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Ways to maximize your cognitive potential

blogs.scientificamerican.com

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Re: Ways to maximize your cognitive potential

#121

Post by Sgt_Apone »

anantzoid wrote: post #46
CuriouslyC wrote: post #9

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…

I used to do boxing earlier in college, and used to hit the gym religiously till last year, when my elbow fractured and got implants to hold it together. After that I wasn't able to do much activity, even if I wanted, apart from running. Even pushups carry a risk of screwing up the implants in my elbow. What kind of physical activity do you think can be done in this type of scenario?

It sounds like I have the same injury as you do. Five years ago I broke the olecranon in my left elbow and had to get it all screwed back together. To echo other suggestions, I would say swimming is definitely the way to go if you want to improve upper body fitness. Everything else I've found to be too high-impact and causes discomfort. Also keep up the running.

Re: Ways to maximize your cognitive potential

#122

Post by Jemmeh »

atemerev wrote: post #11

I can relate to that. I am not super-intelligent, I have ADD, and generally consider myself to be lazy and distraction-prone. However, for some reasons unknown, I have excellent working memory, which allows me to perform feats. Multi-choice exams? Can prepare for anything in few hours. Learn Scala (and another 5-6 programming languages) in a few months? Easy! I don't use password managers, as I remember all my long p…

As a person who has trouble focusing--

A.) Minimize visual stimuli in your work area. Get everything off your desk, and shove your face in a corner. (I've turned my desk to face away from the hallway.)

B.) Take notes as you work. I will write 15 minutes of code, take a note on what I'm doing, then get (purposefully) distracted for a minute or two. When I come back to my work, I can look at my note to see what I was doing and pick back up where I left off. It really minimizes the impact of distraction on my work. You can start out with lower chunks of "productive" time if you want. Practicing focus helps you to build up amount of time you can focus. Relevant talk on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlU-zDU6aQ0

Re: Ways to maximize your cognitive potential

#123

Post by CuriouslyC »

tunesmith wrote: post #116
CuriouslyC wrote: post #9

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…

How would one get into 3D puzzles and simple machines/mechanics? I suppose IoT or Arduino could get you part of the way there but that's still very software-based.

You can buy puzzle cubes, they're made up of irregular blocks that need to be assembled in a certain way to hold together. The only downside to these is that after you "learn" how to put it together by assembling it a few times, it doesn't do much for you, though I suppose you could up the challenge by assembling it blindfolded.

Field stripping and reassembling guns is a good practical entry to mechanics. Again, after you've done it a few times it doesn't really teach you anything new, but the blindfold trick would work well here too.

Lego robots are another good basic intro into mechanical intelligence. You can graduate from them to DIY robotics kits.

Re: Ways to maximize your cognitive potential

#124

Post by mcguire »

majewsky wrote: post #112
mcguire wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

False! Source: When I was in high school, I got a look at my permanent record. I had a measured IQ of 150 in the 4th grade and 138 in the 6th. Extending the plot out to infinity, I should be well into the negative numbers now.

Using two data points to fit a curve is indeed not very intelligent. ;)

I'm using the assumption that intelligence is a linear relationship to the quantity of intellectual phlogiston in the skull.

Re: Ways to maximize your cognitive potential

#125

Post by patwalls »

alexvr wrote: post #100
jasonellis wrote: post #36

Here is my Cliff's Notes version of the article's list: 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. Yo…

Remind me how the correlation between openness to experience and IQ test scores suggests that seeking novelty might possibly increase your cognitive potential. I think I missed that part. With the same kind of "reasoning" I might have to write an article claiming that you should take lots of psychoactive drugs and have more sex to increase your cognitive potential, because there are positive correlations between thes…

From the article 'Excellent learning condition = Novel Activity—>triggers dopamine—>creates a higher motivational state—>which fuels engagement and primes neurons—>neurogenesis can take place + increase in synaptic plasticity (increase in new neural connections, or learning).'

Not sure if it's scientifically correct, though.

