Michael Scullin

Transcript

Derek Smith:
Hello and welcome to Baylor Connections, a conversation series with the people shaping our future. Each week we go in depth with Baylor leaders, professors, and more discussing important topics in higher education, research and student life. I'm Derek Smith, and today we are talking technology and cognition. What all does that mean?
Well, we will learn more about it from Michael Scullin, Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Baylor. Dr. Scullin has built a reputation, is one of the nation's leading sleep experts, the founder of Baylor's Sleep Neuroscience & Cognition Lab. Scullin's wide range of research projects of helped people better understand the impact of sleep on a variety of academic and professional success factors. His highly funded and nationally awarded work goes beyond the study of sleep as recently part of a study examining the impact of technology use on cognitive abilities in older adults. And I think any of us who have a parent or an aunt and uncle, we've heard them make comments along the lines of what technology may or may not be doing to people's brains. Well, we're talking to someone who knows, who's got that insight. Michael, appreciate you jumping on and sharing with us today.

Michael Scullin:
So happy to be here today. Thank you.

Derek Smith:
Well, it's great to visit with you. And it's been a while since we've talked on this program. We've highlighted your great sleep research in the past. What are some of the ways that your research has grown in breadth and scope since you came to Baylor?

Michael Scullin:
Well, I've always been interested in cognitive aging. So the factors that lead to healthier cognitive trajectories versus more cognitive decline and diseases like Alzheimer's disease. And really for 20 years I've been interested in the domain of prospective memory. So prospective memory is a special kind of memory. It's your memory for future events, remembering to take your medications with dinner, remembering to wish someone happy birthday and so forth. And so I've continued that research ever since I was an undergraduate. And really the way in which my research has grown is we've taken the research we've been doing in the laboratory, trying to understand the basic mechanisms by which prospective memories are retrieved and encoded and how that changes from young adults to older adults. And really try to bring that into real world everyday settings and identify solutions to help people remember their perspective memory tasks better.

Derek Smith:
So we think of you, at least I think of you in a lot of ways as the sleep researcher. And you are. Sleep is in the name of your lab, but as is cognition. So as you look at the Venn diagram, where are some of the places, and I think you just described it, but I want to ask you, but where sleep and cognition, all these different streams overlap for you?

Michael Scullin:
Yeah, I view myself as a translational cognitive scientist. And what that means is we study cognitive abilities in the laboratory, try to understand how they work, and then bring them out into real world settings and try to improve them. And as we're going to talk about today, technology turns out to be one of those ways in which we can really improve prospective memory.
You're asking about sleep and sleep is another one of those lifestyle factors where if you're getting better sleep and sleep that's sufficient enough, long enough for your individual needs, then that's also going to help you to encode new memories better. It's going to help you consolidate them so that you can use them long into the future. And we've certainly been interested in how sleep quality influences long-term cognitive trajectories, so from young adults to predicting it in older adults, and also how sleep quality can influence risk for Alzheimer's disease.

Derek Smith:
Well, Michael, as we shift into this study as we visit with Michael Scullin from Baylor Psychology & Neuroscience here on Baylor Connections, technology is something that we're all adjusting to, adapting to and more rapidly than prior generations. I'm curious, as you study this, how interesting are those of us who live now on the perspective of the impact of technology and brain function? Because I think back, I mean I'm not sure. I was born in 1980. I started out with, we didn't have cable right away, cordless phones were a big deal. And all of a sudden now the world's at our fingertips. And that's whether you're in your forties like me or any other age in that vicinity, it's new to us. So how fascinating does that make those of us who are alive right now from the perspective of a scientist to study?

Michael Scullin:
Well, the people who can remember dial up internet, they have a special place in my heart. And it's kind of the group that we're talking about in our research. So our research has focused on adults ages 50 and above, and adults who are a member of what we call the digital pioneer generation. So this digital revolution, which began a little bit in the 1980s, but with home computing, home internet, really took off in the 1990s. And then you started to see smartphones proliferating in the aughts.
This digital revolution, it's dramatically changed everything that we do in life from paying bills to now we're doing shopping online and it's at our doorstep. Almost every aspect of our daily life has changed. And for some of us, we lament that because we see some value to the way that things used to be when we weren't all carrying around smartphones and so forth. But to the scientist, we're really interested in if you change the typical daily demands, the typical cognitive efforts that people have to do day in and day out, what change might that have on human beings? What change might that have on human cognition?
So this digital pioneer generation that was first exposed to home computing, home internet, smartphones as adults, not as children, but as adults, that's the group that we wanted to focus on in our recent research.

Derek Smith:
And so when we talk about changes, is it new technologies? Is it just adapting to new programs on those technologies? Is it all of the above?

Michael Scullin:
Well, it's all of the above. So if we put back on our 1990s hat, every new computer we got and every new operating system seemed completely foreign. It was completely overhauled. The functionality changed. Internet, it would come and go. And when it was on, it was this brand new world that we could explore, but then it would go out and we would be very frustrated by that. How do we get the internet back on? But that's actually representative of a cognitive challenge. So things are not going the way we expect them to and I'm highly motivated to get them back to the way I want them, and so it becomes this puzzle that we have to figure out. And even though that's experienced as frustrating in the moment, the cognitive scientist is thinking, "Well, that's actually great mental stimulation. That might actually be good for their brain."

