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

Öz

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.

Anahtar Kelimeler

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

Çevrimiçi Olmanın Beyin İçin Maliyeti: Çalışan Bellek Niteliklerinin Değişimi, İlişkili Üstbilişsel Bilgi ve Uzun Süreli Bilgi İşleme

Öz

Sinir bilimi ve psikolojik bilimlerden elde edilen birleşen kanıtlar, yoğun internet kullanımı sırasındaki sürekli duyusal uyarılmanın beyin fonksiyonlarını geniş ölçekte etkilediğini göstermektedir. Bu, temel hafızayı içerir ve üstbilişsel işlevler, uyum sağlayıcı davranış ve öğrenme süreçleri için kritik olan sağlık ve bozukluklara kadar uzanır. Bu çalışma, yoğun internet kullanımı ile beynin sinirsel ve davranışsal düzeydeki tepkileri arasındaki ilişkiyi, bazı çalışma belleği özellikleri ve ilişkili üstbilişsel işlevler ve uzun süreli bellek işleme yoluyla göstermeyi amaçlamaktadır. Buna göre, fonksiyonel magnetik resonans görüntüleme (fMRI) çalışmaları, yoğun bir şekilde çevrimiçi olmanın Anterior Singulat Korteks, Dorsolateral Prefrontal Korteks, Orbitofrontal Korteks, Medial ve Medial frontal Girus, ventral striatum ve frontal, medial ve parietal alanları içeren dinamik bağlantı yolları ile bellek ve üstbilişsel işlevler için önemli olan Varsayılan Mod Ağı ve Görev Ağı ağlarındaki aktivasyon düzeyleri üzerinde etkili olduğunu göstermektedir. Bu bağlamda, özellikle yoğun internet kullanım alışkanlıkları çalışma belleği, üstbiliş ve uzun süreli bellek süreçlerini etkilemektedir. Buna göre, bilgi ipuçlarının seçimi, bilginin manipülasyonu ve tutulması ve dikkat kontrolü; kişinin mevcut bilgisini değerlendirmesi ve öğrenme süreçlerinin düzenlenmesi; uzun süreli bellek süreçleri için bilginin kodlanması, birleştirilmesi ve geri getirilmesi gibi bazı bilişsel özellikler etkilenen özelliklerdir. Sonuç olarak, yoğun internet kullanımının öğrenme üzerinde kritik bir etkisi vardır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• İnternet kullanımı
• üstbiliş
• çalışma belleği
• uzun süreli bellek
• prefrontal korteks

Etik Beyan

Bu çalışmada deneysel herhangi bir uygulama bulunmamaktadır.

Teşekkür

Bu çalışmaya katkılarından dolayı Doç. Dr. Erol Özçelik'e teşekkür ederim.

Kaynakça

1. Alimoradi Z, Lin CY, Broström A, Bülow, PH Bajalan, Z Griffiths, et al. (2019) Internet addiction and sleep problems: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sleep Med Rev, 47:51–61.
2. Ariffin K, Halim A, Darus A (2021) Discovering students’ strategies in learning English online. Asian Journal of University Education, 17:261-268.
3. Aydın O, Güçlü M, Ünal-Aydın P, Spada M (2020) Metacognitions and emotion recognition in internet gaming disorder among adolescents. Addict Behav Rep, 12:100296.
4. Baddeley AD, Hitch GJ (2000) Development of working memory: should the pascual-leone and the baddeley and hitch models be merged? J Exp Child Psychol, 77:128–137.
5. Baird B, Smallwood, J Gorgolewski, J Margulies S (2013) Medial and lateral networks in anterior prefrontal cortex support metacognitive ability for memory and perception. J Neurosci, 33:16657–16665.
6. Balıkçı K, Aydın O, Sönmez İ, Kalo B, Ünal-Aydın P (2020) The relationship between dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs and problematic social networking sites use. Scand J Psychol, 61:593–598.
7. Banich MT, Compton RJ (2018) Cognitive Neuroscience. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
8. Bear MF, Connors BW Paradiso MA (2016) Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain, 4th ed. Philadelphia, Jones and Bartlett Learning.

