I recommend perusing the following journal article, "Cognitive Control in Media Multitaskers", written by Eyal Ophir, Clifford Nass, and Anthony D. Wagner. It was published in the September 11, 2009 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). The .pdf is available here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2747164/pdf/zpq15583.pdf
In this article, the authors describe their studies upon two groups of individuals: 1) heavy multimedia multitaskers; and 2) light media multitaskers. They attempt to extract the effect of multitasking on a person's ability to process information.
Counterintutively, the authors discovered that heavy multimedia multitasksers -those people who read books, watch TV, surf the net, and listen to music -are more easily distracted, and are actually worse at switching tasks than light media multitaskers.
Have the author's discovered a brain improvement technique? I'd argue that they haven't. However, applying their principles could be helpful in maintaining your current cognitive abilities. In sum, attempt to minimize the circumstances where your mind is bombarded with multiple information sources -read your book, then watch television, rather than attempting to read and watch at the same time.
Showing posts with label brain training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brain training. Show all posts
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Free Brain Fitness Software - Dual N-Backing Program
I'm a little busy right now, so I can't make this post a long one, but I thought that I'd quickly recommend a nice piece of free Brain fitness software, entitled Brain Workshop. The mental challenge on which the game is based, dual N-backing, has been shown to increase a person's working memory considerably, and I'd highly recommend it (future posts will discuss this fascinating discovery).
More importantly, there is a company called Mind Sparke, which is attempting to SELL software based on the dual N-backing method. Having purchased Mind Sparke's only currently available piece of software, Brain Fitness Pro, my opinion is that Brain Workshop is a better piece of software.
More importantly, there is a company called Mind Sparke, which is attempting to SELL software based on the dual N-backing method. Having purchased Mind Sparke's only currently available piece of software, Brain Fitness Pro, my opinion is that Brain Workshop is a better piece of software.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Image Streaming Part 4: A Conversation with Charles P. Reinert
In the third part of my image streaming series, I presented the entirety of Dr. Charles Reinert's study concerning image streaming and IQ improvement, which suggested that image streaming resulted in an average IQ increase for students who practiced the technique. A few months ago, I contacted Dr. Reinert by e-mail, and asked him a few questions about his study, and I thought I would share an edited version of the exchange (Dr. Reinert gave his permission).
OS: Why has no further study been done to confirm or refute your findings concerning image streaming? The findings seem quite interesting, and it surprises me that you haven't followed up on your research.
Dr. Charles Reinert: I have no idea why others have not done any followup work. I was a physics professor at the time, not trained in psychological research or the like. I had a full teaching schedule at SMSU, with no allocated time for research. After having experienced image streaming at a conference in Arizona a year or so before I did my work, I was much impressed with the theory underlying the image streaming protocol and my brief experience in doing it at the conference-- so much so that I determined to "give it a go" in a couple of physics courses I was teaching at the time, to see what might happen. I did not do much followup work, though I did teach a course the following year (as I recall), where the students did (only) image streaming, and we endeavored to test, not only their analytical skills, but also their creativity. What we found seemed to be clear indication that at least some types of creativity were enhanced, as measured by a standard test of creativity furnished to me by my psychologist colleagues. (The name of the test escapes me now.) As I recall, the analytical skills also increased, though I do not recall any details of that.
OS: Are there any scientific publications in peer reviewed journals which support the Whimbey Method, or the Image Streaming method (Try as I might, I cannot find publications supporting or refuting either technique)? If there are no publications, are you familiar with the reasons why neither of these methods have been studied rigorously?
Dr. Charles Reinert: ...I don't have a clue as to whether anyone has done any other work regarding Whimbey's work or Image Streaming. What I do recall is that in conversations with Win Wenger preceding and also after my preliminary work, he was having major difficulty in getting anyone to do such work. It seemed that he would have professionals all set to do the work, and then, for some reason, the efforts would fall through. There was a part of Win, and a part of me, at the time, that suspected that, because we were "challenging" the prevailing paradigm that it is "impossible" to change IQ, anyone who even sought to TEST that paradigm was perceived to be a few cards short of a full deck, as they say.
OS: Do you personally believe that image streaming is effective?
