Ways to maximize your cognitive potential

Post by mike4ty4 » Fri, Jul 01, 2016, 5:49 PM UTC

ideonexus wrote: post #21

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…

The more literature I read about this, the more compelling I find this. In mammals, the larger the body the larger the brain. That's because you need all those neurons to control all those muscles. I recently read some papers that hypothesize the muscle atrophy we experience as we get older is partially the result of the neurons controlling those muscle-fibers dying [1]. As infants, our brains grow into our bodies by…

Does this mean you're saying you need _bigger_ muscles specifically to get bigger brains?

Post by tedks » Sat, Jul 02, 2016, 5:09 AM UTC

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…

Certainly it's a little misguided to suggest that an OCEAN correlate implies you can train intelligence; OCEAN is relatively stable across your life (that's what makes it a good personality metric). That said, I know at least one person who scored low on O taking an OCEAN battery but is in fact very diligent about seeking out novelty, so I think the O-factor depends more on how enthusiastic you look at the world at large versus deciding you want to be a polymath and working very hard at accomplishing that goal.

On the other hand, being able to have lots of sexual partners implies being able to convince lots of people you're worth having sex with (this is one of the two main goals which developed human intelligence in the first place, the other being killing people who were doing the first too effectively), and taking a lot of psychoactive drugs I think also implies a sort of mental fortitude (it's very difficult to habitually take strong psychedelics without having a solid grasp on reality and how to adjust your actions to account for the change in perspective, the people who can't do this but enjoy psychedelics anyway aren't who anyone is thinking of when they say intelligent people use psychedelics).

I listen to mostly metal, so you can trust what I say [https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2007/mar/21/whym...]

Re: Ways to maximize your cognitive potential

Re: Ways to maximize your cognitive potential