What happens in your brain when you text?

Neuroscientist Joy Hirsch is developing new techniques to study the brains of two people as they interact, providing new insights into how other people shape our identities. At the 2016 World Science Festival, she discussed her surprise at the discovery that texting can engage a unique area of the brain, potentially even more so than interacting face to face.

Original Program Date: June 5, 2016
MODERATOR: Bill Blakemore
PARTICIPANTS: Martha Farah, Joy Hirsch, Jesse Prinz, Daphna Shohamy

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[DubaiGuy]

Suppose: Person A is talking with person B in a cafe, and person B gets a text from Person C. Person B and Person C, then, get into an exchange that absorbs Person B. Person A may see Person B as being "antisocial, " and feel miffed. Maybe so. But perhaps what Joy Hirsch suggests is that Person B remains quite social, albeit with someone else in a different medium. Person B may be rude, but not "antisocial." It's as if person C simply popped in at the cafe, and engaged person B in a chat without acknowledging person A at all. Manners aside, they're all being social.

[thermotronica]

It shuts down when figuring out if you should use the alien or robot emoji

[bambipardisitsarightsong]

people have been rude in texting people calked lies

[ddmagee]

Joy Hirsch: Texting vs live conversation, Ok, but how about talking vs live conversation? I'm thinking about driving. All I have is personal experience, but I seem to notice as many people driving with no situational awareness talking as texting. In fact I see people gesturing with they're free hand while driving while talking. Not only do they have no hand left to drive with, but they seem to loose track of where they are. It would be nice to know if I'm seeing this clearly, and the info might be influential in making responsible laws concerning driving, which is a life or death matter.