iBrain Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind Gary Small, M.D and Gigi Vorgan This book is dedicated to Rachel and Harry, our own Digital Natives, and all the future brains of the world CONTENTS Acknowledgments One YOUR BRAIN IS EVOLVING RIGHT NOW It’s All in Your Head Young Plastic Brains Natural Selection Honey, Does My Brain Look Fat? High-Tech Revolution and the Digital Age Your Brain on Google Techno-Brain Burnout The New, Improved Brain Taking Control of Your Brain’s Evolution Two BRAIN GAP: TECHNOLOGY DIVIDING GENERATIONS Digital Natives Digital Immigrants Coming Together Three ADDICTED TO TECHNOLOGY Anyone Can Get Hooked Email Junkies Virtual Gaming—Bet You Can’t Play Just One Online Porn Obsession Las Vegas at Your Fingertips Shop Till You Drop Getting Help vii 11 12 14 17 20 22 23 24 40 46 47 50 54 56 58 59 60 61 iv Contents Four TECHNOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR: ADHD, INDIGO CHILDREN, AND BEYOND Driven to Distraction Multitasking Brains Indigo Children Can TV Trigger Autism? Mystery Online Illness Cybersuicide I’m Too Techy for My Brain 63 64 67 69 71 74 76 77 Five HIGH-TECH CULTURE: SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND ECONOMIC IMPACT 79 Multiple Choice Infinite Information The Electronic Marketplace Webonomics Social Networking and Entertainment Women vs Men Online Fractured Families Love at First Site Technology and Privacy Cyber Crime I’d Rather Be Blogging Online Politics Uploading Your iBrain 79 81 84 85 89 91 92 95 97 99 101 102 104 Six BRAIN EVOLUTION: WHERE DO YOU STAND NOW? 105 Human Contact Skills Technology Skills Seven RECONNECTING FACE TO FACE That Human Feeling Tech-Free Training of the Brain Social Skills 101 105 112 115 117 120 123 Contents High-Tech Addiction Maintaining Your Off-Line Connections Eight THE TECHNOLOGY TOOLKIT Making Technology Choices You’ve Got Email Instant Messaging Right Now! Search Engines: Beyond Basic Google Text Messaging: Short and Sweet Mobile Phones: Smaller Is Not Always Better A Menu of Hand-Held Devices Entering the Blogosphere Internet Phoning and Video Conferencing Digital Entertainment: Swapping Hi-Fi for Wi-Fi Online Safety and Privacy Cyber Medicine Brain Stimulation: Aerobicize Your Mind Nine BRIDGING THE BRAIN GAP: TECHNOLOGY AND THE FUTURE BRAIN v 146 147 149 150 152 158 158 160 161 163 165 166 167 168 172 178 181 Understanding the Gap Social Skills Upgrade for Digital Immigrants The Future Brain 181 184 186 Appendix 191 High-Tech Glossary 191 Text Message Shortcuts and Emoticons 199 Additional Resources 205 Notes 209 Index 231 About the Authors Other Books by Gary Small, M.D Credits Cover Copyright About the Publisher ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We wish to thank the many scientists and innovators whose work inspired this book, as well as our friends and colleagues who contributed their energy and insights, including Rachel Champeau, Kim Dower, Sterling Franken-Steffen, Stephanie Oudiz, Pauline Spaulding, and Cara and Rob Steinberg We are also indebted to our talented artist and friend Diana Jacobs, for her creative drawings included in this book We also appreciate the Parvin Foundation and Drs Susan Bookheimer and Teena Moody for supporting and contributing to our new study, “Your Brain on Google.” iBrain would not have been possible without the support and input from our editor extraordinaire, Mary Ellen O’Neill, and our longtime agent and good friend, Sandra Dijkstra We also want to thank our children, Rachel and Harry, as well as our parents, Dr Max and Gertrude Small, and Rose Vorgan and Fred Weiss, for their love and encouragement Gary Small, M.D Gigi Vorgan INDEX addiction, 47–62, 146–47 in China, 61 to continuous partial attention, 18–19 control and, 51 criteria for, 53 to email, 54–56 to gambling, 59–60 genetics of, 52 help for, 61–62 to Internet, 50–54 love as, 96–97 to novelty, 34–35 physiology of, 48–49, 54 to pornography, 58–59 resources on, 205 self-assessment of, 111–12 to shopping online, 47, 60–61 strategies for, 146–47 to video games, 38, 56–58 ADHD See