NY Times today reports on a study - “Memory Training Shown to Turn Up Brainpower”:

A new study has found that it may be possible to train people to be more intelligent, increasing the brainpower they had at birth.

Until now, it had been widely assumed that the kind of mental ability that allows us to solve new problems without having any relevant previous experience — what psychologists call fluid intelligence — is innate and cannot be taught (though people can raise their grades on tests of it by practicing).

…The key, researchers found, was carefully structured training in working memory — the kind that allows memorization of a telephone number just long enough to dial it. This type of memory is closely related to fluid intelligence, according to background information in the article, and appears to rely on the same brain circuitry. So the researchers reasoned that improving it might lead to improvements in fluid intelligence.

My immediate thought? ‘Expert and exceptional performance: Evidence of maximal adaptation to task constraints‘ by Ericsson and Lehmann, 1994.

Counter to the common belief that expert performance reflects innate abilities and capacities, recent research in different domains of expertise has shown that expert performance is predominantly mediated by acquired complex skills and physiological adaptations… Performers can acquire skills that circumvent basic limits on working memory capacity and sequential processing. Deliberate practice can also lead to anatomical changes resulting from adaptations to intense physical activity. The study of expert performance has important implications for our understanding of the structure and limits of human adaptation and optimal learning.

So what makes it so different compared to the NY Times reported Jaeggi, Buschkuehl, Jonides and Perrig paper?

…there is a long history of research into cognitive training showing that, although performance on trained tasks can increase dramatically, transfer of this learning to other tasks remains poor. Here, we present evidence for transfer from training on a demanding working memory task to measures of Gf. This transfer results even though the trained task is entirely different from the intelligence test itself.

Also note that the volunteers were measured using standard tests, used a variation on the game ‘Concentration’ with auditory and visual stimuli at the same time. With half-hour practice, every day, for 8, 12, 17 and 19 days, respectively. Yet they were using adults… I wonder about effects it might have on children? I’ll have to see what else is being done.

Okay, back to the grindstone with me. I have an upcoming trip to the FAR north of Western Australia, in order to help out with some research! REALLY remote high schools! And I mean ‘far’ as in…

So, I’ll see about keeping the blog updated. And getting more and more projects done in the meantime…  they’re still secrets though, shhh!

So – enjoy some Randi in black and white! “I’ve Got a Secret”:

Albert Hofmann, chimistul care a descoperit, in 1938, acidul lisergic dietilamida-25, a murit ieri in locuinta sa din Basel, Elvetia. Avea 102 ani.

LSD-ul, una dintre cele mai controversate descoperiri din medicina datorita calitatilor sale psihoactive, poate fi considerat “responsabil” pentru revolutia culturala din anii 60. Interzis de guvernul american in 1966 si mai apoi de majoritatea tarilor, “acidul” a trecut pe lista de substante periculoase atat datorita concentratiei extrem de mari, un gram fiind suficient pentru alterarea constiintei a pana la 20.000 de indivizi, cat si datorita efectelor puternice (si/sau imprevizibile) asupra chimiei creierului uman. Discutiile si media din jurul subiectului, de gasit de-a lungul si de-a latul netului, sunt indecise in privinta drogului denumit chiar de Albert un “copil-problema“.

Hofmann si-a aparat intotdeauna descoperirea sustinind ca substanta contribuie esential la cercetarea psihiatrica si la tratamentul unor boli mintale cum ar fi schizofrenia, chiar daca nu a prins momentul in care subiectul “lsd” sa reintre, academic, in preocuparile comunitatilor de oameni de stiinta. Intr-una din ultimele sale aparitii publice, cu ocazia aniversarii unui centenar (2006, YouTube), Hofmann isi mentinea punctul de vedere asupre redeschiderii discutiei despre virtutile medicale ale descoperirii sale.

Nu pot decat sa-i urez, in continuare, vise la fel de placute ca si cele din tabloul cu pisica.

via

Llandudnoandy posted a photo:

LOLdog