????有些人稱他們?yōu)椤皵?shù)字原生代”，他們隨處可見，也許在你家里就有幾個這樣的新新人類。

????他們是下一代員工，他們中很多人都是自小伴著互聯(lián)網(wǎng)長大。浸淫于數(shù)字世界給這一代人的大腦帶來了前人未曾經(jīng)歷過的影響。

????“企業(yè)需要意識到這一點，”獨立非營利研究機(jī)構(gòu)未來研究所（Institute for the Future）的研究總監(jiān)戴維?佩斯科維茨稱?！耙驗槲覀儗⒖吹饺祟惞ぷ鞣绞降霓D(zhuǎn)變?！?/p>

????當(dāng)然，“數(shù)字原生代”絕非同質(zhì)化群體，對科技的了解和掌握存在個體差異，大腦應(yīng)對環(huán)境的方式也有所不同。專家們相信，數(shù)字世界對神經(jīng)發(fā)展的影響需要做更深入的研究。但越來越清楚的一點是，數(shù)字原生代擁有全新的思維方式。

????大腦在發(fā)展的過程中會加強(qiáng)它認(rèn)為最有效的神經(jīng)通路?！皬某錾角啻浩?，腦細(xì)胞之間的連接有60%被切斷，”加州大學(xué)洛杉磯分校（UCLA）Semel Institute的心理學(xué)教授以及《如何預(yù)防老年癡呆癥》（The Alzheimer's Prevention Program）一書的共同作者蓋瑞?斯默爾表示。這就像森林小徑如果經(jīng)常有人走，就會越走越寬；如果人跡罕至，就會被雜草重新湮沒。

????數(shù)字原生代強(qiáng)化了管理特定活動的腦細(xì)胞。他們習(xí)慣于瞬間連接到一大群人，習(xí)慣于篩選海量信息。從很多方面看，他們更習(xí)慣于短期見效，就像在游戲中那樣，而且他們會在工作環(huán)境中尋找機(jī)會復(fù)制這樣的情形。

????“我們過去教課時會要求大量的背誦，如今則更多是關(guān)于認(rèn)知敏捷性和多任務(wù)處理，”加州大學(xué)洛杉磯分校醫(yī)學(xué)院的神經(jīng)病學(xué)和精神病學(xué)教授保羅?湯姆森稱。“大腦中涉及記憶的海馬區(qū)域略不同于大腦前端負(fù)責(zé)多任務(wù)處理的區(qū)域?！?/p>

????湯姆森表示，年輕人變得非常善于多任務(wù)處理，它已差不多成為一項工作記憶習(xí)慣。但他也指出，同時執(zhí)行多項任務(wù)可能導(dǎo)致長期記憶能力衰退。“古希臘人擁有非凡的記憶力，是因為花很多功夫?qū)⑺袞|西寫在紙上。軍事將領(lǐng)要知道軍隊中所有人的名字。而我們根本就不需要這樣的記憶力。”

????這意味著數(shù)字原生代整體（涉及長期記憶）的大腦額葉發(fā)展不同于以往的人們。大多數(shù)年輕人傾向于同時關(guān)注多項刺激。“我不是說這是件好事，它也不一定是壞事。我要說的是這件事值得關(guān)注，”未來研究所的佩斯科維茨說。“我看到侄女做家庭作業(yè)時，會在筆記本電腦上打開維基百科（Wikipedia），同時開著好幾個即時通訊窗口，而且還在聽著音樂?！?/p>

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????Some call them "digital natives," and they're everywhere. You may even be raising some right now.

????They're the next generation of workers, and they include anyone who has grown up with constant access to the Internet. This state of digital immersion has sculpted their brains in ways that people have never experienced before.

????"Organizations need to recognize that, " says David Pescovitz, research director, for non-profit research center Institute for the Future, "because you're seeing a transformation in how people work."

????Of course, "digital natives" aren't a homogenous group with equal access to technology, and their brains don't adapt to their environment in the same way. And experts agree that much more research on the impact of the digital world on neural development is needed. But it's becoming clear that digital natives think in a novel way.

????As the brain develops, it reinforces the neural pathways that it finds most useful. "From birth through adolescence, 60% of the connections between brain cells are pruned away," says Gary Small, a professor of psychiatry at UCLA's Semel Institute and co-author of The Alzheimer's Prevention Program. Like forest paths traveled over and over again, some trails get stronger while other unused paths grow over.

????Digital natives are strengthening brain cells that regulate specific activities. They are used to connecting to a large network of people instantaneously and culling vast stores of information. In many ways, they're geared towards short-term rewards like the kinds you see in gaming, and will look for situations that replicate that in a work environment.

????"We used to teach in a way that demanded a tremendous amount of memorization, but now it's more about cognitive agility and multi-tasking," says Paul Thompson, professor of neurology and psychiatry at UCLA's school of medicine. "The part of the brain, called the hippocampus, that's involved in memory is a little different than the multitasking part at the front of the brain."

????Young people are getting very good at multi-tasking, he says, which is basically a working memory trick. But the ability to do several tasks at once perhaps comes at the expense of long-term memory, he suggests. "The ancient Greeks used to have fantastic memories because of the terrific cost in putting anything down on paper. Army generals would know the names of all their troops. We just simply don't need that memory at all."

????That means that the frontal lobe of the brain, involved in storing long-term memory, develops differently in digital natives, as a whole, than it has for previous generations. Most young people are prone to pay attention to multiple stimuli, all at once. "I'm not saying that's a good thing, it's not necessarily a bad thing, but I'm saying it is a thing," says the Institute for the Future's Pescovitz. "When I look at my niece doing her homework, she's also got Wikipedia open on her laptop, as well as several IM windows, and she's listening to music."

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