A new study from UCLA shows that getting the geriatric crowd on the Internet could be key to making the “Golden Years” a little brighter.

The study found that middle-aged and older adults with little Internet experience were able to trigger key centers in the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning after just one week of surfing the Web.

The findings, presented Oct. 19 at the 2009 meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, suggest that Internet training can boost neural activation patterns. Researchers say using the Web has the potential to improve brain function and cognition in seniors.

According the the UCLA researchers, a number of structural and functional changes occur as the brain ages.

They cite things such as atrophy, lower cell activity and more deposits of amyloid plaques and tau tangles — all of which can hurt basic thinking.

Research shows that the kind of  mental stimulation that happens with folks who frequently use the Web may affect how efficiently people think and can change the way their brains encode new info.

“We found that for older people with minimal experience, performing Internet searches for even a relatively short period of time can change brain activity patterns and enhance function,” said study author Dr. Gary Small, a professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA. He’s also the author of “iBrain,” a book that describes the impact of new technology on the brain and behavior.

The UCLA researchers recruited 24 volunteers age 55 to 78, who had normal neurological functions. Before participating, half the volunteers had used the Internet on a daily basis. Age, education level and gender were balanced between the two groups.

Study participants performed Web searches while having magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, which recorded the subtle brain-circuitry changes going on. The MRI could track brain activity by measuring the level of cerebral blood flow during cognitive tasks.

After the initial brain scan, participants went home and conducted Internet searches for one hour a day over a two-week period. These practice searches involved using the Internet to answer questions about various topics by exploring different websites and reading information. Participants then received a second brain scan using the same Internet simulation task but with different topics.

The first scan of participants with little Internet experience turned up brain activity in regions of the brain that control language, reading, memory and visual abilities, which are located in the frontal, temporal, parietal, visual and posterior cingulate regions, researchers said.

The second brain scan of these participants, conducted after the practice Internet searches at home, demonstrated activation of these same regions, as well as triggering of the middle frontal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus — areas of the brain known to be important in working memory and decision-making.

The bottom line: After Internet training at home, participants with very little online experience displayed brain activation patterns quite similar to those seen in the group of savvy Internet users  — after just a brief period of time.

So if you were thinking about getting grandpa a laptop for the holidays, it might be a good idea.

Tags: brain function, Internet, study, UCLA