9. Blumenfeld. S, Ranganath C (2006) Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex promotes long-term memory formation through its role in working memory organization. J Neurosci, 26:916–925.
10. Boldt A, Gilbert S (2020) Distinct and overlapping neural correlates of metacognitive monitoring and metacognitive control. PsyArXiv, doi:10.31234/osf.io/3dz9b.
11. Brand M, Young KS, Laier C (2014) Prefrontal control and internet addiction: a theoretical model and review of neuropsychological and neuroimaging findings. Front Hum Neurosci, 8:375
12. Burin DI Gonzalez FM, Barreyro JP, Injoque-Ricle I (2020) Metacognitive regulation contributes to digital text comprehension in E-learning. Metacogn Learn, 15:391–410.
13. Burin DI, Irrazabal N, Ricle II, Saux G, Barreyro JP (2018) Self-reported internet skills, previous knowledge and working memory in text comprehension in E-learning. Int J Educ Technol High Educ, 15:18.
14. Casale S, Caplan SE, Fioravanti G (2016) Positive metacognitions about internet use: the mediating role in the relationship between emotional dysregulation and problematic use. Addict Behav, 59:84–88.
15. Casale S, Fioravanti G, Spada MM (2021) Modelling the contribution of metacognitions and expectancies to problematic smartphone use. J Behav Addict, 10:788–798.
16. Chen H, Dong, G, Li K (2023) Overview on brain function enhancement of internet addicts through exercise intervention: based on reward-execution-decision cycle. Front Psychiatry, 14:1094583.
17. Darnai G, Perlaki G, Zsidó AN, Inhóf O, Orsi G, Horváth R, et al. (2019) Internet addiction and functional brain networks: task-related fMRI study. Sci Rep, 9:15777.
18. De Baene W, Kühn S, Brass M (2012) Challenging a decade of brain research on task switching: brain activation in the task-switching paradigm reflects adaptation rather than reconfiguration of task sets. Hum Brain Mapp, 33:639–651.
19. Dong G, Huang J, Du X (2011) Enhanced reward sensitivity and decreased loss sensitivity in internet addicts: an fMRI study during a guessing task. J Psychiatr Res, 45:1525–1529.
20. Dong, G, Li, H, Potenza, MN (2017) Short-term internet-search training is associated with increased fractional anisotropy in the superior longitudinal fasciculus in the parietal lobe. Front Neurosci, 11:372.
21. Dong G, Potenza MN (2015) Behavioural and brain responses related to internet search and memory. Eur J Neurosci, 42:2546–2554.
22. Dong G, Potenza MN (2016) Short-term internet-search practicing modulates brain activity during recollection. Neuroscience, 335:82–90.
23. Ertmer PA, Newby TJ (1996) The expert learner: strategic, self-regulated, and reflective. Instr Sci, 24:1–24.
24. Essex BG, Clinton SA, Wonderley LR, Zald DH (2012) The Impact of the posterior parietal and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices on the optimization of long-term versus immediate value. J Neurosci, 32:15403–15413.
25. Fergus TA, Spada MM (2017) Cyberchondria: examining relations with problematic internet use and metacognitive beliefs. Clin Psychol Psychother, 24:1322–1330.
26. Finley JR, Naaz F (2022) Strategic use of internal and external memory in everyday life: Episodic, semantic, procedural, and prospective purposes. Memory, 31:108-126.
27. Firth JA, Torous J, Firth J (2020) Exploring the impact of internet use on memory and attention processes. Int J Environ Res Public Health, 17:9481.
28. Fisher M, Goddu MK, Keil FC (2015) Searching for explanations: How the Internet inflates estimates of internal knowledge. J Exp Psychol Gen, 144:674–687.
29. Fisher M, Smiley AH, Grillo TLH (2022) Information without knowledge: the effects of internet search on learning. Memory, 30:375–387.
30. Fleming SM, Dolan RJ (2014) The neural basis of metacognitive ability. In The Cognitive Neuroscience of Metacognition (Eds S. M Fleming, CD Frith):245–265. Cham, Springer.
31. Fleming SM, Lau, HC (2014) How to measure metacognition. Front Hum Neurosci, 8:443.
32. Fleur DS, Bredeweg B, van den Bos W (2021) Metacognition: ideas and insights from neuro- and educational sciences. NPJ Sci Learn, 6:13.
33. Fujiwara H, Tsurumi K, Shibata M, Kobayashi K, Miyagi T, Ueno T et al. (2022) Life habits and mental health: behavioural addiction, health benefits of daily habits, and the reward system. Front Psychiatry, 13:813507.
34. Gazzaniga MS, Ivry R, Mangun GR (2019) Cognitive Neuroscience: The Biology of the Mind. 5th ed. New York, W.W. Norton.
35. Gippert SM (2022) Veränderungen im Belohnungssystem bei Depression (Docotoral thesis). Bonn, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms- Universitat.
