The development of mental abilities in adults: exercises and recommendations. What does a person need to do in order to truly develop?

Good day, dear readers of my blog! I think that we have already figured it out in the previous article: "" Therefore, in this article we will find out how to work out a route to "our best", where to start moving and what to pay special attention to in order to get tangible results in the near future. A lot has been written about how to engage in self-development. I will try to choose the main thing, from my point of view, and state this main thing as accessible as possible.

So, let's start, perhaps, with the study of the stages that a person traditionally goes through in his development. After all, personal growth, like everything in this world, is not formed at once, but goes through a series of phases in its development.

Stages of self-development

• self-knowledge. Back in the 4th century BC, seven ancient sages formulated and inscribed on the temple of the god Apollo in Delphi the absolute and universal truth: "Know thyself." A thinking person must be clear about his life priorities, ideals, qualities that will allow you to move "forward and upward." Only by giving an answer to the question: “Who am I in this world?”, You can try to look for landmarks and direction of movement.
• Goal setting. Goals can be long-term and short-term, but in any case, they must be flexible and should not contradict each other. In addition, the result of goal setting should be a specific result and process - systematic exercises. In itself, the problem of setting life goals in the aspect of self-development is a very important and capacious topic, which we will discuss in one of the following publications.
• Ways to achieve the goals. Self-development is a very individual process. Therefore, universal tips for reaching the top personal growth it just can't be. The answer to the question about the way to improve oneself (physical, mental or spiritual) can be searched for a long time in smart books, or you can get, as they say, "just from the sky." The story of the American businessman and gambler MC Davis comes to mind. By chance, due to a traffic jam, having got to a children's lecture on the destruction of wildlife, he suddenly found the meaning of his life. For twenty years, the businessman-philanthropist has invested ninety million dollars in the Nokuse project, designed for three hundred years. As a result, eight million swamp pine seedlings were planted on the lands purchased from wood processing companies.
• Action. My favorite expression: "The road will be mastered by the walking one." After all, only by starting to act, having made at least one step towards the dream, one can hope to achieve a result.

The self-development program includes various areas, including the improvement of character, the formation of strong-willed qualities, the development of intellect, spirituality, and physical form. In general, self-development is both a powerful factor business success and success in the personal sphere of human life.

Ways of self-development

1. Select priorities. To go to the top without stopping and without wandering, a person needs to clearly understand the direction of movement. Stephen Covey, a well-known coach and business consultant, focused on the fact that the majority today chooses the watch as the main metaphor of their life, while they should be guided primarily by the compass. the main task personality - find your true path. The focus should not be on speed, plans and schedules, but on priorities.
2. Awareness of the fullness of life. Often in the flow of life, a person perceives the world either as a gray viscous substance, or as a motley chaotic kaleidoscope. To perceive the fullness of the moment, the harmony of the world and its versatility, it is worth applying the principle of “being here and now”. At any moment, you can give yourself the command: “Stop. Realize. Feel it."
3. Concentration of attention. The Indians have a story that the human brain is a little monkey. She constantly climbs somewhere, itches, looks at something, chews, but she can be tamed. The same must be done with consciousness. When the mind jumps from thought to thought, from idea to idea, tell it, “Come back! Look here!" By the way, I want to assure you that this technique works flawlessly. I tested for myself and came to the conclusion that with the help of self-control, you can completely focus on the task, discarding everything else. So I accumulate consciousness and the efficiency in the process becomes many times higher.
4. Write down thoughts. In order to form and strengthen any intention, I advise you to fix all the brilliant and not so brilliant thoughts that pop up in your mind about a particular problem. Use a notepad, organizer or voice recorder for this. By setting your subconscious mind to generate ideas in a given direction, you will soon receive a lot of tips and understand what and how to do next. Also, when debriefing flights of thought, pay attention to repetitive tasks. It is noticed that the task postponed three times is not worth the effort spent on its solution.
5. Time. Take good care of such a valuable resource as time. Use time management techniques. It is worth learning arbitrary forgetfulness, since some problems are solved by themselves, and work on the ability to track and block "time eaters": empty conversations, communication in networks, absorption and reaction to unnecessary information.
6. Environment. Communication with people who can teach you something, inspire you, lead you. At the same time, I advise you to limit interaction with those who drag you down, load you with whining and complaints.
7. Movement towards the goal. By mastering the art of small steps, you will steadily move towards your goal. The slightest movement in the outlined direction is already the result.
8. Multi-vector. The ability to achieve several results in one unit of time. For example, standing on treadmill, you can plug headphones with acid music into your ears, or you can listen to an audiobook or repeat the words of a foreign language. Which option is more efficient? Definitely the second one! But here you can’t get carried away, if the task is serious, it’s better to concentrate entirely on it.
9. Stress. Tim Ferriss, author of How to Work the 4-Hour Workweek, advises learning how to manage stress. Sound paradoxical. Is not it? But it is a certain level of stress that forms sufficient motivation in you. It turns out that there is a so-called "good" stress - emotional outbursts (not always with a plus sign) that make you leave your comfort zone.

