Yes, But Are You Gettin’ Any Smarter?

Just how do you know if all  your brain training strategies work?

This is a good question to ponder.  Exactly what I’ve been doing.

What I began wondering is this — If I am going to invest both time and money in brain training – specifically  here, either software or online products – what good does it do me.  I want a way to think about this that will help measure progress.

As a pragmatist, I mean real progress.

Isn’t it just possible that the only thing we are doing is learning the software and getting better at that?  I want to know if this transfers to real life.  I don’t want to be in the same position as a monkey that learns sign language.  What the hell good does it do the monkey in the real world.

Not saying that this is the case, but isn’t it important to know?

Well, I made a serendipitous find.

Reading of late led me to a book by Richard Restak, Think Smart: A Neuroscientist’s Prescription for Improving Your Brain’s Performance, I found what I consider a rather cool group of qualities to both help us measure and to strive for.  The list is Doctor Restak’s.  Comments are mine.

Practical Brain Training Goals

Fluid Intelligence – The good doctor calls this “Mental Acuity.”  It seems more likely that it also includes the idea to be mentally and psychologically flexible.  This fluidity allows us to live life without an instruction book and to make decisions on what may almost seem like instinct.  When presented with novel challenges, we are able to come up with novel solutions.  This requires the ability to let go of rule-based behavior that often traps.

Crystallized Intelligence - This is the aim of schools, to help us acquire knowledge and information. More than that, we also know which applies to what through the learning process. Crystallized intelligence is the realm of the expert,  Whatever our individual expertise may be, each of us has a storehouse of knowledge to draw on.  Concrete decision making lives here.

Memory - Without memory, neither of the above two brain qualities exist.  Even if  ‘everythink’ we need is written down somewhere, we still have to know where and how to look.  Without memory, I wouldn’t be sitting here in front of a computer, I would be out trying to figure out what to do with that big round thing with a whole in the middle.

Curiosity - We are often like the inchworm, stretching out blindly at the end of a branch to feel what is out there.  I’ve worked with clients who are depressed, and a commonality I’ve noted is a lack of curiousity, no need to know what’s out there.  Hell, I get out there when I am down.  Without curiosity, our brains are like an iron lung.  They keep us breathing, but what’s the point?

Quick Thinking - A healthy brain maintains speed in information processing.  The idea here is, to use an athletic analogy, not to lose a step over time.

Abstract Thinking - As we grow to healthy adulthood, we move from a concrete black and white thinking toward thinking in color.  We appreciate all the hues and intensities the world presents and are able to think in analogy and metaphor. The key here is to be able to see beyond life’s categories and hold on to the ability to think creatively.

Well, that’s my penny’s worth.  This is what I am looking for from any of the activities I use to both maintain and strengthen my brain.

Your turn.

What are you looking for from brain training, brain fitness, or for that matter, brain coaching?

Mike

Art by juanfordarmani