
Ways to maximize your cognitive potential - brahmwg
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/you-can-increase-your-intelligence-5-ways-to-maximize-your-cognitive-potential/
======
jasonellis
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. You play them, learn how the
game works, then move onto a new challenge.

3) Think Creatively. This doesn't mean "thinking with the right side of your
brain." It means using both halves of your brain to make remote associations
between ideas and switching back and forth between conventional and
unconventional thinking (cognitive flexibility) to generate original ideas
appropriate to the activity you are doing. Like thinking both inside and
outside the box when trying to solve a problem.

4) Do Things the Hard Way. GPS as an example. You may use GPS because you have
a poor sense of direction. Using GPS will make it worse because you aren't
giving your brain a chance to learn and build its ability to navigate. Same
thing with auto-correct/spell check. You can't spell anymore because you rely
on software to fix your mistakes.

5) Network. Whether on social media or in person, this gives you exposure to
different ideas and environments that you otherwise wouldn't be exposed to. It
allows you opportunities to practice the previous 4 objectives. Knowing more
people gives you the chance to tap into more collective knowledge and
experience.

~~~
cylinder
I already do all these things and can report that none of them are compatible
with most corporate jobs. Creative critical thinking and novelty seeking
especially disturb management.

~~~
wepple
who said any of this has anything to do with a corporate job? do it in the
morning, the weekend; then use the benefits of increased cognitive potential
at work?

~~~
tremon
The phrase "maximize potential" reeks of corporate performance, not personal
growth. At least to me it does.

~~~
slowmovintarget
But... if you maximize your cognitive potential it'll make you clever enough
to realize you should change jobs, n'est-ce pas?

------
CuriouslyC
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 excellent if you're slightly
more athletic.

Beyond that, practicing thinking in different ways really helps your brain
develop. One thing that most people neglect is geometric/mechanical
intelligence. Get some 3D puzzles, and once you get really good at them, start
building simple machines. If you never got good at math, trying to pick up
some advanced mathematics can be a good exercise as well.

~~~
anantzoid
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?

~~~
cableshaft
Maybe swimming? Possibly tennis or racquetball if you only use your other arm
to hold the racquet. I'm not sure how easy it is to screw it up again, but if
you can still handle running it seems like those two might be okay.

------
FuNe
" 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 (aka being in a constant state of noob-ness)
is making you ever smarter.

~~~
singham
I didn't know that all these new Javascript frameworks were making me smart.

~~~
savanaly
You joke, but honestly all the web devs that learn a new framework annually
will be pretty good at picking up new frameworks after five or ten years. Of
course, most of the people who fret about the state of the javascript
ecosystem are doing it needlessly from the sidelines and don't themselves ever
learn any of the new stuff.

~~~
dualogy
> will be pretty good at picking up new frameworks after five or ten years

..or however long until the concept in question becomes irrelevant..

------
agarden
_First of all, let me explain what I mean when I say the word "intelligence".
...I'm talking about increasing your fluid intelligence, or your capacity to
learn new information, retain it, then use that new knowledge as a foundation
to solve the next problem, or learn the next new skill, and so on._

And when you define intelligence this way, it turns out that the best way to
increase your intelligence is to practice learning new things.

But what if you defined intelligence as depth of insight instead? It would
seem that were one to define it that way, dropping new skills as soon as the
novelty wears off would be counterproductive.

------
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?

------
robbiep
I thought dual n-back had been discredited as a method of increasing cognitive
performance. I know there must be some experts on here - would you care to
comment?

~~~
azakai
Aside from that, the article is full of plenty of dubious claims. For example,

> In order to [generate novel ideas], you need both right and left hemispheres
> working in conjunction with each other.

The simplistic idea of the hemispheres being different types of thinking, or
that originality requires them "working together", is not supported.

In fact very interesting things happen when the two hemispheres are separated,
but it isn't something to do with the topic of the article.

> 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

Of course efficiency is not your friend if your goal is apparent growth and
increased activity in the brain. But that's not the goal. The goal is to be
effective. An effective brain is using less resources because it needs less. A
chess master can consider fewer moves than a novice, for example.

Unless we had evidence that any brain growth is good for general intelligence
in some way. We don't. Taxi drivers have growth in areas responsible for
mapping and spatial location, for example, but no evidence suggests that makes
them better at anything else.

In any case, the advice provided is badly justified, but still valid. The 5
principles are just common sense - which is why the author can find people
like Einstein suggesting them many decades ago.

~~~
curiousgal
I see only one move ahead, but it is always the correct one. — Chess Master
Jose Raoul Capablanca

------
atemerev
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
passwords. And credit card numbers. And phone numbers. This multiplies my
intelligence quite significantly.

If only I could be consistently productive...