Of course, the ways of self-development are not exhausted by this list. Every spiritual practice, every guru of psychology will most likely bring to your attention many more ways. The ones described in this article seem to me the most universal.

2 powerful techniques

And finally, I would like to give you, dear readers of my blog, a small gift. Two Great Recovery Exercises inner harmony and motivate yourself to actively move to the top.

A wonderful technique with which you can upgrade your life in an amazing way is described in the book of a Vietnamese spiritual leader and Zen master Tit Nat Khana "Peace in every step". The author proposes to reconsider the attitude to reality. “We often ask ourselves the question: What is wrong? And a negative field is immediately formed around. What if we learned to ask life: “What is it?” At the same time, experience the sensations that the answer forms for a longer time.

Power Hour, a technique developed by Anthony Robbins. It is based on three whales: planning the day (ten to fifteen minutes), focusing on the goal and meaningful pronunciation of the settings. Let's talk about attitudes, or they are also called affirmations. They are the ones who program consciousness in a certain way. This is a very powerful tool that replenishes energy resources in an amazing way and works like a magnet that attracts resources, people, and events. Here are a few similar settings (affirmations):

• I feel in myself strength, determination, happiness;
• I am confident in my potential;
• I live every day with energy and passion;
• everything that I start, I bring to perfection;
• I am calm and confident;
• I am grateful for every day I live;
• I am generous and gladly share my abundance.

Conclusion

There are many different techniques and methods of self-development. About the best of them, I will tell in the following publications.

Subscribe to updates so as not to miss the release of new news of interest to you from the blog page.

Good luck friends in all your endeavors.

What is "Intellect"?

Now, while short-term memory is not synonymous with intelligence, it is very much related to intelligence. To successfully draw an intelligent conclusion, it is quite important to have a good short-term memory. Thus, to maximize the use of intelligence, it is worth significantly improving short-term memory - this is, for example, using the best and most modern parts to help the mechanism work at the highest level.

What can you take away from this? This study is significant because it found:

1. Hypothetical intelligence can be trained.
2. Training and subsequent success depend on the dosage, the more you train, the more benefits you get.
3. Everyone can develop their cognitive abilities, regardless of the starting level.
4. Progress can be made by practicing on tasks that don't resemble questions on a test.

How can this research be put into practice and benefit from it?

But let's talk from a practical point of view.
Eventually, the cards in the deck or the sounds in the piece will run out (the experiment lasted 2 weeks), so it's not practical to think that if you want to continuously increase your intellectual abilities throughout your life, then one n-back will be enough. Besides, you will get tired of it and stop doing it. I'm sure that's what I would do. Not to mention the time you spend learning this way - we are all very busy all the time! Thus, we should think about how to model the same types of super-efficient multimodal brain stimulation techniques that can be used in normal life, and yet reaping the maximum benefit in the growth of cognitive thinking.

So, with all of this in mind, I have developed five basic elements that will help in the development of fluid intelligence, or cognitive ability. As I have noted, it is impractical to consistently perform the n-back task or variations of it every day for the rest of your life to reap the cognitive benefits. But what is practical is a lifestyle change that will have the same – and even greater – cognitive benefits. This can be done every day to benefit from intensive all-brain training, and should also translate into benefits for full cognitive functioning.

