Kids Who Grow Up Using iPads Have Restricted ... - Business Insider

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The iPad generation will learn fewer words, experts fear, as using text messages, emails and computers to learn could be stunting children?s vocabulary.

Our brains are hardwired to learn new words when we hear others use them in conversation. But as children increasingly learn through devices instead of listening to others they do not get the opportunity to hear a wide range of words.

Therefore experts believed that the oral tradition of passing on knowledge is being eroded, and all generations spend too long staring at their screens.

Marco Catani, of the Institute of Psychiatry, King?s College London, told the Daily Mail that increasingly people do not have time to communicate and children turn to the internet, iPhones, mobile phones and tablet computers to which they all have access to.

"These are visual rather than auditory, so it is likely that they will end up with a lower average number of words than previous generations,? he said.

Over reliance on computers has previously been blamed for shorter attention spans and making children increasingly self-centered.

In a study, 27 volunteers had their brains scanned as they learned made-up words, and it was found that hearing and verbally imitating speech was the key to understanding.

Dr Catani explained that when learning new vocabulary you start by hearing it then repeat it until you get it right, and therefore increase your vocabulary and by the time a person reaches adulthood they know around 30,000 words.

One area of the brain, the arcuate fasciculus, is key to this process.

It is a bundle of nerve fibres which links two regions of the brain which are tied to language ? one that hears and decodes sounds, and one that moves the mouth to form speech.Those with a stronger arcuate fasciculus found it easier to learn new words, the scans showed.

Once familiar, words are stored in other parts of the brain, according to the study reported in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr Catani said: ?Now we understand that this is how we learn new words, our concern is that children learn new words, our concern is that children will have less vocabulary, as much of their interaction is through text, email and screen.

"This research reinforces the need for us to maintain the oral tradition of talking to our children.?

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/kids-who-grow-up-using-ipads-have-restricted-vocabularies-2013-7

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