While research has shown that birding has grown in popularity over the years, a study now suggests that becoming a birding expert may even be good for your brain health.
Research published last month in the Journal of Neuroscience found that the brains of people classified as expert birdwatchers showed structural differences in areas related to attention and perception compared with participants who were not expert birders.
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The Canadian study involved 58 participants, who were evenly divided into two groups. The panel of 29 people, aged between 24 and 75, was recruited from the Toronto Bird Club and Ontario field ornithologists. The novice group consisted of 29 people, ranging in age from 22 to 79, who were recruited from the same birding group and other groups focused on outdoor activities such as hiking and gardening, NBC News reported.
All participants underwent diffusion-weighted MRI to assess structural differences in their brains. The results showed that the expert group had lower “mean diffusivity” (MD) in certain areas of the brain. Mean diffusivity is a measure of the average rate at which water molecules move through tissue, with lower MD associated with higher tissue density.
Research shows that expert birdwatchers have lower MD (higher tissue density) in the brains compared to the novice group, suggesting increased structural complexity in certain brain regions. The panel believes “age-related decline may be attenuated” in these areas. Lower MD was also associated with higher bird identification accuracy.
The researchers also used MRI to assess brain function in both groups. Participants were asked to match and identify native and non-native bird species. The study found that areas of the expert’s brain showing lower MD were also actively engaged “when experts judged less familiar nonnative (vs. native) birds.”
The study couldn’t prove a chance link between brain changes and birding experiences, but the researchers found that people who spent years learning to identify birds had different brain structures and brain activity. NurPhoto from Getty Images
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Erik Wing, the study’s lead author, told NBC News that the study “gives us a window into how important these areas are for developing expertise.”
“We can see [birders] Actually applying those types of skills to help them identify new, unfamiliar bird species,” he said.
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Wen said the researchers chose to assess birdwatchers because birdwatching “combines fine-grained recognition, visual search and attention to surroundings with sensitivity to motion, pattern detection, building these complex conceptual networks of different related species.”
The researchers used a bird familiarity screening test to determine whether participants were birdwatching experts or novices, Medical News Today reported.
Wen cautioned that this study cannot prove a casual link between positive brain changes and birding experiences. But he told Medical News Today, “Behavioral research from our group and others suggests that areas of expertise accumulated over a lifetime can be leveraged to support memory function in older adults.”
“We found that people who spent years learning to identify birds showed differences in both brain structure and brain activity, particularly in areas that support attention and visual recognition,” he said elsewhere.
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While the study assessed participants based on their expertise in bird watching, Wen said past research has shown that brain changes are also associated with “expertise in areas ranging from music to chess to ‘sport’ in the broadest sense (dance to juggling).”
Dr. Emer MacSweeney, consultant interventional neuroradiologist and CEO of Re:Cognition Health, who was not involved in the study, told the website she believes future studies comparing different areas of expertise should be conducted.
“While these findings resonate with the broader literature linking mental activity to healthy aging, future research should explore how different types of expertise are compared, and how lifestyle factors (social engagement, physical activity, diet) interact with domain-specific training to influence brain structure and function,” she said.
Overall, when it comes to brain health, engaging in mentally stimulating activities in addition to physical activity is good for the brain in many ways. Studies show that learning can even help older adults reduce their risk of dementia.
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A study published in 2023 found that middle-aged and older adults who participated in adult education classes had a 19% lower risk of developing dementia within five years compared with adults who did not participate in adult education classes. Participants in this study self-reported attendance at adult education classes, but did not include the frequency or type of classes.
“As we enter later life, late middle age, and even beyond, we have to be even more careful about making sure that we have adequate intellectual stimulation and keep our minds healthy,” Dr. Zaldi Tan, director of the Jonah Godrich Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders Center at Cedars-Sinai University in California, previously told The Huffington Post.
The original version of this story was published earlier on The Huffington Post.
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