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NPR reports on different interpretations of a recent study involving young mice and prolonged audiovisual stimulation:
The debate centered on a study of young mice exposed to six hours daily of a sound and light show reminiscent of a video game. The mice showed "dramatic changes everywhere in the brain," said Jan-Marino Ramirez, director of the Center for Integrative Brain Research at Seattle Children's Hospital.
"Many of those changes suggest that you have a brain that is wired up at a much more baseline excited level," Ramirez reported. "You need much more sensory stimulation to get [the brain's] attention."
So is that a problem?
On the plus side, it meant that these mice were able to stay calm in an environment that would have stressed out a typical mouse, Ramirez explained. But it also meant they acted like they had an attention deficit disorder, showed signs of learning problems, and were prone to risky behavior.
Overall, the results add to the evidence that parents should be very cautious about screen time for young children, Ramirez said. "I would minimize it."
A more optimistic interpretation came from Leah Krubitzer, an evolutionary neurobiologist at the University of California, Davis. "The benefits may outweigh the negative sides to this," Krubitzer said, adding that a less sensitive brain might thrive in a world where over-stimulation is a common problem.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by anubi on Monday November 21 2016, @09:20AM
Thanks for the reply.... I had not seen that post.
I heard the song while eating at DelTaco. I remembered the words about a kid dreaming about outer space, flying a rocket, then "wake up - you gotta make money" or something like that.
Reminded me of myself. I have always been a dreamer. Kid of the 60's. Loved science and making things. Same things the song talked about. It may be fun to design all sorts of stuff, but in the modern corporate world, all this STEM stuff may be fun for me, but it may be doing stuff like working at WalMart that pays the bills.
I do my design stuff just for the fun of it. I am heavily addicted to it - its the only thing in life I get a kick out of doing, or get any feeling of accomplishment for doing, but I am too much of a perfectionist at it and it won't pay the bills.
So I googled the phrases I remembered from the song, because they rang so true for me, and Google returned me link to the song.
So far, that is the only piece of rap music that made an impact on me - I guess because the artists nailed my own take on my life so precisely.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]