Dr. Charles Reinert: I have NO DOUBT whatsoever in my own mind that image streaming is effective, and that it pretty much does what Win believed it could do, which was to increase general intelligence (AND creativity, by my own measures) at a rate in the vicinity of a few IQ points over several hours of practice. I felt so strongly in my own mind, following my admittedly somewhat crude work, that I made the image streaming activity a "standard" part of my physics students' homework thereafter for many years. I also taught my then 3 year old daughter to do it, and we would have great fun while I was driving her the 20 miles to daycare-- I image streamed with my eyes open of course, and daughter (name removed) did it (I think ) with eyes closed. She quickly became very adept at it and I have to believe that this early practice became a continuing factor in her scholastic success, and likely in her being admitted (on her first try) to the veterinary medicine school at the University of Minnesota a few years ago. Another thing that seemed to happen to me and others who have done this work is that after one has been image streaming for about a month, the number of A Ha's, Ho Ho's, and He He's-- (the exclamations that are typically associated with what I term "creative breakthroughs" in my thinking), seem to dramatically increase.
OS: Why are there no peer reviewed publications supporting any of Win Wenger's theories (I appreciate that you may not know the answer to this, but your proceedings paper suggested you had contact with him)?
Dr. Charles Reinert: I don't know the answer to this. Perhaps no money available? No interest? Win's work IS of the type that I, if I were a creativity consultant to industry, would likely wish to teach the employees. Are you familiar with any of Win's publications? One is "Beyond Teaching and Learning"; another deals with what he has called "The Einstein Effect", as I recall, and he has a prolific number of other, smaller publications, which I have picked up at conferences on accelerative learning and teaching. If you are interested in developing your analytic or creative skills, it may be worthwhile to pick up a few of them and begin to learn how Win thinks. I do not know whether he is still presenting at conferences-- he used to be very active in what was once called the "Society for Accelerative Learning and Teaching", which later took another name because of copyright infringement. As I have gone off in other directions since that time, I have no idea whether that organization is still extant. However, if you get an opportunity to participate in any of his workshops, I would strongly urge you to do so. That may be the best way to convince yourself of the validity or lack thereof of Win's approaches to thinking.... And, of course, practice the technique for a month or so, a half hour per day, and come to your own conclusions. Then, do what seems to be the best thing to do with what you have learned....
Following this conversation, during the conversation where I asked Dr. Reinert if I could publish the above statements, he also wanted to add a few comments, which I present below.
OS: ...perhaps the most important aspect of the work (he is referring to his proceedings paper, found in part 3 of my image streaming series) is that it seemed to have been one of the first serious efforts to "test" image streaming, and (hopefully) gave some long needed impetus to Dr. Wenger's wonderful work. As I discovered, "IQ" is not an easy thing to measure, and the way in which I chose to measure it (using Art Whimbey's "WASI" test) was certainly an incomplete way to do so. On the other hand, the WASI was available, easy to administer, and was (according to Dr. Whimbey) a test which correlated well with other more accepted methods. As to the value of Image Streaming, this for me emerged as I did more and more of it, and began to have more creative "Aha" experiences. There is a part of me that would suggest, "Image Streaming is a bit like falling in love. It's difficult to MEASURE the effect that it has on one, but when you've experienced it, you know you've changed!"
And... that was the end of our e-mail interaction.
Personally, I don't know what to believe about image streaming. Dr. Reinert's study seems reasonably well conducted, but the absence of peer review and a proper control group makes me more than wary.His enthusiasm about image streaming was evident in our conversation, and it really makes me want to believe that image streaming works, but I won't come down on either side of the fence until there's a successful repetition of Dr. Reinert's study.
Interestingly, no one (as of this writing), has bothered to attempt to repeat this experiment, including Win Wenger (the creator of image streaming) himself. The fact that other scientists haven't attempted to repeat this experiment isn't all that surprising, as for decades the prevailing dogma has been that IQ cannot be changed, and a non-peer reviewed study presented at the Society for Accelerative Learning and Teaching is unlikely to spur much interest in the scientific community, for the reason that no one other than the members of the Society for Accelerative Learning and Teaching would even know about the study. It is curious though, given its availability on the internet, that no one has attempted to repeat the study yet. Even more curious is that Win Wenger has not repeated the experiment himself.
So, does image streaming increase IQ? According to Dr. Reinert's paper, it does. But more work will have to be done in the future to validate his work (cough... cough... Project Renaissance (which is Win Wenger's organization)).
OS: Why has no further study been done to confirm or refute your findings concerning image streaming? The findings seem quite interesting, and it surprises me that you haven't followed up on your research.
