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Can You Get Smarter?

nytimes.com

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Re: Can You Get Smarter?

#3
This is more dreadful, than ageism. From linked paper:

For example, longitudinal studies have reported between 1% and 2% annual hippocampal atrophy in adults older than 55 years without dementia (e.g., Jack and others 1998). Other regions also atrophy in late adulthood, including the prefrontal cortex, caudate nucleus, and cerebellum, at estimated rates between 0.5% and 2% per year.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3575139/

Re: Can You Get Smarter?

#4
post #3

This is more dreadful, than ageism. From linked paper: For example, longitudinal studies have reported between 1% and 2% annual hippocampal atrophy in adults older than 55 years without dementia (e.g., Jack and others 1998). Other regions also atrophy in late adulthood, including the prefrontal cortex, caudate nucleus, and cerebellum, at estimated rates between 0.5% and 2% per year. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/ar…

That is terrifying. I'm 32. That means in slightly over 20 years I am going to slowly become brain dead.

By the time they cure death in my 70s, I will be too old to enjoy it unless they also can reverse this.

Re: Can You Get Smarter?

#5
All subjects took a benchmark cognitive test, a kind of modified I.Q. test, at the beginning and at the end of the study. Although improvements were observed in every cognitive task that was practiced, there was no evidence that brain training made people smarter. Scores on the benchmark test, for which subjects could not train, did not significantly increase at the end of the study.

That's what I suspected.

Re: Can You Get Smarter?

#6
"six weeks of brain training, with 10-minute sessions three times each week" - this seems so insignificant amount of practice that no reasonable person would expect it to have any effect. More interesting thing would be measure person's IQ before and after doing their quantum physics PhD studies - few years of intense work should do the trick of making you smarter.

Re: Can You Get Smarter?

#7
post #6

"six weeks of brain training, with 10-minute sessions three times each week" - this seems so insignificant amount of practice that no reasonable person would expect it to have any effect. More interesting thing would be measure person's IQ before and after doing their quantum physics PhD studies - few years of intense work should do the trick of making you smarter.

This isn't even enough time to significantly increase your strength at a gym, which we know is possible and observable. Why anyone would think this is enough training to produce noticeable effects baffles me.

Re: Can You Get Smarter?

#9
post #4
post #3

This is more dreadful, than ageism. From linked paper: For example, longitudinal studies have reported between 1% and 2% annual hippocampal atrophy in adults older than 55 years without dementia (e.g., Jack and others 1998). Other regions also atrophy in late adulthood, including the prefrontal cortex, caudate nucleus, and cerebellum, at estimated rates between 0.5% and 2% per year. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/ar…

That is terrifying. I'm 32. That means in slightly over 20 years I am going to slowly become brain dead. By the time they cure death in my 70s, I will be too old to enjoy it unless they also can reverse this.

The cure to death even partially is probably more that 100 years away from us.

Re: Can You Get Smarter?

#10
post #7
post #6

"six weeks of brain training, with 10-minute sessions three times each week" - this seems so insignificant amount of practice that no reasonable person would expect it to have any effect. More interesting thing would be measure person's IQ before and after doing their quantum physics PhD studies - few years of intense work should do the trick of making you smarter.

This isn't even enough time to significantly increase your strength at a gym, which we know is possible and observable. Why anyone would think this is enough training to produce noticeable effects baffles me.

Your analogy isn't appropriate. The brain is not made of muscle tissue.
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