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Next gen "Brain Age" phenomenon? IQ trainable?
glddrgn
Registered User new member
Registered User new member
First, the goods (software that actually DOES make you more intelligent?) :
Report your dual n-back scores now! On my fifth day I'm averaging 4, failing on 5 hard (first day averaging 2-3). Record stands at 11 (=dual 11-back).
________
Software that claims to make you smarter is HOT. The true merits of brain-fitness software like Brain Age is however disputable.
According to researchers from the universities of Michigan and Bern, such software does not efficiently improve one's ability to solve new problems. Brain training with existing software merely improves a person's ability to tackle the specific problem at hand, through processes of automatisation. Their criticism also falls in line with the general belief that IQ is pretty much fixed.
However these same researchers do not share the same belief.
In an attempt to counter the dogma that 'Fluid Intelligence' (as they define it) is fixed, the researchers designed a program that more efficiently aims to improve one's intelligence. They came up with 'dual n-back' games. Basically it's a game of remembering the position and form of a series (of n objects).
In their study, they reported significantly higher intelligence test scores (40% increase) of the group that took the program, after daily practice of dual n-back games of 25 mins for 19 days.
The debate still stands, critics remain and studies are ongoing, but that does not mean you cannot try and see for yourself! What is your dual n-back level?! Is intelligence fixed or trainable?
Sources :
Some reactions (ripped from a dead forum) :
Personally, no effects yet. Except that I did notice my (sexless
) dreams have become more vivid since I started 5 days ago.
- Brain Workshop (my pick, standalone)
- Dual-n-back (web app, limited to 4-back)
- Soakyourhead (web app)
- BrainTwister(not free)
Report your dual n-back scores now! On my fifth day I'm averaging 4, failing on 5 hard (first day averaging 2-3). Record stands at 11 (=dual 11-back).
________
Software that claims to make you smarter is HOT. The true merits of brain-fitness software like Brain Age is however disputable.
According to researchers from the universities of Michigan and Bern, such software does not efficiently improve one's ability to solve new problems. Brain training with existing software merely improves a person's ability to tackle the specific problem at hand, through processes of automatisation. Their criticism also falls in line with the general belief that IQ is pretty much fixed.
However these same researchers do not share the same belief.
In an attempt to counter the dogma that 'Fluid Intelligence' (as they define it) is fixed, the researchers designed a program that more efficiently aims to improve one's intelligence. They came up with 'dual n-back' games. Basically it's a game of remembering the position and form of a series (of n objects).
In their study, they reported significantly higher intelligence test scores (40% increase) of the group that took the program, after daily practice of dual n-back games of 25 mins for 19 days.
The debate still stands, critics remain and studies are ongoing, but that does not mean you cannot try and see for yourself! What is your dual n-back level?! Is intelligence fixed or trainable?
Sources :
Some reactions (ripped from a dead forum) :
I don't "blank" as often
Dual n-back has helped me win more (RTS) games.
I've also noticed I can read at higher speeds without losing as much comprehension as I would before.
I'm jealous. I have noticed nothing.
Caught myself reading upside down print with surprising ease
I don't know how much might be due to the placebo effect, but it is easier to remember tab positions and fingering
I've noticed an improvement in my chess game
I too seem to be remembering more of my dreams now. However, my dreams have not become more complicated, they are the same primitive sex dreams as before.
Personally, no effects yet. Except that I did notice my (sexless
) dreams have become more vivid since I started 5 days ago. glddrgn on
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I'd have more confidence in a product that only claimed to train my short term memory or something slightly more specific.
I've also read some interesting things regarding sleep and memory.
I think its fair to say using your brain will keep you sharper, but its difficult to measure intelligence vs memory/wisdom. When it comes down to it most IQ tests are pattern recognition and a little basic problem solving and doesn't always relate to how well you'll do in the real world.
Regardless, "intelligence" is absolutely trainable. You can train processing speed (which is an important factor in any of the tests we use anyway), visual-spatial orientation, vocabulary, memory, social skills, and many of the other factors any given culture might consider intelligence, but then that brings up the question of whether or not intelligence as a single, unified concept is valid at all. I mean, I've seen a kid with somewhere around a 60 IQ at 14 years old that had been accidentally trained on how to respond and think in the context of IQ tests which caused his scores to inexplicably shoot up, but his functioning hadn't improved at all.
The whole idea of IQ and intelligence, in all honesty, seems to be something rooted in racism and classism that we're now trying to legitamize.
They were nuns that were teaching elementary to high school material as substitutes or something like that. Their intelligence was unchanged, they just lived longer and didn't experience any dimentia, Alzheimer's, or the like.