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According to a leading British psychologist, the social networking site 'Facebook' has the potential to boost the intelligence, whereas yet another social networking site, Twitter, causes the intelligence to deteriorate.
Dr Tracy Alloway of Sterling University has disclosed that people who spend more time of Facebook get a boost of a vital element of intelligence where as that element is diminished if the time is spent on Twitter.
The psychologist has also revealed that using Facebook gives the same effect as playing video war games or solving intelligent puzzles like Sudoku. She also added that the diminishing of memory and intelligence happens while sending text messages or micro-blogging on Twitter as they require the potential to remember information and to use it.
"I'm not saying they're good for your socialisation skills, but they do make you use your working memory. You're keeping track of past actions and mapping the actions you're going to take.
"Sudoku also stretches the working memory, as keeping up with friends on Facebook. But the instant nature of texting, Twitter and YouTube isn't healthy for working memory. On Twitter you receive an endless stream of information, but it's also very succinct.”
"You don't have to process that information. Your attention span is being reduced and you're not engaging your brain and improving nerve connections," Dr Alloway told was quoted by 'The Daily Telegraph' as saying.
Dr Alloway has conducted extensive studies on working memory and according to her, memory plays a vital role in providing success and happiness to a person than IQ. Her team has developed a memory training programme which can boost the performance of children between the age of 11 and 14, who are slow-learners.