Dr. Charles Reinert: I have no idea why others have not done any followup work. I was a physics professor at the time, not trained in psychological research or the like. I had a full teaching schedule at SMSU, with no allocated time for research. After having experienced image streaming at a conference in Arizona a year or so before I did my work, I was much impressed with the theory underlying the image streaming protocol and my brief experience in doing it at the conference-- so much so that I determined to "give it a go" in a couple of physics courses I was teaching at the time, to see what might happen. I did not do much followup work, though I did teach a course the following year (as I recall), where the students did (only) image streaming, and we endeavored to test, not only their analytical skills, but also their creativity. What we found seemed to be clear indication that at least some types of creativity were enhanced, as measured by a standard test of creativity furnished to me by my psychologist colleagues. (The name of the test escapes me now.) As I recall, the analytical skills also increased, though I do not recall any details of that.
OS: Are there any scientific publications in peer reviewed journals which support the Whimbey Method, or the Image Streaming method (Try as I might, I cannot find publications supporting or refuting either technique)? If there are no publications, are you familiar with the reasons why neither of these methods have been studied rigorously?
Dr. Charles Reinert: ...I don't have a clue as to whether anyone has done any other work regarding Whimbey's work or Image Streaming. What I do recall is that in conversations with Win Wenger preceding and also after my preliminary work, he was having major difficulty in getting anyone to do such work. It seemed that he would have professionals all set to do the work, and then, for some reason, the efforts would fall through. There was a part of Win, and a part of me, at the time, that suspected that, because we were "challenging" the prevailing paradigm that it is "impossible" to change IQ, anyone who even sought to TEST that paradigm was perceived to be a few cards short of a full deck, as they say.
OS: Do you personally believe that image streaming is effective?
Dr. Charles Reinert: I have NO DOUBT whatsoever in my own mind that image streaming is effective, and that it pretty much does what Win believed it could do, which was to increase general intelligence (AND creativity, by my own measures) at a rate in the vicinity of a few IQ points over several hours of practice. I felt so strongly in my own mind, following my admittedly somewhat crude work, that I made the image streaming activity a "standard" part of my physics students' homework thereafter for many years. I also taught my then 3 year old daughter to do it, and we would have great fun while I was driving her the 20 miles to daycare-- I image streamed with my eyes open of course, and daughter (name removed) did it (I think ) with eyes closed. She quickly became very adept at it and I have to believe that this early practice became a continuing factor in her scholastic success, and likely in her being admitted (on her first try) to the veterinary medicine school at the University of Minnesota a few years ago. Another thing that seemed to happen to me and others who have done this work is that after one has been image streaming for about a month, the number of A Ha's, Ho Ho's, and He He's-- (the exclamations that are typically associated with what I term "creative breakthroughs" in my thinking), seem to dramatically increase.
OS: Why are there no peer reviewed publications supporting any of Win Wenger's theories (I appreciate that you may not know the answer to this, but your proceedings paper suggested you had contact with him)?
Dr. Charles Reinert: I don't know the answer to this. Perhaps no money available? No interest? Win's work IS of the type that I, if I were a creativity consultant to industry, would likely wish to teach the employees. Are you familiar with any of Win's publications? One is "Beyond Teaching and Learning"; another deals with what he has called "The Einstein Effect", as I recall, and he has a prolific number of other, smaller publications, which I have picked up at conferences on accelerative learning and teaching. If you are interested in developing your analytic or creative skills, it may be worthwhile to pick up a few of them and begin to learn how Win thinks. I do not know whether he is still presenting at conferences-- he used to be very active in what was once called the "Society for Accelerative Learning and Teaching", which later took another name because of copyright infringement. As I have gone off in other directions since that time, I have no idea whether that organization is still extant. However, if you get an opportunity to participate in any of his workshops, I would strongly urge you to do so. That may be the best way to convince yourself of the validity or lack thereof of Win's approaches to thinking.... And, of course, practice the technique for a month or so, a half hour per day, and come to your own conclusions. Then, do what seems to be the best thing to do with what you have learned....
Following this conversation, during the conversation where I asked Dr. Reinert if I could publish the above statements, he also wanted to add a few comments, which I present below.
