If you're middle-aged or older you've probably watched in awe as children and teens navigate modern technology -- computers, cellphones, digital cameras -- with amazing ease. But oldsters can become tech-savvy, too, and new research suggests we probably should try.

UCLA neuroscience professor Gary Small has completed a study showing that Internet use stimulates the brain and improves cognitive function in people age 55 and older. Small studied 24 cognitively normal people ages 55 to 76. The subjects were similar in age, education level and gender. But they differed in that half were experienced Internet users and half had no experience. Small performed functional MRI scans of their brains while they read from a book and performed Web searches. During the Internet searches, the brains of the Web-savvy people registered much more activity in areas affecting decision-making and complex reasoning compared with the inexperienced Web users.