The link does not compare running versus other forms of exercise. It compares running vs no exercise. "Running increases neurogenesis[1] more than anything else." is not a finding in the article.
Amusingly, I would not be surprised to find some people need both. In particular, exercise is boring. Very very boring. Anything that can help with concentration during boring tasks is useful.
When the first studies by Jaeggie on IQ came out a few years ago I hit dual n back pretty hard trying to improve my IQ. I don't think I got any smarter, but I did notice a few things.
Pros
My attention got better, I was less easily distracted.
My executive function was better, I made better choices in life.(less junk food, fewer beers)
My thoughts slipped less often, I had those "what was I just talking about" moments less and less frequently.
Cons
Sometimes I felt overly focused for social situations. Like the feeling you get when you've been studying for 4 hours, and then try to the shoot the shit with someone, and you end up being too rigid/serious and instead of playful/fun.
Same. I learned about it while in uni and got into it thinking that it'd help me improve my academic performance. While I don't know of a good way to measure if I have really increased my intelligence, I did noticed that I could focus longer on my tasks: studying, coding, solving problems, etc.
Nowadays, I could study for a couple of hours before going for a short break. I know that some of you don't think that's good enough but for someone who used to struggle with procrastination and being "easily distracted", I am happy with the result.
Those are all indicators of intelligence. Whether you have good executive control due to some "intrinsic" intelligence or due to some conditioning, the net effect is the same.
pretty much my experience too. I never got that good at dual n-back (4 I think, and only if I was well-rested) and my IQ didn't improve, but I did find an increase in the ability to relate recent events to the present and keep track of recent events. For example, during meetings I was much more able to recite back to someone things they had said earlier in the meeting in the context of what we were presently discussing.
The article claims the failure of previous brain-training studies came from choosing the wrong techniques, but the evidence on dual n-back specifically has been conflicted for quite a while; this isn't the first study on it.
What's interesting here is that a lot of the best results on dual n-back in the past have concluded that it's mostly promising to fight cognitive decline or boost recovery. Previous work on boosting memory in young, mentally-healthy people has come up with basically nothing.
I'm hoping that this is the better and more-powerful study, and that n-back does boost general working memory. But the cynic in me is wondering if the chosen working-memory metric was simply more vulnerable to training effects from n-back than from complex span.
My understanding of the literature is largely that n-back training doesn’t generalize effectively, mostly just improving ones ability to perform n-back exercises.
I thought the unique aspect here was comparing techniques against each other. Not that the techniques hadn't been studied.
It didn't seem like a great distinction to me, but maybe it eliminates control issues when comparing two studies of different techniques vs comparing two different techniques in one study.
This is actually a really common improv warm up. The group that's about to perform circles up, and one person says a word to someone else in the circle. That second person then passes the word to someone else, and so on. Eventually, after around 50 words, someone spontaneously passes what was said to them back and you start trying to go back down. The benefits are many, everyone practices focusing, listening and trusting their teammates. It can also be funny, as near the bottom opinions on what the true order is can vary quite a bit.
I don't understand. Isn't it just the same word you started off with? Actually, I probably misunderstand since it sounds like the whisper game but with public passings which obviously would make no sense.
We (my roommates and I) used to do this while tossing a frisbee in college. It’s amazing how we could do hundreds of associations and then go backwards without missing any.
When I see these exercises, I think it would be more fun to just play the drums to boost my brain. Here's an article collating studies on rhythm playing and brain effects:
I don't think the same parts of the brain are used. I can play Simon pretty well but the short examples given in the video were mentally taxing for me. With drumming, in what situation would you need to remember the nth last drum you hit and what would the second variable be? And who's gonna tell you if you got it right or wrong?
Lately, I've felt my memory has been a little off. I feel like I'm not remembering things I would normally easily remember.
Like the other day, I was trying to remember what they speak in Iran (Farsi) or who the head coach of the Boston Celtics or what was the name of the Scorsese movie with Wahlberg/Damon/Nicholson. These are all subjects I'm very familiar with so it bothered me that I couldn't remember the answers immediately.
I may have missed seeing a mention of the work done by Dr. Michael Merzenich[1], professor emeritus at UCSF and an expert on neuroplasticity, who has been showing for many years that mental (and physical) exercises can and do remap parts of the brain to our benefit.
