alt Hacker NewsdlPFC deactivation is observed in a lot of immersive tasks. There are a lot of tasks that do this. Playing video games, as one example https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/4-431-26797-2_11
Interpreting fMRI results like this article does is almost always wrong. Different activities produce different patterns of brain activity. You could put someone in an fMRI machine, have them do virtually any activity, and then write a headline saying that doing that activity turns of key brain regions that are important for something. The trick is that all brain regions are important for something. Having them be less active during a task doesn't imply that it's good or bad. It just shows you which parts of the brain are involved in that task.
This blogspam article isn't great. The study at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S105381192... has more details, like the fact that those brain regions come online while viewing other less-preferred videos. The results aren't really indicative of anything by themself. It would have been more interesting if they compared to something, like watching a long involved movie or playing video games, but they didn't.
Also this post is coming from a fresh account that only spams links to this blog. Maybe the mods will want to switch the link to the actual study instead: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S105381192...
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And that's leaving aside the question of what it would affect. Elasticity/learning? Would it result in forgetting, or losing skill? Apart from the problem that I (and others with me) have with the "area X does Y" school of neuro-cognition, measuring changes in activity does not measure changes in connections, synapses, or tissue.
It is possible that inhibiting certain brain areas for a longer period will change e.g. cognitive skills. There is enough literature on losing skills after inactivity. But this approach can't bridge the gap.
It makes more sense to observer TikTok users' behavior over time. That can give more information about the actual effects, although without nice, colorful blobs.
yeah I don't feel qualified to comment on the study in particular but from personal experience the sort of 'loss of consciousness' does track.
When I realize I've spent an hour doomscrolling in an algorithmic feed, I don't feel like was 'all there' paying attention that whole period, it sort of washes over you and occasionally it rouses your attention and you pop out of unconsciousness to consume a little nugget of 'content' and then dive back in. It feels not worth it to spend so much time 'away' for a negligible amount of entertainment.
Video games or a book feels way different, like I'm also going under, but I'm going somewhere else, to a place that was crafted by another human with aim of it being worth my time.
Agreed, link should definitely be changed (or just the post removed)
fMRI is incredibly noisy. Mandatory dead salmon study: https://www.wired.com/2009/09/fmrisalmon/
I have seen a lot of reports of studies that imply completely different conclusions based upon the same reported data.
This could equally be reported as tiktok puts the mind at ease.
Or tiktok reduces brain activity related to anxiety.
"Related to" is a term that seems to be capable of supporting an unlimited load.
While this podcast episode is not about this particular research, it could have been.
https://www.changetechnically.fyi/2396236/episodes/17378968-...