36. Goldstein RZ, Volkow ND (2011). Dysfunction of the prefrontal cortex in addiction: Neuroimaging findings and clinical implications. Nat Rev Neurosci, 12:652-659.
37. Gough D, Thomas J, Oliver S (2012) Clarifying differences between review designs and methods. Syst Rev, 8:170.
38. Hamidi F, Ghasedi J (2020) Cognitive and metacognitive impairments of drug addicted, internet addicted and normal individuals in youth ages: a comparative study. Int J High Risk Behav Addict, 9:e95400.
39. Hamilton KA, Yao MZ(2018) Blurring boundaries: effects of device features on metacognitive evaluations. Comput Hum Behav Rep, 89:213–220.
40. Han SW, Kim CH (2022) Neurocognitive mechanisms underlying internet/smartphone addiction: a preliminary fMRi study. Tomography, 8:1781-1790.
41. Hong SB, Kim JW, Choi EJ, Kim HH, Suh JE, Kim CD et al. (2013) Reduced orbitofrontal cortical thickness in male adolescents with internet addiction. Behav Brain Funct, 9:11.
42. Hu X, Luo L, Fleming SM (2019) A role for metamemory in cognitive offloading. Cognition, 193:104012.
43. Jiang S, Wang S, Wan X (2022) Metacognition and mentalizing are associated with distinct neural representations of decision uncertainty. PLOS Biol, 20:e3001301.
44. Kandel ER, Koester J, Mack S, Siegelbaum S (2021) Principles of Neural Science. 6th ed. New York, McGraw Hill.
45. Kang E (2022) Easily accessible but easily forgettable: How ease of access to information online affects cognitive miserliness. J Exp Psychol Appl, 29:620–630.
46. Kroger J, Kim C (2022) Frontopolar cortex specializes for manipulation of structured information. Front Syst Neurosci, 16:788395.
47. Kühn S, Gallinat J (2015) Brains online: structural and functional correlates of habitual internet use. Addict Biol, 20:415–422.
48. Kurniasanti KS, Assandi P, Ismail RI, Nasrun MWS, Wiguna T (2019) Internet addiction: a new addiction? Medical Journal of Indonesia, 28:82–91.
49. Lee D, Park J, Namkoong K, Kim IY, Jung YC (2018) Gray matter differences in the anterior cingulate and orbitofrontal cortex of young adults with internet gaming disorder: Surface-based morphometry. J Behav Addict, 7:21–30.
50. Lenartowicz A, McIntosh AR (2005) The Role of anterior cingulate cortex in working memory is shaped by functional connectivity. J Cogn Neurosci, 17:1026–1042.
51. Liu X, Lin X, Zheng M, Hu Y, Wang Y, Wang L et al. (2018) Internet search alters intra- and inter-regional synchronization in the temporal gyrus. Front Psychol, 9:260.
52. Loh KK, Kanai R. (2014) Higher media multi-tasking activity is associated with smaller gray-matter density in the anterior cingulate cortex. PLoS One, 9:e106698.
53. Loh KK, Kanai R. (2016) How has the internet reshaped human cognition? Neuroscientist, 22:506–520.
54. Lorenz-Spreen P, Mønsted BM, Hövel P Lehmann S. (2019) Accelerating dynamics of collective attention. Nat Commun, 10:1759.
55. Manwell LA, Tadros M, Ciccarelli TM, Eikelboom R (2022) Digital dementia in the internet generation: Excessive screen time during brain development will increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias in adulthood. J Integr Neurosci, 21:28.
56. Mark G (2015) Interruptions. In Multitasking in the Digital Age (Ed G. Mark):33–51. Cham, Springer
57. Mastrogiorgio A, Zaninotto F, Maggi F, Ricciardi E, Lattanzi N, Malizia AP (2021) Enhancing organizational memory through virtual memoryscapes: does it work? Front Psychol, 12:683870.
58. Mattes B, Pieschl S (2022) An alignment of standards enhances metacognitive judgment accuracy in explanatory knowledge tasks with internet search. Conference: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science SocietyAt, 2022 June, Toronto, Canada, pp.8.
59. Mazor M, Friston KJ, Fleming SM (2020) Distinct neural contributions to metacognition for detecting, but not discriminating visual stimuli. eLife, 9:e53900.
60. Näsi M, Koivusilta L (2013) Internet and everyday life: the perceived implications of internet use on memory and ability to concentrate. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw, 16:88–93.
61. Park B, Han DH, Roh S (2017) Neurobiological findings related to Internet use disorders. Psychiatry Clin Neurosci, 71:467–478.
62. Piñeyro Salvidegoitia M, Jacobsen N, Bauer AKR, Griffiths B, Hanslmayr S, Debener S (2019) Out and about: Subsequent memory effect captured in a natural outdoor environment with smartphone EEG. Psychophysiology, 56:e13331.
63. Pintrich PR (2002) The role of metacognitive knowledge in learning, Teaching, and Assessing. Theory Pract, 41:219–225.