Derek Smith:
So Michael, as we dive into this further, has a conventional wisdom, if you will, or a pop culture wisdom floated to the surface of how people think about technology? And is that something that you're addressing through your research?

Michael Scullin:
Yeah, so pop culture has a lot to say about everyday technologies. I'm sure that the listeners to this program have heard the terms brain drain or maybe brain rots. Digital dementia is now a term that's being used. And all of these terms paint a very bleak picture. They suggest that as you're using these devices, they're shortening our attention span and weakening our cognitive abilities. And you might imagine, "okay, perhaps that would be true for a singular use or a singular bad use. And if that's true and you're doing this every single day across your life, well maybe that portends a faster cognitive decline across a lifespan." And so we wanted to discover if that was true.

Derek Smith:
Well, this was in the journal Nature Human Behaviour and you were part of this. And who else was part of this study?

Michael Scullin:
Dr. Jared Benge, who is an associate professor of neurology at University of Texas, Austin, the Dell Medical School.

Derek Smith:
Okay, so you and Dr. Benge worked on this together, Nature Human Behaviour. Let's start high level. Let's start with the headline findings. We won't keep people in suspense. You've talked to them a little bit anyway, but what were some of the headline findings from the work?

Michael Scullin:
Well, the headline finding is that digital technology did not worsen rates of cognitive decline. It didn't lead to this so-called digital dementia. And even more interesting to us, not only did it not cause digital dementia, the results actually went in the opposite direction. Where amongst its digital pioneer generation, adults who were adopting home computing, home internet and smartphones, those individuals actually had a 58% reduced odds of cognitive impairment. And that's even if you accounted for all the sorts of variables that you think might be confounding. So demographic factors, where the study was done, when it was done, socioeconomic status, how generally healthy the individuals were, how many years of education they had, and things like their cognitive ability at base.

Derek Smith:
Well, as we dive further in that, I want to ask you a question. You could tell me if this general thought makes sense or not. I think as we're younger, we're always being confronted with new things, new problems to solve, new fields of study we haven't dah, dah, dah, and we get used to. Is there a parallel to that as adults? Or a puzzle, you want to play a puzzle or a game or a word. Are there parallels between adults even when they're frustrated trying to solve a technological issue and the things we did when we were younger trying to learn something or grow?

Michael Scullin:
Yeah, so as you're going throughout the educational system, you're constantly being confronted with new things that you don't know and they're complex and difficult to learn. So there's this constant cognitive stimulation. Just think back to elementary school math and how each new step, now I'm subtracting, now I'm multiplying, now I'm dividing. All of these were very difficult at the time.
As we get into adulthood, it's not that we don't have mental stimulation, it's that the mental stimulation is often static or linear. For example, if you are someone who enjoys crossword puzzles, that's great, do those crossword puzzles. But that stimulation is a little bit static over time. You're engaging in the same mental processes day in and day out. What the digital revolution did, or what we think that it did was it introduced a whole new set of complex learning required. And that complex learning was dynamic. So it changed sometimes day in and day out. If you're trying to fix your internet connectivity issue or if the new computer you got has a completely different operating system and everything functions differently, if you're using a smartphone and you're being pushed these updates and how things look differently and they function differently. So there's this dynamic cognitive stimulation to get to where we want.
And the important thing is that cognitive aging researchers have known for quite some time that new complex learning is beneficial to overall cognitive health as you get older. So going out and learning how to do digital photography in a professional manner, going out and learning a new language, for example, these types of new complex learnings are those that help to preserve memory abilities and other cognitive abilities.

Derek Smith:
This is Baylor Connections. We are visiting with Michael Scullin, Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience here on the program, talking specifically about his study that just came out in Nature and Human Behaviour on technology use and cognitive abilities in older adults.
So I have a few questions. I think about you doing that study, what it looked like to make that happen. But let me ask you about a couple of things that were in there. What is digital reserve? What does that mean and how can people picture that in their own life?

