5 brainy hacks that will make you smarter

People used to believe you could not change your IQ, but in 2008 a study was published that showed that you could improve your intelligence a significant amount with training. What did participants do? Following training they were able to greatly improve a score on an unrelated task.

Just what is the intelligence that is being improved? It is not the facts and knowledge stored in your brain, and it’s not how much you can memorize. It’s your fluid intelligence, which is your ability to learn new information. The main points of the study are that fluid intelligence can be trained, and the more you train, the more you gain. Anyone can increase their cognitive ability, and this happens by training on tasks that aren’t similar to the test. How can this study help you? There are 5 elements to increase your fluid intelligence. These can be used every day and should transfer to gains in overall cognitive functions as well. Any one will be a great help, but if you want to function at your best, do all five as often as possible.

1.Seek Novelty. When you seek novelty you create new synaptic connections in your brain, they build on each other, creating more, and learning takes place. Another research finding basically says that how much new information you are able to take in and retain, makes lasting changes to your brain. Constantly finding new things primes your brain for learning. Novelty also makes dopamine, which motivates you and creates neurons which prepare your brain for learning.

2.Challenge Yourself. Please note that individual brain training games like Sudoku and other brain training games don’t make you smarter- they make you more proficient at brain training games. They do help you with point number one, novelty, but once you master it you need to challenge yourself with something else, playing more of it does not increase your skill, as you do not have to work hard to play it. So once you’ve mastered something, you need to move on, so you have a constant state of slight discomfort.

3.Think creatively. This means using both sides of your brain, not just the right, creative side. So it involves divergent thinking and unconventional thinking. In a study called The Rainbow Project Stenberg showed that students were able to transfer knowledge they gained using creative, multimodal teaching methods and score higher on a different cognitive test. So the students that were taught using creative methods scored higher on cognitive tests.

4.Do things the hard way. Just like your body, your brain needs exercise and if you stop using your problem solving skills, spatial skills and cognitive skills, how will your brain stay in shape or improve? Don’t always use shortcuts like a GPS or autocorrect, just like you sometimes need to take the stairs instead of the elevator to keep your body in tip top shape.

5.Network. By networking with other people, whether it is facebook or twitter or face to face, you are exposing yourself to lots of situations that make point 1-4 easier to achieve. By exposing yourself you are opening yourself to new opportunities for cognitive growth. It may offer you a new perspective or insight.

Intelligence isn’t just about the math courses you’ve taken or your vocabulary, it’s about how you approach a new problem, recognize what’s important and solve it. Then taking that and using it towards the next one. 

Read it at Scientific American.