attention deficit hyperactivity disorder adolescence behavior in, 92 development and, 30 empathy in, 30–32 family meals and, 92 instant gratification and, 31 language and, neural networks in, 31 prefrontal lobes in, 31–32 reading in, 25 social networks and, 3–4 adrenaline, cognitive impact of, 19 adults, ADHD in, 67 advertising with blogs, 101 eye contact and, 115–16 Internet and, 80 value of, 87 aging attention and, 64 brain function and, 120 temperament and, 44–45 of workforce, 45 alcohol, 27 Amazon, 80 amygdala, ambiguous choices with, 151 Anderson, Chris, 80 anonymity, of online communication, 127–28 anterior cingulate in addiction, 49 depression and, 132 human experience and, 118–19 political ideology and, 103 anxiety, from technology, 77–78 appearance, 125 Apple, 150 assertiveness advantages of, 128 in face-to-face interaction, 128 strategies for, 128–29 training for, 130–31 attachments, to email, 155 attention age and, 64 continuous partial, 18–19 Digital Native’s span of, 25 232 Index attention (continued) multitasking vs., 18, 68 self-assessment of, 109–10 self-esteem and, 18–19 strategies for, 140–41 attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adults, 67 diagnostic criteria for, 65 in Indigo Children, 70–71 IQ and, 71 prevalence of, 66 technology exposure and, 64 television and, 66–67 video games and, 66 autism cognitive ability with, 73 eye contact with, 73–74 face-to-face interaction with, 73 genetics of, 72 television and, 71–72 automobiles, teenager fatalities in, 121 See also driving axons, Baby Boomers, 182 banking, mobile, 87 bedroom, technology in, 97 behavior of adolescents, 92 of Indigo Children, 69–70 blindness, 42–43 blogs demographics and, 101 marketing with, 101 strategies for, 165–66 body language See nonverbal communication brain branding and, 80–81 characteristics of, computers connected to, 187 energy use by, 13 future, 186–89 midlife, 44–45 old vs young, 41 plasticity of, 6–9, 42–45 prenatal, 27 reading of, 188 sensory processing by, 4–5 size of, 11–12 training of, 120–23, 178–80 brain activity with ambiguous choices, 151 with compassionate vs aggressive acts, 119 with depression, 121, 132 of Digital Native, 16–17 with economic decisions, 88–89 with emoticons, 11 with empathy, 134 with financial decisions, 88 in frontal lobe, 36–37 with love, 96–97 with mobile phone, 162 MRI of, 15–16 with multitasking, 137, 158–59 with obsessive-compulsive disorder, 121 with online searches, 14–17 with political ideology, 103–4 in prefrontal cortex, 16 with psychotherapy, 121–22 with self-esteem, 132 with shopping, 84–85 of sociopaths, 119 with video games, 35–38 brain-computer interface, 187 brain fog, 74 brain gap, 23–46 bridging of, 46 demographics of, 181–82 Digital Immigrants and, 20 Digital Natives and, 24–26 future brain’s emergence from, 186 generation gap vs., 24 mentor and, 183 self-assessment and, 105 brain reading, 188 brainstorming, 145 branding brain and, 80–81 of computers, 150 Index BrickBreaker, addiction to, 50 Broca’s area, 10 cameras, digital, 99 carbon copy, of email, 155 cashless society, 87 cell phone See mobile phone chatting, online, 18 See also instant messaging child development adolescence and, 30 genetics and, 8–9 maturation in, 27–28 Piaget’s stages of, 28 visual sensory deprivation in, Child Online Protection Act, 170 children See also adolescence; Indigo Children face-to-face interaction and, 27 maturation of, 27–28 China addiction in, 61 text messaging in, 100 choices See also purchasing decisions ambiguous, 151 economic and fi nancial, 88–89 cognitive ability adrenaline and, 19 autism and, 73 cortisol and, 19 face-to-face interaction and, 116–17 improvement in, 21 of Indigo Children, 70–71 communication culture, of Digital Native, 20 communication, nonverbal empathy and, 134 self-assessment of, 106–7 strategies for, 126–27 technology exposure and, 124 training in, 125–26 types of, 124–25 communication, online anonymity of, 127–28 with doctors, 176–77 self-assessment of, 113–14 computer chip See integrated circuit 233 computers brain connected to, 187 branding of, 150 