Searching online is better than reading books for increasing the brainpower of middle-aged and older adults, new research indicates.

A University of California Los Angles team of scientists found searching on the Internet stimulates parts of the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning.

The findings come from a study of 24 volunteers aged 55 to 76 who were asked to either search online or read while their brains were scanned using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).