His 2004 TED Talk[2] on neuroplasticity is IMHO well worth watching.
Did subjects improve their dual-n-back scores significantly during the exercise regiment? Did they improve on other memory tests? Did they improve in learning tasks?
I get that they got increased brain activity in areas associated with learning and memory, but I'd like to see subjects also improve when directly tested.
[+] [-] pdog|8 years ago|reply
[1]: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/04/well/move/for-your-brains...
[+] [-] dyarosla|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] taeric|8 years ago|reply
Obviously, that is my experience. Ymmv
[+] [-] fgGAMI|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hammock|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jjtheblunt|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JamesBarney|8 years ago|reply
Pros
My attention got better, I was less easily distracted.
My executive function was better, I made better choices in life.(less junk food, fewer beers)
My thoughts slipped less often, I had those "what was I just talking about" moments less and less frequently.
Cons
Sometimes I felt overly focused for social situations. Like the feeling you get when you've been studying for 4 hours, and then try to the shoot the shit with someone, and you end up being too rigid/serious and instead of playful/fun.
[+] [-] jpamata|8 years ago|reply
Nowadays, I could study for a couple of hours before going for a short break. I know that some of you don't think that's good enough but for someone who used to struggle with procrastination and being "easily distracted", I am happy with the result.
[+] [-] vtail|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dibujante|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vbuwivbiu|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|8 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] haffla|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] z0r|8 years ago|reply
* for context, he's got a lot on his site about n-back:
https://www.gwern.net/DNB-FAQ
https://www.gwern.net/DNB-meta-analysis
[+] [-] Bartweiss|8 years ago|reply
The article claims the failure of previous brain-training studies came from choosing the wrong techniques, but the evidence on dual n-back specifically has been conflicted for quite a while; this isn't the first study on it.
What's interesting here is that a lot of the best results on dual n-back in the past have concluded that it's mostly promising to fight cognitive decline or boost recovery. Previous work on boosting memory in young, mentally-healthy people has come up with basically nothing.
I'm hoping that this is the better and more-powerful study, and that n-back does boost general working memory. But the cynic in me is wondering if the chosen working-memory metric was simply more vulnerable to training effects from n-back than from complex span.
https://www.gwern.net/DNB-meta-analysis
[+] [-] arkades|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DigitalJack|8 years ago|reply
It didn't seem like a great distinction to me, but maybe it eliminates control issues when comparing two studies of different techniques vs comparing two different techniques in one study.
[+] [-] gorpomon|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Kiro|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] grandalf|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] garuuk|8 years ago|reply
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4820261/
This meta analysis says there's a small affect
https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13423-014-0699-x
[+] [-] flavio81|8 years ago|reply
https://www.google.com.pe/amp/s/m.mic.com/articles/amp/89363...
(i do play drums, synth, and guitar.)
[+] [-] jasonkostempski|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] heyheyhey|8 years ago|reply
Lately, I've felt my memory has been a little off. I feel like I'm not remembering things I would normally easily remember.
Like the other day, I was trying to remember what they speak in Iran (Farsi) or who the head coach of the Boston Celtics or what was the name of the Scorsese movie with Wahlberg/Damon/Nicholson. These are all subjects I'm very familiar with so it bothered me that I couldn't remember the answers immediately.
[+] [-] troupe|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] briandw|8 years ago|reply
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iq-boost/id286574399?mt=8
[+] [-] baxtr|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nkozyra|8 years ago|reply
http://brainscale.net/dual-n-back
Also, if you feel like working off of someone else's source:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/brainworkshop/files/brainwo...
Though it seems relatively simple to design.
[+] [-] rajadigopula|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] defined|8 years ago|reply
His 2004 TED Talk[2] on neuroplasticity is IMHO well worth watching.
[1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Merzenich
[2]: https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_merzenich_on_the_elastic_b...
[+] [-] racer-v|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Vernetit|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wodenokoto|8 years ago|reply
I get that they got increased brain activity in areas associated with learning and memory, but I'd like to see subjects also improve when directly tested.
[+] [-] thatonechad|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vixen99|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] excalibur|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jonbarker|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|8 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] fazelesswhite|8 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] AlmightyGrant|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] djohnston|8 years ago|reply