exposure to, 28–30 in preschool, 25–26 purchasing decisions for, 150–52 speed of, 151 usage statistics for, 29 computer virus, 100, 169 conservatives, brain activity of, 103 control addiction and, 51 over emotion, 121 over evolution, 22 over technology, 51 cookies, 170 cortex orbitofrontal, 151 prefrontal, 16 cortisol, cognitive impact of, 19 couples therapy, 184–85 creativity brainstorming for, 145 self-assessment of, 110–11 strategies for, 145 technology and, 144 cyber crime, 99–101 cyber medicine, 172 cybersuicide, 76–77 daily planner, drawbacks of, 164 effectiveness of, 137 Darwin, Charles, dating, online, 95–96 demographics of bloggers, 101 of brain gap, 181–82 dendrites, signalling by, dependence, addiction as, 48 depression anterior cingulate and, 132 brain activity and, 121, 132 from technology, 77 development adolescence and, 30 genetics and, 8–9 234 development (continued) maturation in, 27–28 Piaget’s stages of, 28 of prefrontal lobes, 32 visual sensory deprivation in, digital fog, 19 Digital Immigrant brain gap and, 20 brain of, 3, 42–44 memory of, 42 social skills of, 184–86 technology exposure of, 40 training of, 16 Digital Native attention span of, 25 brain gap and, 24–26 brain of, 3, 16–17 communication culture of, 20 love and, 96 social skills of, 116 traditional learning by, 26, 120 digital system, emergence of, 12 disability, 40–41 disinhibition effect, 131 doctors online communication with, 176–77 online search for, 175 dopamine in addiction, 48–49 gambling and, 60 pornography and, 59 shopping and, 84 driving experience with, 121 mobile phone use and, 162 teenage mortality from, 121 text messaging and, 50, 161 Early Man brain evolution of, brain size of, 11 e-commerce See also shopping, online addiction to, 47, 60–61 brain activity and, 84–85 efficiency of, 85 growth of, 84 Index medicine in, 177–78 privacy and, 98 search and, 84 economics brain activity and, 88–89 of Internet, 87–88 of social networks, 89–90 technology and, 88 EEG See electroencephalography efficiency of multitasking, 32, 68 of neural networks, 13 of online shopping, 85 of workplace, 26 Einstein, Albert, 181 elders, 182 electroencephalography (EEG), 188 email addiction to, 54–56 attachments to, 155 carbon copy of, 155 etiquette with, 157 expertise with, 112–13 inbox management of, 156 limitations of, 152 as operant conditioning, 55 privacy with, 154 self-assessment and, 112–13 strategies for, 152–57 style in, 153 subject line of, 152–53 thread of, 154 time management with, 156–57 emoticons brain activity and, 11 list of, 202–3 emotion control over, 121 face-to-face interaction and, 121 recognition of, 28 technology and, empathy in adolescence, 30–32 brain activity and, 134 evolutionary advantage with, 134 human experience and, 119 levels of, 136 Index listening and, 135 nonverbal communication and, 134 prefrontal lobes and, 31 self-assessment of, 108–9 training for, 134–36 energy use, of brain, 13 entertainment digital, 167–68 from Internet, 90 etiquette with email, 157 with mobile phone, 162–63 Everquest, 57 evolution, 9–11 brain size and, 11–12 control over, 22 digital, 21 of Early Man, of empathy, 134 genetics and, of language, 10–11 of right-handedness, 10 social skills and, technology and, of tool use, 2, 10 eye contact autism and, 73–74 definition of, 125 marketing and, 115–16 Facebook, 20 face-to-face interaction assertiveness in, 128 autism and, 73 children and, 27 cognitive ability and, 116–17 emotion control and, 121 resources on, 205–6 facial expressions, 124 family meal adolescent behavior and, 92 technology and, 92–94 traditional learning and, 95 females See women filters, for pornography, 170 financial decisions, 88 235 Frisch, Max, 115 frontal lobe, 36–37 fundraising, online, 102–3 Future Shock (Toffler), 149 gambling addiction to, 59–60 dopamine and, 60 games, brain training with, 178–80 gender multitasking and, 68–69 technology use and, 91–92 generation gap, brain gap vs., 24 Generation X, 182 genetics of addiction, 52 of autism, 72 child development and, 8–9 evolution and, glial cells, 44 Google search with, 14–17 street