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The 5 ways listed are: 1. Seek Novelty 2. Challenge Yourself 3. Think Creatively 4. Do Things The Hard Way 5. Network
how is one supposed to network when you work in a 9-5 job in a company no one gives a shit about.
It's mostly about increasing the size of your filter bubble.
Since when has Scientific American resorted to listicles?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
9-5? Damn, you have a lot of free time.
You meant non-job time, right? There are other inevitable time sinks.
5 Ways to Increase Your Cognitive Potential:
1) Seek Novelty. Openness to new activities correlates with IQ, because those individuals are constantly seeking new information, new activities to engage in, new things to learn, and new experiences.
2) Challenge Yourself. Brain games like Sudoku don't work to increase cognitive potential if you keep playing them. You play them, learn how the game works, then move onto a new challenge.
3) Think Creatively. This doesn't mean "thinking with the right side of your brain." It means using both halves of your brain to make remote associations between ideas and switching back and forth between conventional and unconventional thinking (cognitive flexibility) to generate original ideas appropriate to the activity you are doing. Like thinking both inside and outside the box when trying to solve a problem.
4) Do Things the Hard Way. GPS as an example. You may use GPS because you have a poor sense of direction. Using GPS will make it worse because you aren't giving your brain a chance to learn and build its ability to navigate. Same thing with auto-correct/spell check. You can't spell anymore because you rely on software to fix your mistakes.
5) Network. Whether on social media or in person, this gives you exposure to different ideas and environments that you otherwise wouldn't be exposed to. It allows you opportunities to practice the previous 4 objectives. Knowing more people gives you the chance to tap into more collective knowledge and experience.
1. It is correlated with short term memory.
2. It is anti-correlated with experience. "Efficiency is not your friend."
3. Technology affecting cognition (think of a map or a calculator) acts as a crutch to reduce the required intelligence for an activity. Just like physical technology.
4. Intelligence is correlated with social skills.
One of the most consistent ways research has demonstrated to increase connectivity in the brain is to learn new physical skills. Controlling the body in space appears to be particularly good at stimulating the growth of new synapses (and possibly new neurons as well, though the research is not conclusive here outside the hippocampus). Yoga is a good start. Modern dance, breakdancing, capoeira and gymnastics are all e…