40 replies to this topic

[Ben]

As a student of neuroscience i can say that most of these claims are partially fallacious. It is very unclear and doubtful that learning piano will make you a better engineer or learning a new language will make you a better philosopher. The reason for that is that the brain is highly modularized and localized.

That is not true. Many human functions require multiple areas of the brain. All of the examples you mentioned require in-depth interaction of various brain functions.

Speaking with a research neuroscientist and a practicing one, here are the recommendations they made:

1. Learn a new language

2. Learn to dance or something equally challenging in terms of physical skill

One of the guys I was speaking to was researching the affect learning how to dance had on the elderly whose brains were starting to deteriorate. After the dancing they improved their IQ scores markedly and had significant improvement in other aspects of their life. This I really goes against the assumption that adaptations are absolutely specific.

Edited by Ben - Aus, 19 January 2010 - 04:19 PM.

[Solarclimax]

I would pursue wisdom over intelligence. In any case, if you knew that increased intelligence would bring decreased happiness, or at least that such a result is reasonably probable, would you still want increased intelligence? The smartest people in the world are surrounded by morons in a world that makes no sense, in as much as it largely has been designed and is controlled by those morons. The wise among the smartest people in the world also know that they are morons, too. A headspace that sounds not so pretty. But as to your specific question, I would say study, exercise vigorously but not at length, spend time in wilderness, and engage in creative endeavors.

I already know that increased intelligence would NOT bring decreased happiness in my case, the problem i face is that i need to be as intelligent as i can in order to make better decisions and solve certain problems, so as to get away from my ever decreasing levels of happiness, i already realize that I'm surrounded by strange people and that the world is ruled by morons and that these negative things can have a big impact on my life. I feel i can get along better with smarter people as they tend to be more well mannerd and logical, where as the people i usually come into contact with day in day out seem to be annoyingly rude and illogical. Being more intelligent would increase my chances of having less financial worries which would lead to increased happiness.

My ideal would be learn something like Comp Science/Artificial intelligence, or some type of human enhancement. Get rich, then do something good because no matter what happens in life i always think about the person on the street sleeping rough, or the kids starving. So would be nice if i could spend some time making a bit of a difference. And then be a part of the Longevity Therapies and or transhumanism, Although i would prefer to remain fully organic. When i think of AI i think of how awesome it would be to be able to build something that would be more intelligent than any human and that could then solve problems we can't solve, like how to live indefinitely for example. I'm also aware of the fact that these things may not happen in my life time, but it's worth having ago anyway.

Bit of a draining off topic ish post here, hehe but just some ideas behind me wanting to increase intelligence.

[David Styles]

I am looking to make lifestyle changes in order to try and become more intelligent
Why do i want to be more intelligent ? i would like to get my head into some type of science, Gerontology interests me. There's no point unless i am well equipped to have a good go at something, so i thought best bet would be to try and get smarter first :-)

Can anyone give advice on what sort of things i need to be doing in order to acheive my goal(s)
For instance, should i buy a nintendo DS and get brain training ? I do alot of exercise, mainly boxing training, only rarely do sparring. So no slacking in that department. Was thinking about getting chessmaster and spending a few hours a week working with chess problems and trying to beat it for the next couple of years lets say. Anyway, what sort of things do other people do in order to achieve the same or simlar goals.

Cheers

Solar ;-)

If we define intelligence as the ability to solve problems, then a lifestyle that brings practice of solving problems seems in order. Perhaps you could have some problem-solver capacity in your workplace? If not, there are plenty of problems that need solving in the world of life extension - have at 'em!

With regard to chess, I play friends online when I have the time, though that is mostly social I am competetive and consequently endeavour to win. I should probably push myself to challenge those friends superior to me in their mastery of the game, as that will helpe to improve more quickly that playing casual games with less experienced friends that I (almost) always trounce.

People speak of transferrable chess skills are; I'm not sure whether this is the case or if it is that the same kind of person likes the various kinds of intellectual challenges in general.

Either way, I enjoy it so it's a good excuse to play.

Interestingly, at work I often play chess with several adults with learning disabilities that I look after. I don't go easy on them aside from always using a defensive opening to prolong the game a bit, and it's amazing to see how much they've improved their game over the time we've been playing (got them started on chess about a year ago now).