These five basic principles are:

1. Look for innovation
2. Challenge yourself
3. Think creatively
4. Don't take the easy way
5. Be online

Each of these points is already a great thing in itself, but if you really want to function at the highest possible cognitive level, it is better to do all five points, and as often as possible. In fact, I live by these five principles. If you accept these as fundamental guidelines, then I guarantee that you will make the most of your abilities, surpassing even what you thought you were capable of - all without artificial boost. Great Information: Science confirms these principles with data!

1. Seek innovation

Only one of the "Big Five" traits of the Five Factor Personality Model (Acronym: ODEPR, or Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Pleasantness, and Irritability) is associated with IQ, and that is the Openness to Experience trait. People who have a high level of Openness are constantly looking for new information, new activities, new things to learn - new experiences in general.

When you are looking for innovation, several things happen. First of all, you create new synaptic connections with every new activity you participate in. These connections build on each other, increasing the activity of the nervous system, creating more connections so that new connections are created on their basis - thus, learning occurs.

An area of ​​interest in recent research is neural plasticity as a factor in individual differences in intelligence. Plasticity refers to the number of connections made between neurons and how that affects subsequent connections, and how long those connections last. Basically it means how much new information you are able to take in, and whether you are able to store it by making permanent changes in the brain. Constantly exposing yourself directly to new things helps to put the brain in its original state for learning.

Innovation also triggers the production of dopamine (I mentioned this earlier in other posts), which is not only highly motivating, but also stimulates neurogenesis - the creation of new neurons - and prepares the brain for learning. All you have to do is satisfy your hunger.

Excellent condition for learning = New activity-> release of dopamine-> promotes a more motivated state-> which promotes the recruitment and creation of neurons-> neurogenesis can occur + increase in synaptic plasticity (increase in the number of new nerve connections, or learning).

As a follow-up to Jaggy's study, researchers in Sweden found that after 14 hours of short-term memory training for 5 weeks, there was an increase in the amount of dopamine D1 binding potential in the prefrontal and parietal regions of the brain. This particular dopamine receptor, type D1, is associated with nerve cell growth and development, among other things. This increase in plasticity, allowing for greater anchoring of this receptor, is very helpful in maximizing cognitive functioning.

Follow the point at home: Be "Einstein". Always look for new activities for the mind - expand your cognitive horizons. Learn the tool. Take a painting course. Go to the museum. Read about a new field of science. Be addicted to knowledge.

2. Challenge yourself

So, they do have a purpose, but the result won't last long. In order to get something out of these types of cognitive activity, one must turn to the first principle of the search for innovation. Once you master one of these cognitive activities in the brain training game, you should move on to the next challenging activity. Do you understand how to play Sudoku? Great! Now move on to the next type of stimulating games. There has been research that supports this logic.

A few years ago, scientist Richard Hayer wanted to know if cognition could be significantly increased by intense training in new mental activities in a few weeks. They used the Tetris video game as new activity, and used people who had never played the game before as subjects of study (I know, I know - can you imagine such people exist?!). They found that after training for several weeks on a game of Tetris, the study subjects experienced an increase in cortical thickness as well as an increase in cortical activity, as evidenced by an increase in the amount of glucose used in that area of ​​the brain. Basically, the brain used more energy during that period of training, and got fatter - that means more nerve connections, or new learned experiences - after such intense training. And they became experts at Tetris. Cool, yeah?

Here's the thing: After the initial cognitive spike, they noticed a decrease in both cortical thickness and the amount of glucose used during the task. However, they still played Tetris just as well; their skill did not deteriorate. Brain scans showed less brain activity during the game, instead of an increase as in previous days. Why the decline? Their brains have become more efficient. Once their brain understood how to play Tetris, and really started to understand it, it became too lazy to do something. He didn't have to work as hard to play the game well, so cognitive energy and glucose went in the other direction.

Efficiency is not your friend when it comes to cognitive growth. In order for the brain to continue making new connections and keep them active, you must continue to move on to other stimulating activities once you've reached the peak of mastery in a particular activity. You want to be in a constant state of little embarrassment, struggling to achieve something, no matter what it is, as Einstein noted in his quote. It keeps the brain in limbo, so to speak. We will return to this issue later.

