GPS Addiction Cause Brain Damage?

Researchers from McGill University conducted research that looked at the influence of the GPS system of the human brain. Apparently, an avid user of GPS has the risk of suffering from problems with memory and orientation space.

Veronique Bohbot, an associate professor at the Douglas Mental Health University and McGill University, along with a number of McGill researchers found that those who frequently use GPS to show the potential damage in the brain region that controls memory.


The human brain is generally done using two methods of navigation. First, it is a spatial navigation strategy in which the building or certain signs of the brain used to help us know the direction or where we are.

Second, is the strategy in response to stimuli in which we as a drive in mode 'auto-pilot' that can make us turn in certain places. Mode 'auto-pilot' is possible because the repetitions we do is stored by the body which will then be automatically declared the bend is the best path that will take us to the destination.

The second strategy is more closely associated with how the users of GPS to navigate.

When functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging or fMRI do its job of doing navigation using both methods have brains, people commonly use spatial navigation strategies to increase activity in brain regions associated with memory and navigation, which is called the hippocampus.

McGill researchers found that excessive use of GPS will stop development of the hippocampus with age. This increases the risk of cognitive problems like Alzheimer's in old age.

For information, Alzheimer's affects the hippocampus first before attacking other parts of the brain that cause memory impairment and disorientation.

The results of this study do not encourage people to dispose of his own GPS. However, users are advised should not always depend on the device pointing direction.

"We live in a community with very high mobility makes us very sorry if we lost," says Bohbot. "What I'm saying is we can use GPS to explore new places, but do not become addicted. Using a cognitive map of the brain may take time, but the result is quite worth it, "said Bohbot, as quoted by DailyTech, 19 November 2010.