Washington (ECN) - A new study has found that using the internet could be good for your brain, keeping your brain smart and strong.

A new study which will be published in the journal American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, looked at the brain activity of 24 neurologically normal volunteers.

All of those who took part in the study were between the ages of 55 and 76 and all searched the internet.

Half of those had a history of searching the Web at the start of the study, while the other half did not.

They then used MRI scans to record the brains of those patients, comparing web searches to reading books.

The group that was more used to searching the web was found to have more activity in key areas of the brain.

Thsi shows that searching the internet is able to engage the neural circuitry of the brain even better than reading does.