3. Think creatively

Contrary to popular belief, creative thinking is not “thinking with the right side of the brain.” Both halves of the brain are involved here, not just the right. Creative cognition includes divergent thinking (a wide range of topics/subjects), the ability to find distant associations with ideas, switch between traditional and non-traditional perspectives (cognitive flexibility), and create original, fresh ideas, which also correspond to the activity you are engaged in. To do everything right, it is necessary that the right and left hemisphere worked simultaneously and together.

A few years ago, Dr. Robert Sternberg, former Dean of Tufts University, opened the PACE (Psychology of Ability, Competence, and Excellence) Center in Boston. Sternberg tried not only to define the basic concept of intelligence, but also to find ways in which any person can maximize their intelligence through training, and especially through schooling.

Here Sternberg describes the goals of the PACE Center, which was founded at Yale University:
“The main concept of the center is that abilities are not fixed, they are flexible, they can be changed, each person can transform his abilities into his competence, and competence into mastery,” Sternberg explains. “Our focus is on how we can help people change their abilities so that they can better solve problems and cope with the situations they will face in life.”

Through his research, Project Rainbow, he not only developed innovative methods for creative classroom learning, but produced assessments that tested students in a way that they had to approach problem solving in a creative and practical way, as well as analytically, rather than just memorizing facts. .

Sternberg explains:
“In Project Rainbow, we valued creative, practical as well as analytical skills. A creative test could be, for example: ‘Here is a cartoon. Give it a title.’ The practice could be a film about a student who comes to a party, looks around, doesn’t know anyone, and obviously feels uncomfortable. What should a student do?

He wanted to see if teaching students to think about assignments from a creative point of view could make them learn more about a topic, enjoy learning more, and transfer what they learned to other areas. scientific activity. He wanted to see if, by changing teaching and assessment methods, it was possible to prevent "learning to take tests" and get students to learn more, in general. He collected information on this topic and still got good results.

Briefly? On average, students in the test group (those who were taught using creative methods) scored higher at the end of their college course than the control group (those taught using traditional methods and assessment systems). But, just to be fair, he gave the test group the same analytical-type exam as the regular students (multiple choice test), and they also scored higher on that test. This means that they were able to transfer the knowledge they received using creative, multi-modal learning methods and scored higher on a completely different cognitive test of the same material. Doesn't this remind you of anything?

4. Don't take the easy way

Take one object of modern convenience, GPS. GPS is an amazing invention. I am one of those people for whom GPS was invented. I'm awfully bad at navigating the area. I get lost all the time. So I thanked fate for the advent of GPS. But you know what? After using the GPS for a short time, I found that my sense of direction became even worse. When it wasn't at my fingertips, I felt even more lost than before. So when I moved to Boston - the city where horror movies about the lost come from - I stopped using GPS.

I will not lie - my suffering knew no bounds. My new job meant traveling all over the outskirts of Boston, and I got lost every day for at least 4 weeks. I got lost and wandered so often that I thought that I would lose my job due to chronic lateness (I was even complained about in writing). But over time, I began to find my way, thanks to the vast navigational experience I gained with just my brain and a map. I really began to feel where and what is in Boston thanks solely to logic and memory, and not GPS. I still remember how proud I was that I found a hotel in the city center where my friend was staying, based only on the name and description of the area - even without an address! I felt like I graduated from a navigational education school.

Technology makes our lives easier, faster, more efficient in many ways, but sometimes our cognitive abilities can suffer as a result of this kind of simplification and harm us in the future. Before everyone starts yelling and sending letters to email to my transhumanist friends about my sin against technology, I must warn you that this is not what I do at all.

Look at it this way: when you go to work by car, it takes less physical effort, less time, and it is a more convenient and enjoyable way than walking. Everything seems to be fine. But if you only ride or spend your whole life on a segway, not even short distances, then you will not waste energy. Over time, your muscles will atrophy, your physical condition will weaken, and you will probably gain excess weight. As a result, your general condition will worsen.

