The button “repost” in social networks leads to regression of the brain.
Scientists from Cornell and Peking universities through joint research studies have found the harm to scientific and technical progress by creating “cognitive overload” is applied retweets in microblogging service.
The results of the experiment were published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior.
According to scientists, retweets create the effect of “cognitive overload” that prevents individuals to learn and retain in memory what he saw. This effect may be reflected on a global scale, reducing the “productivity” of the world system.
“People cease to publish any original ideas or thoughts. They just share the read with your friends with one click. But they don’t understand that “sharing” has a downside, which prevents the interaction between people,” explained Professor of human development at Cornell University Qi Out.
In experiment took part students of Beijing University, which were divided into two groups. On the monitors of the first group were messages of a social network Weibo (Chinese equivalent Twitter) and you have two options: repost or move to the next message. The second group is deprived of the opportunity to make reposts. After that, all the students received the assignment in which you were required to retell the content of read messages. Students in the group where you were allowed to repost, gave twice wrong answers to the test questions.
“It is those messages that they repostyle, students memorized the worst,” said Chi-Won.
According to the scientist, a mental energy that is required for comprehension of the reading, students spent on the decision of a question, repost or not repost information that eventually led to the “cognitive overload”.
In the second experiment, students who have done in social networks for a long time, gave read the article from the magazine New Scientist. And again, scientists have discovered a “cognitive leaks”. Repetivie students will understand the meaning of the article is worse than remaining without them reposts colleagues.
“”Sharing” leads to an additional load on the brain, which prevents the solution of other tasks,” stated Qi Out.
According to scientists, the buttons of repost appeal to users, as the design element of the web page, and simplifying them, you can withdraw a certain amount of load on the brain.
“Online design should be simple and relevant to the task”, — summed up the Qi Out.