Re: Ways to maximize your cognitive potential

#126

Post by hyperpallium »

> once the "training" stopped, they went right back to their previously low cognitive levels... not to create a lasting change.

This article criticizes previous methods for lacking enduring effect, but does not claim enduring improvement for any of the promoted methods (including for the boy with PDD-NOS, and dual n-back) nor revisit the issue. On the contrary, it later claims that on-going training is required. This is not "lasting change".

This article is written enthusiastically rather than scientifically. It reminds me of "In Search of Excellence", that had sensible, intuitively appealing advice, but whose supporting data turned out to be fabricated.

Also, quoting Einstein is a red flag. He wasn't a polymath (unless you count several areas of theoretical physics as wide learning).

Still, it's interesting, and what more can you expect from popsci Scientific American?

Re: Ways to maximize your cognitive potential

#127

Post by internaut »

mcguire wrote: post #63
forgetsusername wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> since my IQ is extremely high Just like everyone else on the internet.

False! Source: When I was in high school, I got a look at my permanent record. I had a measured IQ of 150 in the 4th grade and 138 in the 6th. Extending the plot out to infinity, I should be well into the negative numbers now.

Suppose an environment e.g. stimuli/education was difficulty adjusted as you went up a grade so you were always on the very bleeding edge of your cognitive abilities.

You'd throw out the entire education system in order to do that, but would it mean that children would have higher IQ as adults?

tldr; if by modern standards we were cruel to children could we maintain high IQ levels?

I'm reminded of Dr Spock as a child in the 'education pits' in that new Star Trek movie ;-)

Re: Ways to maximize your cognitive potential

#128

Post by knn »

anantzoid wrote: post #46
CuriouslyC wrote: post #9

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…

I used to do boxing earlier in college, and used to hit the gym religiously till last year, when my elbow fractured and got implants to hold it together. After that I wasn't able to do much activity, even if I wanted, apart from running. Even pushups carry a risk of screwing up the implants in my elbow. What kind of physical activity do you think can be done in this type of scenario?

Biking!

Re: Ways to maximize your cognitive potential

#129

Post by CuriouslyC »

kornish wrote: post #110
grandalf wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think most professional athletes are highly intelligent, but some never learned to apply it to anything other than sport. Watch Kobe or LeBron on the court. There is an incredible awareness of the shifting context of the game and the available moves. In the greatest athletes it is faster and more fluid than in most athletes. It's a constantly shifting analytical mode that leans heavily on training and instinct, but…

Do you have a source for your statement that professional athletes are pretty close to average in "physical metrics"? By most accounts, there's been a recent Cambrian explosion in college and professional sports where larger pools of participants has resulted in a higher frequency of genetic outliers gravitating towards the sport for which their body is best suited. David Epstein's "The Sports Gene" covers this topic…

Aside from certain pathological cases (gymnasts need to be short and thin, offensive linemen need to be freaky massive), the difference genetics makes is pretty small in the grand scheme of things compared to proper training and mindset. Definitely less than 10% of total performance (with the exact number depending on the specific sport). Of course, at the very top, 10% is often a bigger margin than between first and last place.

Re: Ways to maximize your cognitive potential

#130

Post by bahjoite »

louprado wrote: post #99
FuNe wrote: post #29

" Efficiency is not your friend when it comes to cognitive growth. In order to keep your brain making new connections and keeping them active, you need to keep moving on to another challenging activity as soon as you reach the point of mastery in the one you are engaging in. You want to be in a constant state of slight discomfort, struggling to barely achieve whatever it is you are trying to do " Then working in IT (…

I'm skeptical that learning new things in the same domain will achieve meaningful cognitive growth. It feels like the Sudoku analogy in the OP except your are continuously tweaking the rules and symbols of the game. It's challenging, but it is sufficiently challenging ?

It would be interesting to study just how much variation there needs to be. If I've mastered the GNU Debugger and now I'm learning how to use Docker, does that count (it certainly feels that it does)?
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