~~~
slig
Have you tried any meds to ADD?

~~~
whenwillitstop
You mean legal cocaine?

~~~
marxidad
Legal amphetamine.

~~~
atemerev
Incidentally, the response of somebody with ADD to Adderall is completely
different compared to response of a normal person to amphetamines. It is more
like "relaxed concentration" than stimulation.

Therapeutic dose of Adderall is way smaller than "recreational" doses of
amphetamine. It has to be carefully calibrated by therapist. Higher doses will
lead to headaches and, paradoxically, tiredness and drowsiness — not
stimulation.

~~~
GoodOldNe
"Higher doses will lead to headaches and, paradoxically, tiredness and
drowsiness — not stimulation."

False. You're right in that it won't help them very much -- specifically
because taking overdoses of amphetamines tends to lead to things like
insomnia, tachycardia/dehydration, and mania/psychosis.

~~~
atemerev
The effects I described were experienced by me during the calibration period,
where I took higher dose than me and my therapist eventually settled on.
Perhaps it might work differently for some people, but this is what I heard
from other people who suffer from ADHD and tried to take higher doses.

------
jobvandervoort
The 5 ways listed are:

1\. Seek Novelty

2\. Challenge Yourself

3\. Think Creatively

4\. Do Things The Hard Way

5\. Network

~~~
zump
how is one supposed to network when you work in a 9-5 job in a company no one
gives a shit about.

~~~
lloyd-christmas
9-5? Damn, you have a lot of free time.

~~~
AstralStorm
You meant non-job time, right? There are other inevitable time sinks.

~~~
lloyd-christmas
Everyone has time sinks. Just about everyone over the age of 22 works at least
8 hours. 9-5 are lighter hours than anyone I know excluding those who are
shift workers. I don't know anyone with a white-collar job that gets off
before 6, and many start before 8. I work some of the lightest hours of people
I know at 9-6:30. We all find time to network.

~~~
ambicapter
So what kind of networking do you do? Go to company happy hour? Freelance?
"Connecting" to people on LinkedIn?

~~~
lloyd-christmas
New grads/young professionals track me down regularly asking for "career
advice" (a job). People my age/older email me about potential job
opportunities. Coffee with either of them is pretty effortless given that both
of them will typically come to you. Meetups[0] after work usually start at 7.
I probably get to about 3 or 4 a month which is plenty to build a superficial
network outside of my immediate friends and family. I don't have children.
Even if I did though, trading 2 nights a month my significant other for
personal/career networking isn't all that unreasonable. A friend of mine runs
a meetup and he has 3 kids.

I sleep 7 hours, I'm at work/commuting 11 hours. That leaves me with 30 hours
on weekdays to divide however I please (obviously there are other basic sunk
costs like basic hygiene and eating). I've found that once I quantify the time
I have in life, it's a lot easier to notice when it's available and be
productive with it. I'm really not even one of those super motivated people. I
just like to be conscientious of my free time.

[0] [http://www.meetup.com/](http://www.meetup.com/)

------
dom2
> 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.

Mastery may be too strong of a word here but the intention is definitely
clear. It seems to me that certain activities are more suited to naturally
force novelty on someone. Musicianship comes to mind, as when one finishes
learning a piece, they can advance to a more challenging one, which would be
considered 'novel'.

------
tatool
As the article is pretty old I suggest looking at a more recent discussion of
the topic:
[http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v531/n7592_supp/full/53...](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v531/n7592_supp/full/531S10a.html)

------
mcguire
Hypotheses concerning intelligence from this article:

1\. It is correlated with short term memory.

2\. It is anti-correlated with experience. "Efficiency is not your friend."

3\. Technology affecting cognition (think of a map or a calculator) acts as a
crutch to reduce the required intelligence for an activity. Just like physical
technology.

4\. Intelligence is correlated with social skills.

------
SNvD7vEJ
So plowing through many different games on e.g. Steam, and just playing each
game for a short period (not trying to excel or improve your scores) before
moving on to the next game, could somewhat satisfy #1 and #2 (novely +
challenge)?

~~~
yvdriess
Mastering or thoroughly understand the system before moving on is implied :)

It might also be important to play differently challenging games (#1), e.g.
DotA2 + Europa Universalis 4 + CS:GO will give you a much wider spectrum of
brain training than going through the japanese RPG catalog.

That said, constantly seeking novelty is not good for your grit score, which
seems to be a better predictor for 'success' than intelligence.

------
taurath
As someone who previously fit the diagnostic criteria for PDD-NOS as a child
and no longer does - I wonder how much of the described effect comes from a
potential, sparsely documented trait of HF autism spectrum disorders that
starts a person at a lower cognitive level but has more potential than others
to overcome such a handicap?