Your brain needs exercise too. If you stop using your problem-solving skills, your logical, cognitive abilities, then how will your brain always be in the best shape, not to mention improving your mental abilities? Think about the fact that if you constantly rely only on useful modern conveniences, your skills in a certain area may suffer. For example, translation software: great, but my knowledge of languages ​​deteriorated markedly as soon as I started using them. Now I force myself to think of a translation before I know the correct one. The same applies to spell check and automatic correction. In truth, auto-correction is the worst thing that has been invented to improve the thought process. You know the computer will find and correct your mistakes, so you keep typing to yourself without even thinking about it. How to spell a particular word. As a result, after several years of stable autocorrect and automatic spell checking, are we the most illiterate nation? (Wish someone would do some research on this.)

There are times when the use of technology is justified and necessary. But there are times when it's better to say no to simplifications and use your brain while you can afford the luxury of time and energy. In order to keep yourself in good physical shape, it is recommended to walk to work as often as possible or take the stairs instead of the elevator several times a week. Don't you want your brain to stay in shape too? Put the GPS aside from time to time, and do a favor for your navigation and problem-solving skills. Keep it handy, but try to find everything yourself first. Your brain will thank you for it.

5. Be online

Communicating with other people, or through social media such as Facebook or Twitter, or face-to-face, you expose yourself to situations that will make it much easier for you to achieve goals 1-4. As you encounter new people, new ideas, and new environments, you open yourself up to new opportunities for mental growth. By being around people who may not be in your field, you will be able to see problems from a new perspective or discover new solutions that you have never thought of before. Connecting with other people online is a great way to learn how to open yourself up to new things and perceive unique and meaningful information. I won't even go into the social benefits and emotional well-being of a computer network, but that's just an added benefit.

Stephen Johnson, who wrote the book How good ideas”, discusses the importance of groups and networks in advancing ideas. If you are looking for new situations, ideas, environments and perspectives, then the web is the answer for you. It would be quite difficult to implement the concept of "smarter" without making the network a core component. The great thing about computer networks: Beneficial for everyone involved. Collective intelligence for victory!

I have one more thing to mention...
Remember back at the beginning of this article I told a story about my clients with autism spectrum disorders? Let's think for a moment about how to increase the level of flexibility of your intellect in light of everything that we have already talked about. What are these children capable of achieving at such a high level? It's not an accident or a miracle - it's because we incorporated all of these teaching principles into their therapy program. While most other therapy providers are stuck on the "Infallible Learning" paradigm and slightly modified Lovaas Methods of Applied Behavior Analysis, we have embraced and fully embraced a multi-modal approach to learning. We made the kids try their best to learn, we used the most creative methods we could think of, and we dared to set the bar seemingly far beyond their abilities. But you know what? They went beyond the time frame and made me truly believe that amazing things are possible if you have the will, courage and perseverance to set yourself on this path and stick with it. If these children with disabilities can live while constantly improving their cognitive abilities, then so can you.

In parting, I'll ask a question for thought: If we have all of this supporting data showing that these teaching methods and learning approaches can have such a profoundly positive impact on cognitive growth, why aren't therapy programs or school systems taking advantage of some of these methods? I would like to see them as a standard in the field of education, and not an exception. Let's try something new and shake up the education system a bit, shall we? We would greatly raise the collective IQ.

Intelligence isn't just about how many levels in a math course you've taken, how fast you can solve an algorithm, or how many new words over 6 characters you know. It's about about approaching a new problem, recognizing its important components, and solving it. Then collect the knowledge gained and apply it to solve the next, more complex problem. It's about innovation and imagination and being able to apply them to make the world a better place. It is this kind of intelligence that is valuable, and it is this kind of intelligence that we should strive for and encourage.

About the Author: Andrea Kuszewski is a consultant behavioral therapist for children with autism based in Florida; specialist in Asperger's syndrome, or high-functioning autism. She teaches the basics of behavior in society, communication, as well as the impact of behavior on the sphere of home and society, teaching children and parents about therapy methods. Andrea's work as a researcher with , the American branch Research Group in Social Sciences, METODO Transdisciplinary, Bogota, Colombia, investigates the influence of neuro-cognitive factors in human behavior - these include aspects such as creativity, intelligence, illicit behavior, and diffuse-confusing disorders such as schizophrenia and autism. Also, as a creativity researcher, she is a painter herself and has studied various forms of visual communication ranging from traditional drawing to digital painting, graphic design, and 3D modeling, animation in the medical sciences and behavioral sciences. She has a blog on The Rogue Neuron and on Twitter

A smart person is always pleasant in communication, easily achieves his goals and achieves success. Anyone would like to have (IQ), but the brain cannot develop on its own. This requires a lot of effort, as well as spend a large number of time. There are many ways to become smarter and increase your level of intelligence.