view on, 171 handedness, evolution of, 10 hand-held devices, purchasing decisions for, 164–65 hard drive, 151–52 health information, online search for, 173–75 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), 98 HIPAA See Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act hippocampus, 18 hormones, 19 See also dopamine human contact skills, self-assessment of, 105–12 human experience anterior cingulate and, 118–19 empathy and, 119 insula and, 118 hypnosis, self, 142 hysteria, mass Morgellons disease as, 75 outbreaks of, 76 236 IBM, 150 ideology, political, 103–4 inbox management, 156 Indigo Children ADHD in, 70–71 behaviors of, 69–70 cognitive ability of, 70–71 technology exposure of, 71 Industrial Revolution, driving forces of, 12 information access to, 81–82 health related, 173–75 neural networks’ processing of, 6–7 instant gratification adolescence and, 31 multitasking as, 32 instant messaging, privacy with, 158 insula human experience and, 118 purchasing decisions and, 150 self-awareness and, 118 integrated circuit, invention of, 12 intelligence quotient (IQ) ADHD and, 71 rise in, 21 Internet addiction to, 50–54 economic value of, 87–88 entertainment from, 90 marketing, 80 news from, 89, 102 pathological use of, 30 phone service on, 166–67 IQ See intelligence quotient isolation, 131 Jobs, Steve, Kahn, Alice, 79 Kennedy, John F., 105 language See also nonverbal communication; online communication evolution of, 10–11 young brains and, Index learning See also training degradation of, 21 by Digital Natives, 26, 120 family meal and, 95 video games for, 39–40 left-handedness, evolution of, 10 liberals, brain activity of, 103 listening empathy and, 135 self-assessment of, 108–9 training for, 135 lobes See frontal lobe; prefrontal lobes The Long Tail (Anderson), 80 love brain activity and, 96–97 Digital Natives and, 96 online dating and, 95–96 social networks and, 95 love notes, 96 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of brain activity, 15–16 of brain training, 178 males See men marketing with blogs, 101 eye contact and, 115–16 Internet and, 80 value of, 87 meal See family meal medical records, electronic, 87, 98 medicine cyber, 172 online shopping for, 177–78 meditation relaxation response from, 142 for stress release, 143 mega-hits, personal interest focus vs., 80 memory, 42 men social roles of, 11–12 technology use by, 91–92 mentor, 182–83 messaging See instant messaging, privacy with; text messaging Index midlife brain, plasticity of, 44–45 Millennials, 181–82 mindful awareness, 142 mobile phone brain activity with, 162 etiquette with, 162–63 purchasing decisions for, 163 as status symbol, 149–50 Morgellons disease history of, 74 as mass hysteria, 75 MRI See magnetic resonance imaging multitasking adult ADHD and, 67 brain activity and, 137, 158–59 continuous partial attention vs., 18, 68 daily planners and, 137 danger from, 33–34 efficiency of, 32, 68 gender and, 68–69 improvement in, 21 as instant gratification, 32 with online searching, 158–59 optimal, 33 power naps and, 138 self-assessment of, 109–10 strategies for, 138–39 muscle-group relaxation exercise, 143 MySpace, 20, 90, 102 napping effectiveness of, 19 multitasking and, 138 natural selection of brain size, 11–12 definition of, empathy and, 134 genetics and, neural networks in adolescence, 31 efficiency of, 13 information processing with, 6–7 memory and, 42 technology exposure and, 117 237 news future of, from Internet, 89, 102 newspaper, popularity of, 89 nonverbal communication empathy and, 134 self-assessment of, 106–7 strategies for, 126–27 technology exposure and, 124 training in, 125–26 types of, 124–25 novelty, 34–35 nucleus accumbens, 84, 86f obsessive-compulsive disorder, 121 online communication anonymity of, 127–28 with doctors, 176–77 self-assessment of, 113–14 operant conditioning, email as, 55 optimism, 132 orbitofrontal cortex, 151 passwords cracking of, 169 strength of, 170 pathology, Internet use as, 30 personal interest focus, mega-hits vs., 80 phone service, on Internet, 166–67 Piaget, Jean, 28 plasticity, of brain, 6–9 