OS: ...perhaps the most important aspect of the work (he is referring to his proceedings paper, found in part 3 of my image streaming series) is that it seemed to have been one of the first serious efforts to "test" image streaming, and (hopefully) gave some long needed impetus to Dr. Wenger's wonderful work. As I discovered, "IQ" is not an easy thing to measure, and the way in which I chose to measure it (using Art Whimbey's "WASI" test) was certainly an incomplete way to do so. On the other hand, the WASI was available, easy to administer, and was (according to Dr. Whimbey) a test which correlated well with other more accepted methods. As to the value of Image Streaming, this for me emerged as I did more and more of it, and began to have more creative "Aha" experiences. There is a part of me that would suggest, "Image Streaming is a bit like falling in love. It's difficult to MEASURE the effect that it has on one, but when you've experienced it, you know you've changed!"
And... that was the end of our e-mail interaction.
Personally, I don't know what to believe about image streaming. Dr. Reinert's study seems reasonably well conducted, but the absence of peer review and a proper control group makes me more than wary.His enthusiasm about image streaming was evident in our conversation, and it really makes me want to believe that image streaming works, but I won't come down on either side of the fence until there's a successful repetition of Dr. Reinert's study.
Interestingly, no one (as of this writing), has bothered to attempt to repeat this experiment, including Win Wenger (the creator of image streaming) himself. The fact that other scientists haven't attempted to repeat this experiment isn't all that surprising, as for decades the prevailing dogma has been that IQ cannot be changed, and a non-peer reviewed study presented at the Society for Accelerative Learning and Teaching is unlikely to spur much interest in the scientific community, for the reason that no one other than the members of the Society for Accelerative Learning and Teaching would even know about the study. It is curious though, given its availability on the internet, that no one has attempted to repeat the study yet. Even more curious is that Win Wenger has not repeated the experiment himself.
So, does image streaming increase IQ? According to Dr. Reinert's paper, it does. But more work will have to be done in the future to validate his work (cough... cough... Project Renaissance (which is Win Wenger's organization)).
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Image Streaming Part 2: The Basic Mechanics
In my first article in the Image Streaming series, I presented external evidence from Charles P. Reinert, which, though non-peer reviewed and never reproduced, suggested that image streaming could possibly increase your intelligence. So, how does a person go about image streaming?
The process is described on other pages found throughout the internet, but in case you stumble here, this is my version:
1) Sit in a chair, or lie down. Relax.
2) Make sure that you have a tape recorder, or another person present in the room.
3) Attempt to clear your mind of the normal background chatter -that little voice which is constantly characterizing, judging, relating to the future and the past - which seems to play continuously (Buddhists' refer to this as the monkey mind) and focus on your breathing.
4) Optional: Ask yourself a question.
5) Focus on your consciousness. When an image, not a thought, enters your mind, describe it in great detail out loud to the tape recorder, or to your partner. DO NOT self edit; DO NOT speak softly, but at a normal volume for conversation. It is quite common to be speaking continuously at this point -for words to be flowing from your mouth like water flows from a tap. Do your best to focus and describe the image.
6) Descriptions using all of the senses are better. Ex: The frog's texture is slimy, it smells like cut grass, I can see its eyes rotating in its head.
7) The images probably will not be clear at first (or even after a while), but feel free to embellish the images with your own details. If you can't perfectly "see" the spots on the image of the frog which enters your mind, imagine visually that they're there, and describe them out loud.
8) As other images enter your mind, follow the same process of verbally describing the images out loud. Use as much detail as possible (this is supposed to make the images become clearer), and describe using all of your senses.
That's it! Following this method should allow anyone to access their "image stream" in no time at all.
The greater problem will be for those people who cannot access their image stream. Don't worry though, there are resources available which will help you start observing images in your mind. Try checking out Win Wenger's image streaming backup procedures to begin; I'll be posting various methods to aid in catalyzing your image stream in the upcoming months.
The process is described on other pages found throughout the internet, but in case you stumble here, this is my version:
1) Sit in a chair, or lie down. Relax.
2) Make sure that you have a tape recorder, or another person present in the room.
3) Attempt to clear your mind of the normal background chatter -that little voice which is constantly characterizing, judging, relating to the future and the past - which seems to play continuously (Buddhists' refer to this as the monkey mind) and focus on your breathing.
4) Optional: Ask yourself a question.
5) Focus on your consciousness. When an image, not a thought, enters your mind, describe it in great detail out loud to the tape recorder, or to your partner. DO NOT self edit; DO NOT speak softly, but at a normal volume for conversation. It is quite common to be speaking continuously at this point -for words to be flowing from your mouth like water flows from a tap. Do your best to focus and describe the image.
6) Descriptions using all of the senses are better. Ex: The frog's texture is slimy, it smells like cut grass, I can see its eyes rotating in its head.
