Cost of Being Online for Brain: Changing Working Memory Attributes, Associated Metacognitive Knowledge and Long-Term Memory Processing

Abstract

Converging evidence from neuroscience and psychological sciences demonstrates that continuous sensory stimulation within the intensive internet use affects brain functioning on a broad scale. This includes essential memory, and metacognitive functions extend to the healthiness and disorders which are critical for the adaptive behavior and learning processes. This study aims to show the relation between intensive internet use and the responds of the brain in neural and behavioral levels through some working memory attributes and associated metacognitive functions and long-term memory processing. Accordingly, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies suggest that being online intensively has an impact on activation levels in Anterior Cingulate Cortex, Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex, Orbitofrontal Cortex, Medial and Medial frontal Gyrus, ventral striatum, and the dynamic connectivity pathways including frontal, medial and parietal networks such as Default Mode Network and Task Network which are important for memory and metacognitive functions. Moreover, intensive internet use habits affect some cognitive skills such as the selection of information cues, manipulation and retention of the information and attentional control; evaluation of one’s present knowledge, and regulation of the learning processes for; encoding, consolidation and retrieval of information for long-term memory processes are the effected features. As a conclusion, intensive internet use has a critical impact on neural processes in modular and whole brain level and could play a strong role for the alteration of memory and metacognitive processes.

Keywords

• internet use
• metacognition
• working memory
• long-term memory
• prefrontal cortex