How much this cognitive enhancement transfers to other areas of their lives, if at all, I don't know.

One of them has Downes Syndrome and thus is at increased risk of dementia when he gets older, compared to the rest of the population. I think that playing chess may very likely stave off the dementia better than not playing chess, due to the intellectual stimulation it provides.

Edited by David Styles, 01 February 2010 - 11:45 AM.

[David Styles]

Also forget the idea of the general intelligence because it relies of a false idea of how the brain works. It is a collection of modules, not one module. Each module with sub-modules and sub-sub-modules.

So to relate it to op, figure out what type of skills you need in life and work on them exclusively. There is no evidence that working on your motor skills will improve anything but motor skills.

Right.

This is a very important point to emphasise!

[The Immortalist]

If you want to do something (you said you wanted to do gerontology) just do it and commit yourself to it. If you fail try again. There was a quote I remember but I forget who said it, it goes something like this, "There are those good at things because they are much smarter than others, and there are those who are more stupid than others but are good at things because they keep trying until they learn it completely".
The way I see it people who are considered smarter just learn things faster than other people. If you can still learn but not as fast it doesn't matter because if you keep trying you will eventually learn and understand what you wanted to.

[JLL]

Also forget the idea of the general intelligence because it relies of a false idea of how the brain works. It is a collection of modules, not one module. Each module with sub-modules and sub-sub-modules.

So to relate it to op, figure out what type of skills you need in life and work on them exclusively. There is no evidence that working on your motor skills will improve anything but motor skills.

Right.

This is a very important point to emphasise!

I dunno, improving motor skills and exercising seem to alleviate depression, for example, which in turn would probably improve concetration etc.

[wydell]

I read a study some time ago that found that rote memorization improved analytical skills, intelligence

[Willou]

I dunno, improving motor skills and exercising seem to alleviate depression, for example, which in turn would probably improve concetration etc.

Exercise gives the brain a boost of dopamine and serotonin; both neurotransmitters would stimulate the depressed brain. Depression is a reduction in activity. Improvement of motor skills would not be the cause of improvement in depression; all of the improvement should be attributed to physical exercise. We do know that physical exercise can improve brain function. If anything, increased function of the dopaminergic system, particularly D2 receptors, would improve motor actions.

[Forever21]

No Facebook/Cellphones.
Read insane amount of books / journals.
or pick a skill, work at it for 10,000 hrs.

[AmericanEmpire]

Lots of responses here im throwing my hat in the ring...

For me something I enjoy is yes using my left hand more, I will do all kinds of exercises with each finger and try achieve the same fluidity that I have with my dominant right hand. This has the added effect of making me feel like I have a new addition to my personality, that I feel more wholesome and complete....

Re: Piano, yes piano is fun to learn and what I find is that simply forcing myself to concentrate for long periods of time on specific tasks, i.e. piano, programming music, mathematics, statistics, medical dictionary, difficult book, etc etc all allow me to feel that I can tackle other tasks easier...

Its not that I am targeting one specific part of my brain consciously...although i love word games and memory games it is just that I want to make sure that when it comes down to it, I believe in my ability to learn a task...

_________________

what is placebo effect if it works? ya know? how does someone get a sugar pill, believe it works, and is cured of disease? Is that really some medical miracle? Scientists, although smart are often deluded as to the power that the human brain has. Nobody understands it completely, but the human brain has tremendous ability to overcome adversity..

What this translates to, any difficult task you want to learn, you can probably do it with enough conviction, motivation, and self belief.

________________

For general intelligence?

Learn new words
Form new friendships
Listen to people, really listen
play chess, sudoku, mahjongg.
Work on visual memory, try taking inventory of every single thing in your visual field at some point in the day.
Try to look at specific spots real quick, take inventory of whats there and look away.
Remember random stuff throughout the day.
Write a book.
Play a sport.
Play an instrument.
Listen to music, like really listen to.


Also for me looking at really complex patterns and artwork like that makes me feel more able to tackle big projects.
Make your own complex patterns.
Make mind maps
Contemplate the universe
Meditate

My favorite is mathematics.

Truth be told, going too deep in any one rabbit hole probably has positive and negative effects, really consider where you would like to build your cognitive abilities toward and for what purpose...

[Mr Serendipity]

Interesting stuff guys. Keep adding more methods that boost brain power!