7) The images probably will not be clear at first (or even after a while), but feel free to embellish the images with your own details. If you can't perfectly "see" the spots on the image of the frog which enters your mind, imagine visually that they're there, and describe them out loud.
8) As other images enter your mind, follow the same process of verbally describing the images out loud. Use as much detail as possible (this is supposed to make the images become clearer), and describe using all of your senses.
That's it! Following this method should allow anyone to access their "image stream" in no time at all.
The greater problem will be for those people who cannot access their image stream. Don't worry though, there are resources available which will help you start observing images in your mind. Try checking out Win Wenger's image streaming backup procedures to begin; I'll be posting various methods to aid in catalyzing your image stream in the upcoming months.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
The Brain Improvement Manifesto
The brain plays an important role in shaping every aspect of a person's life. It affects a person's ability to solve problems, by dictating which types of problems a person is inherently better or weaker at solving, and by dictating how successful a person is at solving different problems. For instance, Joe might possess a brain which makes him inclined to solve mathematical problems, but he might be mediocre at solving those problems, whereas Jennifer might have an inclination towards tactile problems, but be excellent at solving all problems. The ability to solve problems effectively, and solve different types of problems, plays an essential role in a person's life, determining a person's interests, career, career success, friendships, and virtually every other aspect of life.
Am I writing anything novel? No. Everyone's life experiences will align with what I have written: those with brains that have the capacity to solve a more diverse set of problems, and the capacity to solve more complex problems, generally end up wealthier than the next person.
The brain is also the center of consciousness, giving people the capacity to understand that they exist, and allowing the formation of an individual identity. It plays a role in perceiving sensations, allows living organisms to move, and is the center of emotion. A person is essentially their brain -which is why in science fiction movies, human brains, not hearts or kidneys, are shown being stored away in some god awful saline solution.
For decades, the scientific dogma stated that our brains and corresponding mental abilities and capacities could not be changed other than through surgical techniques or pharmaceutical intervention. Sure, a lobotomy could transform a severely manic depressive person into a comatose vegetable, or caffeine could allow a person to sustain their attention longer, but people couldn't improve their memories on demand, improve their emotional make up, improve their concentration, or improve their ability to solve problems. Our intelligence quotient was fixed, our personalities were fixed, and that was that!
Recent research has suggested this view is inaccurate. The brain can change itself, and thus a person can change various aspects of their mental or emotional makeup. Finally, the old dogma was overthrown, and people rejoiced!
This blog seeks to discuss all aspects of brain improvement, from the practical to the theoretical. As a trained scientist, I will do my utmost to debunk theories and practices which are not proven, and which will ultimately waste people's time, and shed light upon theories and practices which are valuable. From product reviews, to news regarding techniques for brain improvement, I intend to canvas the vast field of brain remodelling which has just opened up!
I hope that you enjoy what I have to write. Please stop by regularly!
To the success of the impossible,
OS
Am I writing anything novel? No. Everyone's life experiences will align with what I have written: those with brains that have the capacity to solve a more diverse set of problems, and the capacity to solve more complex problems, generally end up wealthier than the next person.
The brain is also the center of consciousness, giving people the capacity to understand that they exist, and allowing the formation of an individual identity. It plays a role in perceiving sensations, allows living organisms to move, and is the center of emotion. A person is essentially their brain -which is why in science fiction movies, human brains, not hearts or kidneys, are shown being stored away in some god awful saline solution.
For decades, the scientific dogma stated that our brains and corresponding mental abilities and capacities could not be changed other than through surgical techniques or pharmaceutical intervention. Sure, a lobotomy could transform a severely manic depressive person into a comatose vegetable, or caffeine could allow a person to sustain their attention longer, but people couldn't improve their memories on demand, improve their emotional make up, improve their concentration, or improve their ability to solve problems. Our intelligence quotient was fixed, our personalities were fixed, and that was that!
Recent research has suggested this view is inaccurate. The brain can change itself, and thus a person can change various aspects of their mental or emotional makeup. Finally, the old dogma was overthrown, and people rejoiced!
This blog seeks to discuss all aspects of brain improvement, from the practical to the theoretical. As a trained scientist, I will do my utmost to debunk theories and practices which are not proven, and which will ultimately waste people's time, and shed light upon theories and practices which are valuable. From product reviews, to news regarding techniques for brain improvement, I intend to canvas the vast field of brain remodelling which has just opened up!
I hope that you enjoy what I have to write. Please stop by regularly!
To the success of the impossible,
OS
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