Digital Immigrant’s, 42–44 midlife, 44–45 political extremists, 100 politics, online, 102–3 pornography addiction to, 58–59 filters for, 170 power nap See napping prefrontal cortex, 16 prefrontal lobes See also frontal lobe in adolescence, 31–32 developmental impairment of, 32 empathy and, 31 pregnancy, 27 preschool, 25–26 238 privacy of data, 169 digital cameras and, 99 with email, 154 with instant messaging, 158 online, 97–98 passwords and, 169–70 safety and, 168–72 social networks and, 98–99 technology and, 97–99 in workplace, 98, 171–72 psychotherapy, 121–22 purchasing decisions for computers, 150–52 for hand-held devices, 164–65 insula and, 150 for mobile phones, 163 reading of brain, 188 by young people, 25 relationships, online vs real, 18 relaxation practices for, 142–43 self-assessment of, 110–11 repetitive stress injury (RSI), 161 right-handedness, 10 romance See love RSI See repetitive stress injury safety, online, 168–72 school, computers in, 25–26 search, online brain activity with, 14–17 for doctors, 175 with Google, 14–17 habits of, 82–83 for health information, 173–75 most popular, 83 multitasking with, 158–59 for pornography, 58 privacy and, 97 shopping and, 84 strategies for, 159–60 self-assessment of addiction, 111–12 Index of attention, 109–10 brain gap and, 105 of creativity, 110–11 of email expertise, 112–13 of empathic abilities, 108–9 of human contact skills, 105–12 of listening skills, 108–9 of multitasking, 109–10 of nonverbal communication skills, 106–7 of online communication skills, 113–14 of relaxation ability, 110–11 of self-esteem, 107–8 of technology skills, 112–14 self-awareness, 118 self-esteem brain activity and, 132 continuous partial attention and, 18–19 disinhibition effect and, 131 hippocampus and, 18 isolation and, 131 optimism and, 132 self-assessment of, 107–8 training for, 132–33 selling, online, 84 sensory deprivation, shopping, online addiction to, 47, 60–61 brain activity and, 84–85 efficiency of, 85 growth of, 84 for medicine, 177–78 privacy and, 98 search and, 84 shorthand, for text messaging, 160, 199–202 signalling, silicon chip See integrated circuit skill development, video games for, 38–39 See also training smoking, 27 social networks economics of, 89–90 entertainment on, 167 love and, 95 Index privacy and, 98–99 video games as, 58 of young people, 3–4 social roles, gender of, 11 social skills of Digital Immigrants, 184–86 of Digital Natives, 116 self-assessment of, 105–12 technology and, training in, 123–24 sociopaths, brain activity of, 119 spectator sport, video games as, 36 status symbol, mobile phone as, 149–50 Stevenson, Adlai, 23 Stoll, Clifford, 47 strategies for addiction, 146–47 for assertiveness, 128–29 for attention, 140–41 for blogs, 165–66 for creativity, 145 for email, 152–57 for multitasking, 138–39 for nonverbal communication, 126–27 for online search, 159–60 for text messaging, 160–61 stress from continuous partial attention, 18 hormones of, 19 release of, 143 RSI as, 161 stretches, for tendinitis, 161 style, in email, 153 subject line, of email, 152–53 surgery, 38 synapses, 6f concentration of, number of, technology anxiety from, 77–78 in bedroom, 97 brain evolution and, control over, 51 creativity and, 144 239 depression from, 77 disability and, 40–41 economics and, 88 emotion and, family meal and, 92–94 gender and, 91–92 as novelty, 35 privacy and, 97–99 resources on, 206–8 skills assessment with, 112–14 social skills and, young minds and, technology exposure, 14, 28–30 ADHD and, 64 Digital Immigrant’s, 40 of Indigo Children, 71 neural networks and, 117 nonverbal communication and, 124 psychological consequences of, 117 treatment for, 122–23 techno-phobia, 40–42 techno-virgins, 41 teenagers, automobile fatalities with, 121 television ADHD and, 66–67 autism and, 71–72 exposure to, temperament, 44–45 tendinitis, stretches for, 161 terrorists, online, 99 text messaging crime prevention with, 100 driving and, 50, 161 shorthand for, 160, 199–202 strategies for, 160–61 therapy brain activity with, 121–22 for couples, 184–85 time management, with email, 156–57 