I'd love to see more study in this - at age 15 (whilst heavily medicated) I
had the social skills of a 9 year old, generally because of the lag of having
to find processes that worked for me where neurotypical kids had a naturally
good environment to learn these things. Since striking out and finding my own
path I've grown leaps and bounds and many people I respect as having good
social skills and emotional intelligence call me charismatic.

My hypothesis is that autistic kids /require/ a rational framework with which
to work in dynamic situations, but while young do not have enough well-
developed/healthy cognitive maps or experience to achieve a workable one until
later. Couple that with low expectations and special treatment - necessary to
stave off active pain but eventually turning into a crutch - had I stayed on
medication/done what the doctors/teachers/parent said I have no doubt I would
probably be on some sort of disability or at the very least not have the
skillsets that have given me success today.

All that said, I'm certainly a firm believer of being able to grow cognitively
at any age. There's just a hell of a lot of inertia that is very easy to get
into - habits die very very hard and require a lot of effort to overcome. When
you don't have the ability to do a hard reset and move away, get out of the
space you're in it gets harder.

------
koolba
Since when has Scientific American resorted to listicles?

~~~
emodendroket
Very few publications haven't at this point.

------
neovive
This fits well for anyone working in web development. The quote: "You want to
be in a constant state of slight discomfort, struggling to barely achieve
whatever it is you are trying to do" explains how I feel whenever I'm starting
out with new frameworks, languages and tools. The webdev world is in a
constant state of flux. This year is a great example for me, as I'm in the
process of learning: ES6, Typescript, Angular2, RxJS and Webpack--I'm always
in a state of "slight discomfort".

I just have to avoid using "Google" and "StackOverflow" to parallel the
author's experience of travelling in Boston without GPS, but I don't think I'm
ready for that yet.

------
dc2
> While Einstein was not a neuroscientist, he sure knew what he was talking
> about in regards to the human capacity to achieve.

This line gets to me because it paints a neuroscientist in an unqualified
light. This kind of implicit trust breeds pseudoscience through inflated egos.

------
basseq
By the way, this is why Lumosity is generally regarded as "crap" by the
scientific community (and why they were fined $2M for deceptive
advertising[1]). Any "improvement" you see in playing Lumosity's games isn't
improvement in mental acuity, but efficiencies in repetition (#2).

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10845068](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10845068)

------
tokenadult
Should have "2011" in the title, as there has been new research on the article
topic since then, and this article isn't the last word on the topic.

------
panglott
It is one thing to improve the IQ of rapidly-growing children who have
developmental disorders, and quite another to improve the fluid intelligence
of adults.

Brain training games don't boost IQ
[http://www.vox.com/2016/6/22/11993078/brain-training-
games-d...](http://www.vox.com/2016/6/22/11993078/brain-training-games-dont-
boost-iq)

~~~
bjz_
The author does mention this under '2\. Challenge Yourself':

> I'm going to shatter some of that stuff you've previously heard about brain
> training games. Here goes: They don't work. Individual brain training games
> don't make you smarter—they make you more proficient at the brain training
> games.

------
1024core
My problem is that whenever I encounter something that requires serious brain
power, I start feeling sleepy. Anyone else feel this way?

~~~
cableshaft
Are you sleeping well? When I don't, things that require brainpower tend to
make me feel sleepy. Maybe you have some form of apnea and you don't realize
it. Could also be something like Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

~~~
1024core
This may be it. I don't think I'm sleeping that well.

------
trentmb
> Novel Activity—>triggers dopamine—>creates a higher motivational
> state—>which fuels engagement

Is there anyone else that _doesn 't_ get this reaction?

I usually just feel tired and then ennui sets in.

~~~
Jtsummers
Perhaps the activity just doesn't interest you or doesn't suit you?

I've been repeatedly frustrated by efforts to learn new languages, and usually
let my attempts fade off. Without a clear motivation for learning the language
other than to learn it it's hard to maintain the effort. (This has changed
recently with my attempt to relearn Spanish, I was almost fluent 18 years ago
and now have a good reason to regain and maintain it.)

So what sort of novel activities have left you feeling tired?

------
ome6a
Well, I can tell you this... I did tests long time ago and since the test I
got many contacts around since my IQ is extremely high. I don't socialize with
people I had only few people with who I have spended some longer time and I
have noticed since the begining of our friendship untill now their way of
thinking extremely changed. Sometimes I even don't like this... I feel like a
battery which is charging others for nothing.

~~~
forgetsusername
> _since my IQ is extremely high_

Just like everyone else on the internet.

~~~
mcguire
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.

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

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

