Mobiles and Cognition: The Associations Between Mobile Technology and Cognitive Flexibility

Abstract

Mobile phones hold a rather permeating role in our lives. Their portability and ease of use have turned them to indispensable parts of our everyday activities, since they are steadily connected to the internet, providing a wide range of applications at the same time. However, there has been little research so far, on the way mobile technology habits could be related to alterations in our cognitive functioning. The review presented in this paper, introduces findings of the last decade on the field of cognitive flexibility, some of which, tend to be contradictory at times. Cognitive flexibility is presented through the prism of attention-switching, task–switching and in close relation to working memory and inhibitory control, functions which have been proved to be interrelated. Moving a step forward, an attempt was made to present a more contemporary approach towards cognitive flexibility and the ways it is affected by mobile and advanced information and communication technologies.