us to bypass and weaken certain areas of the brain. For instance, my wife has caught me more than once doing simple arithmetic with my HP 12-C rather than attempting to work such problems out in my head as I was taught to do in grammar school. While I'm somewhat embarrassed by some of my new tech-driven habits, I realize that some of the laziness is both promoting neural disuse and giving an opportunity for new networks to begin an encroachment process. Although I do not willingly desire to loose my ability to calculate without electronic devices, I also realize that I am allowing my brain to restructure and develop new capabilities. So, as I acknowledge that I must prevent my total dependence upon these devices, I must also appreciate my new-found abilities.

Advances in technology, which literally means "process", allow me new ways to perform much more than simple calculations. The ability to retrieve visual, auditory, and semantic data, to sort it by relevance (i.e., Google PageRank), to analyze it through spreadsheets and database queries, and to then store it for later use (i.e., recall) has been greatly enhanced. While all of these capabilities seem to mostly reside in the meta-human realm of computer electronics, these enhanced information processing and memory/recall functions are experienced at the neural level. Therefore, they must have some mind (or brain) expanding impact. More neurons are used. More neural processes are involved. Thus, existing in a technological world is beneficial to our brains.

Think for a moment about just a few of the affected substrates. The imagination, anticipation, and assignment of meaning functions of the right orbitofrontal cortex are strengthened. The thought switching capabilities of the anterior cingulate cortex is fortified. Our explicit and implicit memory functions are enhanced as they are magnified by their partnership with computer storage. And, our sense of self as somewhat determined by the insula is expanded as we communicate with others around the globe.

However, as I implied in the calculator example, we must be vigilant as some advantages may be outweighed by the disadvantages. We may allow technology to become a crutch which retards mental function to the point that we become totally incapable of operating when the batteries die out or a connection is lost. The mind-expanding value of social networking, such as Facebook and MySpace, should not allow our ability to communicate face-to-face to wither. And we should also realize the dangers of addictive behavior brought on by dopamine and endorphin rushes as is too often found with video games, virtual reality, and even pornography.

Nevertheless, if we guard ourselves from the abuses and pitfalls of technology, it has the capability to further human evolution and hopefully become a tool for a better world. However, both are in the realm of quantum possibilities. The answer to this dilemma may be found in a discussion of exactly which part of the brain is predominantly affected. If technology is chiefly interfacing with our more primitive brain structures, such as our emotional and reactive limbic system, then our addictive tendency will result in our seeking even more intense thrills. Yet, if it enhances our cognitive functions as represented by our frontal lobe, then our increased ability to think, remember, and imagine moves us toward a higher state of human functioning.

Regardless, the existence of electronic and computing technology is here to stay. Like any revolution in human processes, such as gun powder, nuclear power, the sextant, and the printing press, it is our choice whether it leads us into another Dark Age or it takes us to a Renaissance in which we redefine what it means to be human.

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