As part of Berger's psychology honors thesis, Berger and Dartmouth education professor Donna Coch found that the brain is slower at processing text messaging language than standard written English.
The study identified similarities and differences between the way the brain processes words in text message phrases and conventional written English.
Although participants in the study processed text messages in nearly the same way as they would process any written language, an extra step was required for subjects' brains to process texting language.
"The participants in the study were processing semantics of text messages in a way similar to their normal process," Coch said. "Processing the semantics of text messages took a little longer and also had an additional part of processing."
The study did not identify the extra processing step the brain undergoes, but the researchers assume it was a type of "further semantic processing," Coch said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth.
Sixteen Dartmouth undergraduates, all of whom were female, participated in the study in the Winter and Spring of 2009.
"Through preliminary screening, we find that girls text more than boys do," Coch said.
Participants were given text message sentences and conventional English sentences to read, and were asked to determine whether or not the final word in each sentence made sense, Coch said.
Berger observed the brain activity involved in processing both types of sentences through a cap that measures the brain's electrical impulses, Coch said.
"In order to test what texting looks like in the brain, [Berger] looked at semantics, the meanings of words," Coch said.
Overall, Berger and Coch found that the student's responses were more accurate for conventional written English than for texting language, according to the study.
Students also took, on average, a couple hundred milliseconds longer to respond to the texting language than traditional English, the study found.
Some linguists have argued that texted English is a separate language from conventional written English, and has "not only has a distinct lexicon, but also operates using differential syntax," Berger said in an e-mail. According to these linguists, people fluent in texted English may be considered bilingual.
The results of the study reinforced previous findings that compared the processing of native languages to that of non-native languages.
This is the first time the hypothesis has been extending to texting technology, according to the study.
Coch said she does not know of any previous studies that have compared aspects of the brain's function while reading English and while processing texted information.
Berger first became interested in the topic when she worked as a research assistant in Coch's Reading Brains Lab, according to Coch.
Berger uses text messaging frequently, which led her to discuss with Coch the possibility of doing an honors thesis on "how learning to text is like learning to read," Coch told The Dartmouth.
Coch's lab studies the development of reading-related skills and how the reading brain functions in both children and adults, according to the Reading Brains Lab web site.
The study was accepted for publication on Feb. 22, and was made available on Elsevier Science online on March 21.
