Less may be more when it comes to brain use

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Less may be more when it comes to brain use

June 17, 2004
Special to World Science

When it comes to using your brain, less may be more, a study has found. After bright people learn a reasoning task, their brains use less energy as they perform it, compared to dimmer peers in the same situation, say the researchers.

Previous studies have reached similar findings, but the new study's authors say they may have better pinpointed how the effect works.

Unlike what earlier studies suggested, brighter people don't use less brain energy when confronting a task for the first time. Rather, they learn to pare down the neural circuitry they use through training and practice, better than their slower peers do. This leads to better and faster performance.

The study, from the Institute of Psychology in Graz, Austria, Yale University and other institutions, involved electroencephalograms (brain wave readings) from 28 male test subjects. It was published in the May issue of the research journal Acta Psychologica.

—EJL