Virtual Communication Could Impair Childhood Brain Development, Study Suggests

A recent study thAt compared children’s brain activity between face-to-face interaction and virtual interaction found that electrical activity in the brain is significantly reduced during virtual social interaction, suggesting impairments to childhood cognitive and social development.

Neuroscience News reported a study This study examined interactions between 62 mother/child pairs, both in person and virtual. The study included children ranging in age from 10-14 years old. Researchers used hyperscanning to simultaneously scan brain activity in multiple subjects. They found that brain activity decreased during virtual interaction via videoconferencing, particularly brain sync between mothers and children.

Guillaume Dumas, the author of the study and a professor at the University of Montreal’s Department of Psychiatry and Addiction, demonstrated earlier in life that electrical waves within the human brain can synchronize in social interactions.

“Inter-brain synchrony is associated with the development of social cognition,” Dumas said. “The resonance between brains enables children to learn to distinguish between self and others, to learn social relationships.”

The study found That “live interaction elicited nine significant cross-brain links between densely inter-connected frontal and temporal areas,” While “remote interaction elicited only one significant cross-brain-cross-hemisphere link.” The brain’s frontal region is associated With critical thinking, emotions and personality. The temporal lobe (also known as the temporal lobe) is associated Short-term memory and auditory processing.

With the disruption to brain-to-brain synchrony, consequences for children’s cognitive development can be expected, especially as it pertains to the brain functions associated with social interaction, according to Dumas. “And these are life-long effects,” He concluded.

The study’s conclusions raise questions about the effectiveness of online learning for teens and children. According to the study, the shift to online learning during the COVID epidemic could have many consequences for children. It is possible that the consequences could be virtually incalculable.

Dumas pointed out that the question of how the pandemic has affected the social development of children’s lives is a pertinent one. “important … but difficult to answer, given that the full effects won’t be known for 10, 15 or 20 years.”

The study was conducted primarily with children but the author stated that it could be applied to adults. What has been called “brain synchrony” in virtual interactions is likely to be caused by a lack of brain synciness. “Zoom fatigue.” Virtual interactions can cause fatigue more often than real ones because they can appear to be. “more laborious and less natural,” Dumas said.

Researchers conclude that further research is required to determine the effect of virtual social interaction on the human maturation process. The results also indicate that there are many exciting questions to be answered about neurobiology and brain-to-brain synchroy.

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases