Outdoors and Out of Reach: Studying the Brain

Todd Braver emerges from a tent nestled against the canyon wall with a slight tan. For the first time in three days in the wilderness, Braver is not wearing his watch. It is the kind of change many vacationers notice in themselves as they unwind and lose track of time. But for Braver and his companions, these moments lead to an important question: What is happening to our brains? A psychology professor at Washington University in St. Louis, Braver was one of five neuroscientists who spent a week in remote southern Utah, rafting the San Juan River, camping on the soft banks and hiking the tributary canyons. It was a primitive trip with a sophisticated goal: to understand how heavy use of digital devices and other technology changes how we think and behave, and how a retreat into nature might reverse those effects.

READ FULL STORY