You can increase your intelligence
blogs.scientificamerican.com
You can increase your intelligence
1–10 of 120 posts
Re: You can increase your intelligence
#2I've always been surprised people thought any different, given the content of IQ tests. Is basically just puzzles and you usually get much better at puzzles if you do them all the time.
Re: You can increase your intelligence
#3This may seem very good and useful at first sight but it actually doesn't mean anything. The classical stance is that intelligence it's something fixed and can't be improved, so the smart guy will outsmart the average guy. Now they say that intelligence can actually improve so it's possible for the average guy to outsmart the smart guy. Well, not at all. If intelligence can improve this means that the average guy can achieve an intelligence on par with that of the smart guy, but the smart guy can also, so the gap still remains. Maybe I'm missing the point but I don't really know what make of the whole article.
Re: You can increase your intelligence
#4I've always been surprised people thought any different, given the content of IQ tests. Is basically just puzzles and you usually get much better at puzzles if you do them all the time.
True, but since virtually no one takes IQ tests on a daily basis, the IQ test is still a valid measure of one's intelligence (or potential, I don't really know what IQ is supposed to measure).
Re: You can increase your intelligence
#5The article kindly submitted here is from 2011. There is a new article, from today,
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/2013/10/...
that follows up on recent cognitive training research. The research conclusions are becoming more and more nuanced, and thus are better and better guides to practical things you can do for your own intelligence boosting.
Re: You can increase your intelligence
#6This may seem very good and useful at first sight but it actually doesn't mean anything. The classical stance is that intelligence it's something fixed and can't be improved, so the smart guy will outsmart the average guy. Now they say that intelligence can actually improve so it's possible for the average guy to outsmart the smart guy. Well, not at all. If intelligence can improve this means that the average guy can…
It means that effort becomes more of a factor. OK, if you hold effort constant, maybe the gap remains, but not everyone is equally hard-working.
Re: You can increase your intelligence
#7This may seem very good and useful at first sight but it actually doesn't mean anything. The classical stance is that intelligence it's something fixed and can't be improved, so the smart guy will outsmart the average guy. Now they say that intelligence can actually improve so it's possible for the average guy to outsmart the smart guy. Well, not at all. If intelligence can improve this means that the average guy can…
Are you suggesting that if both weak and strong people go to the gym regularly then the differences between them will remain?
Re: You can increase your intelligence
#8But will I get dumber by wasting my intellectual capacity?
Re: You can increase your intelligence
#9I've always been surprised people thought any different, given the content of IQ tests. Is basically just puzzles and you usually get much better at puzzles if you do them all the time.
True, but since virtually no one takes IQ tests on a daily basis, the IQ test is still a valid measure of one's intelligence (or potential, I don't really know what IQ is supposed to measure).
People who score high on IQ tests do take IQ tests (or similar puzles on a daily basis).
> I don't really know what IQ is supposed to measure
Neither does anyone else.
Re: You can increase your intelligence
#10Interesting! If anyone wants to give it a go, I just made a quick Dual-N-back app a couple of days ago, after reading Gwern's (who else?) excellent FAQ on the subject.
My web app: http://nnback.ukoki.com
Gwern's FAQ: http://www.gwern.net/DNB%20FAQ