Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Training exercise boosts brain power, Johns Hopkins researchers say

hub.jhu.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 147 posts

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

#31

Post by thenomad »

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

Try some exercise in VR.

"Thrill Of The Fight", "Holopoint", "GORN" or similar games are a lot of fun and are at least a moderate workout. I've literally just finished a half-hour session of GORN, I'm fairly sweaty, and I wasn't bored once.

(I also recommend similar things in IRL with Actual People, but I'm aware that those tend to be both more intimidating and harder to fit into a pre-set schedule.)

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

#32

Post by Bartweiss »

DigitalJack wrote: post #17
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.

Yeah, I think the head-to-head between techniques is what's novel about the paper. But what confused me is that they got a strong positive off dual n-back in the first place; other studies of that exact technique have regularly come up ambiguous-to-negative.

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

#33

Post by flavio81 »

jasonkostempski wrote: post #11
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?

>With drumming

Drumming, in a band context, is all about remembering certain drum patters, combinating them mentally so they fit the music as well as possible, and then playing them with perfect timing...

... all of this in real time, and as an endless while(song is not over) loop!!

>And who's gonna tell you if you got it right or wrong?

You don't want to make the bassist, the singer, the guitar player, and the keyboard player all get angry at you at the same time for making the group sound bad!

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

#34

Post by andai »

harbie wrote: post #22
taeric wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

This was how I felt about lifting weights. I know about all of it's amazing health benefits, but you've got 3-5 minutes rest between sets, with most programs having you do at least 9 sets total. That's not even counting the time added on if someone else asks to work in sets with you. Plus the need for a spotter when benching. Point is, I ended up getting into bouldering. If you want to send a bouldering problem, you…

I picked up bouldering a few weeks ago and I love it! I wish I'd learned about it sooner. I've never experienced such a satisfying muscle ache before.

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

#35

Post by abakker »

sndean wrote: post #29
noir_lord wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In particular, exercise is boring. Very very boring. I regularly spend 2-4hrs on a road bike and I've never found it boring and I have a low boredom threshold generally (outside of programming). It's just a case of finding your niche.

> 2-4hrs on a road bike and I've never found it boring Same here, which is a bit surprising whenever I think about it. Especially since I never listen to music/podcasts/anything, it's always the same place [0], and it's an out-and-back route only. But I hate driving, which seems like a relatively similar activity... no idea. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_%26_Old_Dominion_Ra...

If you need even more stimulation, Mountain Biking! With Audibooks!

My preferred workout is climb with audiobook, descend with silence, rinse and repeat.

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

#36

Post by a_c_s »

rukuu001 wrote: post #30
taeric wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

There's always something to think about while, say, running. Is my posture correct? Are my feet hitting the ground well? Is this a good pace? And lots and lots of self talk about not shirking the next effort (30s hard running, hill run etc etc).

Different people are different: I find running almost painfully tedious.

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

#38

Post by haffla »

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…

Interesting! I think I'd rather be dumb than boring, so this game is not for me.

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

#39

Post by SilasX »

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

By default exercise is boring, but you can fix that. Headphones/earbuds for music or to listen to audiobooks. I find that if I don't do that, I notice the exertion and discomfort a lot more and that limits how far/long I can run.

You can also get your exercise from exciting activities like sports or Dance Dance Revolution (but your experience may vary!).

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

#40

Post by nathanm412 »

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

In my experience, how boring an exercise is seems to be inversely related to your aptitude with that exercise. Running started out to be extrememly boring. I would listen to audiobooks while out on a trail. After a few months, I would notice that I'd miss sentences here and there. If I tried harder to concentrate on my otherwise very interesting audiobook, my running pace would suffer considerably. Eventually, I couldn't do books any more and switched to music. After a couple of years, I found the music distracting, and my pace increased when I did away with it. This also seems to be a theme I've noticed while weightlifting in the gym. The more proficient I am with a movement, the more my brain is being engaged.
Post reply on HN