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Training exercise boosts brain power, Johns Hopkins researchers say

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Re: Training exercise boosts brain power, Johns Hopkins researchers say

#11

Post by jasonkostempski »

flavio81 wrote: post #9

When I see these exercises, I think it would be more fun to just play the drums to boost my brain. Here's an article collating studies on rhythm playing and brain effects: https://www.google.com.pe/amp/s/m.mic.com/articles/amp/89363... (i do play drums, synth, and guitar.)

I don't think the same parts of the brain are used. I can play Simon pretty well but the short examples given in the video were mentally taxing for me. With drumming, in what situation would you need to remember the nth last drum you hit and what would the second variable be? And who's gonna tell you if you got it right or wrong?

Re: Training exercise boosts brain power, Johns Hopkins researchers say

#12

Post by grandalf »

gorpomon wrote: post #8

This is actually a really common improv warm up. The group that's about to perform circles up, and one person says a word to someone else in the circle. That second person then passes the word to someone else, and so on. Eventually, after around 50 words, someone spontaneously passes what was said to them back and you start trying to go back down. The benefits are many, everyone practices focusing, listening and trus…

We (my roommates and I) used to do this while tossing a frisbee in college. It’s amazing how we could do hundreds of associations and then go backwards without missing any.

Re: Training exercise boosts brain power, Johns Hopkins researchers say

#13

Post by vtail »

JamesBarney wrote: post #6

When the first studies by Jaeggie on IQ came out a few years ago I hit dual n back pretty hard trying to improve my IQ. I don't think I got any smarter, but I did notice a few things. Pros My attention got better, I was less easily distracted. My executive function was better, I made better choices in life.(less junk food, fewer beers) My thoughts slipped less often, I had those "what was I just talking about" moment…

James - that's pretty interesting. Could you please share what SW (or other tools) did you use to train for dual-n-back?

Re: Training exercise boosts brain power, Johns Hopkins researchers say

#16

Post by taeric »

pdog wrote: post #14

Do you know the best exercise for your brain? Actual exercise. Running increases neurogenesis[1] more than anything else. [1]: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/04/well/move/for-your-brains...

Amusingly, I would not be surprised to find some people need both. In particular, exercise is boring. Very very boring. Anything that can help with concentration during boring tasks is useful.

Obviously, that is my experience. Ymmv

Re: Training exercise boosts brain power, Johns Hopkins researchers say

#17

Post by DigitalJack »

Bartweiss wrote: post #10

This is interesting, and kind of odd. The article claims the failure of previous brain-training studies came from choosing the wrong techniques, but the evidence on dual n-back specifically has been conflicted for quite a while; this isn't the first study on it. What's interesting here is that a lot of the best results on dual n-back in the past have concluded that it's mostly promising to fight cognitive decline or…

I thought the unique aspect here was comparing techniques against each other. Not that the techniques hadn't been studied.

It didn't seem like a great distinction to me, but maybe it eliminates control issues when comparing two studies of different techniques vs comparing two different techniques in one study.

Re: Training exercise boosts brain power, Johns Hopkins researchers say

#18

Post by jjtheblunt »

pdog wrote: post #14

Do you know the best exercise for your brain? Actual exercise. Running increases neurogenesis[1] more than anything else. [1]: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/04/well/move/for-your-brains...

more than swimming? seems surprising

Re: Training exercise boosts brain power, Johns Hopkins researchers say

#19

Post by mpweiher »

taeric wrote: post #16
pdog wrote: post #14

Do you know the best exercise for your brain? Actual exercise. Running increases neurogenesis[1] more than anything else. [1]: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/04/well/move/for-your-brains...

Amusingly, I would not be surprised to find some people need both. In particular, exercise is boring. Very very boring. Anything that can help with concentration during boring tasks is useful. Obviously, that is my experience. Ymmv

> exercise is boring

Yep. So listen to podcasts during. Seminars About Long Term Thinking and In Our Time being my favorites.

Re: Training exercise boosts brain power, Johns Hopkins researchers say

#20

Post by vbuwivbiu »

JamesBarney wrote: post #6

When the first studies by Jaeggie on IQ came out a few years ago I hit dual n back pretty hard trying to improve my IQ. I don't think I got any smarter, but I did notice a few things. Pros My attention got better, I was less easily distracted. My executive function was better, I made better choices in life.(less junk food, fewer beers) My thoughts slipped less often, I had those "what was I just talking about" moment…

pretty much my experience too. I never got that good at dual n-back (4 I think, and only if I was well-rested) and my IQ didn't improve, but I did find an increase in the ability to relate recent events to the present and keep track of recent events. For example, during meetings I was much more able to recite back to someone things they had said earlier in the meeting in the context of what we were presently discussing.
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