64. Rosen LD, Mark Carrier L, Cheever NA (2013) Facebook and texting made me do it: media-induced task-switching while studying. Comput Hum Behav, 29:948–958.
65. Rouault M, McWilliams A, Allen MG, Fleming SM (2018) Human metacognition across domains: insights from individual differences and neuroimaging. Personal Neurosci, 1:e17.
66. Şendurur E, Yildirim Z (2019) Web-Based metacognitive scaffolding for internet search. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 47:433–455.
67. Seok JW, Lee KH, Sohn S, Sohn JH (2015) Neural substrates of risky decision making in individuals with internet addiction. Aust N Z J Psychiatry, 49:923–932.
68. Seow TXF, Rouault M, Gillan CM, Fleming SM (2021) How local and global metacognition shape mental health. Biol Psychiatry, 90:436–446.
69. Small GW, Lee J, Kaufman A, Jalil J, Siddarth P, Gaddipati H, et al. (2020) Brain health consequences of digital technology use. Dialogues Clin Neurosci, 22:179–187.
70. Small GW, Moody TD, Siddarth P, Bookheimer SY (2009) Your brain on Google: patterns of cerebral activation during internet searching. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry, 17:116–126.
71. Solly JE, Hook RW, Grant J.E, Cortese S, Chamberlain SR (2021) Structural gray matter differences in problematic usage of the internet: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Mol Psychiatry, 27:1000-1009.
72. Soutschek A, Moisa M, Ruff CC, Tobler PN (2021) Frontopolar theta oscillations link metacognition with prospective decision making. Nat Commun, 12:3943.
73. Stadtler M, Bromme R. (2007) Dealing with multiple documents on the www: the role of metacognition in the formation of documents models. Int J Comput Support Collab Learn, 2:191–210.
74. Storm BC, Stone SM, Benjamin AS (2017) Using the internet to access information inflates future use of the Internet to access other information. Memory, 25:717–723.
75. Sturm VE, Haase CM, Levenson RW (2016) Emotional dysfunction in psychopathology and neuropathology: neural and genetic pathways. In Genomics, Circuits, and Pathways in Clinical Neuropsychiatry (Eds TLehner, BL Miller, MW State):345–364). New York, Academic Press.
76. Takeuchi H, Taki Y, Asano K, Asano M, Sassa Y, Yokota S et al. (2018) Impact of frequency of internet use on development of brain structures and verbal intelligence: Longitudinal analyses. Hum Brain Mapp, 39:4471–4479.
77. Wan L, Zha R, Ren J, Li Y, Zhao Q, Zuo H et al. (2022) Brain morphology, harm avoidance, and the severity of excessive internet use. Hum Brain Mapp, 43:3176–3183.
78. Wang L, Wang M, Zhang Z, Wang S, Dong H, Chen S et al. (2022) Deficient dynamics of prefrontal-striatal and striatal-default mode network neural circuits in internet gaming disorder. J Affect Disord, 323:336-344.
79. Wang L, Wu H, Dai C, Peng Z, Song T, Xu L et al. (2022) Dynamic hippocampal functional connectivity responses to varying working memory loads following total sleep deprivation. J Sleep Res, 32:e13797.
80. Wang Y, Qin Y, Li H, Yao D, Sun B, Li Z et al. (2019) Abnormal functional connectivity in cognitive control network, default mode network, and visual attention network in internet addiction: a resting-state fMRi study. Front Neurol, 10:1006.
81. Wang Y, Wu L, Luo L, Zhang Y, Dong G (2017) Short-term internet search using makes people rely on search engines when facing unknown issues. PLoS One, 12:e0176325.
82. Ward AF (2013) Supernormal: How the internet is changing our memories and our minds. Psychol Inq, 24:341–348.
83. Webb CA, Olson EA, Killgore WDS, Pizzagalli DA, Rauch SL Rosso IM (2018) Rostral anterior cingulate cortex morphology predicts treatment response to internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy for depression. Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging, 3:255–262.
84. Weinstein A (2022) Problematic Internet usage: Brain imaging findings. Curr Opin Behav Sci, 47:101209.
85. Weis PP, Wiese E (2019) Using tools to help us think: Actual but also believed reliability modulates cognitive offloading. Hum Factors, 61:243–254.
86. Yang H, Chen Y, Zheng L, Xu X, Cao X (2014) Analysis of internet use behaviors among clinical medical students in China. BMC Med Educ, 14:67.
87. Zhou Y, Gan L, Chen J, Wijaya TT Li Y (2023) Development and validation of a higher-order thinking skills assessment scale for pre-service teachers. Think Skills Creat, 48:101272.
88. Zhu Y, Zhang H, Tian M (2015) Molecular and functional imaging of internet addiction. BioMed Res Int, 2015:e378675.