TiVo, 168 Toffler, Alvin, 149 tool use evolution of, 2, 10 language and, 10 touch, 125 240 traditional learning degradation of, 21 by Digital Natives, 26, 120 family meal and, 95 training for assertiveness, 130–31 of brain, 120–23, 178–80 of Digital Immigrant, 16 for empathy, 134–36 for listening, 135 in nonverbal communication, 125–26 for self-esteem, 132–33 in social skills, 123–24 video exposure to, 14 physiological response to, 13–14, 48 video conference, 167 video games, 35–40 addiction to, 38, 56–58 ADHD and, 66 brain activity and, 35–38 brain training with, 178–80 frontal lobe and, 36–37 learning with, 39–40 multiplayer, 57 physical effects of, 36 popularity of, 35–36, 57 skill development with, 38–39 as social networks, 58 as spectator sport, 36 Index violence, in video games, 36 visual sensory deprivation, in child development, voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP), 166–67 VOIP See voice over Internet Protocol Webonomics, 85, 89 websites, most popular, 82 Wikipedia, 81 women social roles of, 11–12 technology use by, 91–92 workplace age in, 45 efficiency of, 26 mentor in, 182–83 pornography in, 59 privacy in, 98, 171–72 yoga, relaxation response from, 142 young people behavior in, 92 development and, 30 empathy in, 30–32 family meals and, 92 instant gratification and, 31 language and, neural networks in, 31 prefrontal lobes in, 31–32 reading by, 25 social networks of, 3–4 YouTube, 90, 168 About the Authors Gary Small, M.D is the Director of the Memory & Aging Research Center at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior and the Center on Aging at UCLA His research has made the headlines of the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and USA Today, among other publications Scientific American magazine has named him one of the world’s top innovators in science and technology Gigi Vorgan wrote, produced, and appeared in numerous feature films and television shows before teaming up with her husband, Dr Gary Small, to co-write The Memory Bible, The Memory Prescription The Longevity Bible, and iBrain She lives in Los Angeles with Dr Small and their two children Please visit www.drgarysmall.com for information about the authors and their other books Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author Also by Gary Small, M.D The Memory Bible with Gigi Vorgan The Memory Prescription The Longevity Bible Credits Designed by Level C Illustrations by Diana Jacobs Cover design: The Designworks Group, Jason Gabbert Copyright IBRAIN Copyright © 2008 by Gary Small and Gigi Vorgan All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader September 2008 ISBN 978-0-06-171612-6 10 About the Publisher Australia HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd 25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321) Pymble, NSW 2073, Australia http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com.au Canada HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 55 Avenue Road, Suite 2900 Toronto, ON, M5R, 3L2, Canada http://www.harpercollinsebooks.ca New Zealand HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Limited P.O Box Auckland, New Zealand http://www.harpercollins.co.nz United Kingdom HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 77-85 Fulham Palace Road London, W6 8JB, UK http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.uk United States HarperCollins Publishers Inc 10 East 53rd Street New York, NY 10022 http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com ... iBrain Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind Gary Small, M.D and Gigi Vorgan This book is dedicated to Rachel and Harry, our own Digital Natives, and all the future... snacking on a bag of nuts The amount and organizational complexity of these neurons, their wires, and their connections are vast and elaborate In the average brain, the number of synaptic connection... controls the right side of their body Left-handers generally have their Broca’s area in the right hemisphere of their brain Some of us are ambidextrous, but our handedness preference for the right