Michael Scullin:
Yeah, so we've been using the term technological reserve, sometimes shortening it to tech reserve. And it builds off of this concept in the aging literature called cognitive reserve, which is the idea that there are things that we can do across our lifespan, lifestyle factors that we can control, and that ends up leading to better cognitive functioning as we get older. So a classic example is staying in the educational system. People who have engaged in more years of formal education show better cognitive functioning as older adults than they would have if they had had fewer years of education. That's one example. We talked about new complex learning, like learning a new language or learning some activity that's brand new to you and challenging. That is also a mental stimulation that can be beneficial. Things like engaging in yoga and mindfulness and physical exercise, these are additional factors that we can engage in to keep our body healthy and our brain healthy as we get older.
So the idea of tech reserve is to build on that notion and point to how specific uses of technology can be beneficial to cognitive functioning as you get older. And we're still doing research on what those specific uses are, but our general thinking right now is one, these technological devices do afford some of that complex mental stimulation, dynamic stimulation that we discussed. Two, the technological devices can afford some social connection.
So today in pop culture, we lament how social media has changed some of our social interactions and how maybe we're having some fewer face-to-face interactions as a result of it. And that's interesting, that's important for us to look at into the future. But if you go back to when these digital devices first were given to us with home computers and internet, this allowed us to send emails. We could send very quick communications to friends and family members that we otherwise wouldn't have been able to connect with. With smartphones, this allowed us to send texts and to send photos, share photos amongst friends and family members and even FaceTime or video call with people, which allows a type of social connection that just hasn't been possible up until the nineties and the early aughts, unless you are living nearby your friends and family.
And if you take older adults who might be in retirement centers who might not have easy access to friends and family members, now if you provide them with these devices, it has the potential of buffering against some of the loneliness and mental health symptoms that we see emerge in this group of individuals, which is typically predictive of bad cognitive outcomes. So if you can intervene and increase social connection, that could potentially lead to positive outcomes.
And the third thing that we think contributes to technological reserve is the ability to compensate for cognitive difficulties. So for example, we talked about perspective memory, remembering to do things in the future, this can be very difficult. And if you have certain perspective memory failures such as taking your medication, oh, that can be very consequential to one's health. Well, what have people done in the past to buffer against perspective memory failures? They might write down a to-do list, people used to tie a string around their finger, create salient cues like that. But there's a potential approach that's even better and it's afforded by technology. It's using digital calendars that can provide automated reminders at the appropriate time to take your medication or to wish someone happy birthday or any number of perspective memory tests that you may have.
Navigation is another great example. So the ability to get where you need to go. Maybe you print out a map, but that's cumbersome. That's very difficult, especially if there's some visual acuity challenges. Now that we have GPS in all the phones and in many cars, that can allow us to buffer against some of the age-related clients we see in spatial navigation.

Derek Smith:
Visiting with Michael Scullin. And Michael, as we head into the final few minutes here, you paint a great picture that pushes back against some of that, we'll call it pop culture wisdom a little bit. And I want to ask you, so for people listening who have parents like myself or whomever, how can we encourage healthy tech use and encourage them that maybe even some of the frustrations are a good thing from time to time?

Michael Scullin:
A great question. And I'd begin by saying that there's no simple answer to whether digital technology is always bad or always good for older adults. We certainly know that digital devices can lead to distractions which can be consequential. We've seen this with texting and driving and other digital distractions while driving. That can be negative. We also know that digital devices do include some risk for online financial scams. Now there's plenty of financial scams that are not online, but they're online as well. And we also know that if you're just using a digital device basically as a television where you're just watching videos over and over and you're physically sedentary and probably mentally passive, mentally sedentary, that's not likely to be beneficial.
With all of that said, my recommendation is that if someone has been avoiding digital technology until now, perhaps because they fear that it's too difficult, now is a great time to try again. We've done a lot of research on this, and research with individuals who have mild dementia, and we found that even amongst that group with clinical cognitive impairments, that they can learn how to use a smartphone. And that while they might not enjoy it on minute one, they do enjoy it a few days later.
And the trick seems to be a few things. One is any training, introduction of smartphones or tablets or similar digital devices, you should do it in a quiet room. There should be a very patient trainer. So that means family members are not always the best person to do the training. And you should start at the absolute beginning. That means, "Here's the on off switch, dad. Here's the volume control, mom. And here's how you make a normal phone call." And once you get down that foundation, great, show them the photographs, they're going to love taking pictures. And then build from there. Here's email or text surf or video calling, here's a digital calendar to help with memory. Here's GPS. Not all at once, but spread out over time. Focus on that initial foundational learning and creating a positive interaction, a positive experience with the device. And that's what we found to work.

Derek Smith:
It's almost like a new exercise, right? I might be able to do one or two actions right off the bat, but I can't bring them all together right away. I suppose there's some parallels between any sort of new learning thing we want to apply here. I like it.

Michael Scullin:
Yeah.

Derek Smith:
Well, that makes a lot of sense. Well, Michael, I really appreciate you taking the time to share with us. Again, that study is in Nature Human Behaviour, and it's fascinating. And I don't know, hopefully we can encourage our, maybe even ourselves, but certainly loved ones to be a little more encouraged even when they run into some struggles with their technology use and that there's some benefit in that and that they can use them in some positive ways. So hey, well thanks for what you do. Thanks for your time and we'll look forward to talking to you again here soon.

Michael Scullin:
Thanks so much. And I was just going to add that we are currently running a study on this very topic, and so if anyone in the community is interested in participating, just send us an email at MemoryStudy@Baylor.edu.

Derek Smith:
MemoryStudy@Baylor.edu. All right. So if this spoke to you, you can be a part of it. Well, appreciate that. Michael, hope we can send some people your way.

Michael Scullin:
Thank you.

Derek Smith:
There you go. Michael Scullin, Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, our guest today on Baylor Connections. I'm Derek Smith. A reminder you can hear this and other programs online at Baylor.edu/Connections and you can subscribe on iTunes. Thanks for joining us here on Baylor Connections.