Education

The development of mental abilities is most effectively achieved through training. With regular training in this way, a person can become smarter and more erudite, so that he will be a more attractive conversationalist for others. There are several options for achieving the goal through training.

Foreign languages

Studying foreign languages provides good brain stimulation and also helps to improve memory. It is enough to learn one additional language to feel positive changes. It is recommended to give preference to common and useful languages:

• English;
• German;
• Spanish;
• Italian.

It is desirable to conduct training using all modern methods which will increase the effectiveness of the study.

Exact sciences

Classes exact sciences can seriously develop the mind. Even the humanities need to study them. The main thing is to start at the right level, gradually increasing the complexity of the topics studied. You can do exact sciences at home on your own, but there are special courses where people are grouped according to the level of knowledge they have. After several weeks of training, intelligence will increase, the speed of thinking will develop, logic will improve, and memory will strengthen.

Curiosity

Showing interest in the whole world around you is one of the best ways to develop the brain. In children and adolescents, this happens on a subconscious level, and adults will have to use willpower in order for curiosity to bear fruit. The easiest way to benefit is by interacting with all the surrounding objects, regularly learning new skills, reading useful articles, encyclopedias, listening to good music or watching movies.

When studying serious materials, it is worth giving preference to trusted sources. Therefore, it is recommended to use textbooks or scientific papers.

Hobbies

The right passion is the key to success. But can they increase intelligence? If you choose useful hobbies, then the brain will gradually develop, making a person smarter. Therefore, it is worth throwing useless hobbies out of your life, replacing them with more suitable ones.

Reading books

It will be possible to increase your own intelligence at home with the help of literature. People who regularly read books have good erudition, a large vocabulary and a developed brain. This is the best way to avoid development in old age. It is enough to read 30 minutes a day to achieve the result. To increase efficiency, it is recommended to make reading as varied as possible, while the list must include classic novels, as well as books on self-development.

• Magazines (preferably popular science);
• Newspapers.

When reading becomes a habit, becoming a daily activity, it is worth trying various techniques aimed at developing the skill. To do this, you can try to increase the speed of running your eyes through the text, highlight important information, independently answer questions after reading.

Playing a musical instrument

Music is very useful for the brain and the human psyche. If the significance of its influence on the mind when listening is a big question and has not yet been proven, then an independent game on musical instruments brings guaranteed benefits. This was proven by Schellenberg in 2004, when he carried out related tests that proved to increase the intelligence of those involved in music. It is recommended to give preference to classical instruments: violin, piano.

writing

Writing new short stories regularly is a good way to develop your brain. When the level of skill is raised to a high level, you can try to write a full book. For training, specific short ideas are great, from which you can develop a story. The main thing is to avoid platitudes.

All hobbies will allow you to achieve special attention from others, as well as make new useful acquaintances.

Exercises

Intentional training, performing special exercises, solving puzzles will improve the quality of remembering information, as well as improve brain activity. As in the previous cases, you need to improve these methods to achieve the goal on a regular basis.

Puzzles, tasks, games

Educational games or tasks contribute to the development of the brain. With regular training, a person will be able to achieve an improvement in many indicators related to mental abilities. Particular influence will be exerted on memory and the speed of brain activity. Suitable for classes:

• Chess, checkers;
• Crosswords, Sudoku;
• Puzzles, riddles.

All of these options are applicable to both children and adults. Among the puzzles there are a huge number of options designed for different age categories, which allows you to choose the most suitable tasks for yourself.

Analysis

It is very important for any person to be alone sometimes. At such moments, you need to be distracted from everything that is happening and immerse yourself in your thoughts. Analyzing past events, thinking about the future, thinking about something important - all this allows you to increase your level of intelligence. Additionally, it is recommended to question everything that happens, considering the reasons for any events.

To achieve the maximum effect, you can download any special application for your mobile. It will train mindfulness, memory and the brain as a whole.

Lifestyle

The most important factor, without which it is impossible to increase intelligence, is a person's lifestyle. If it is wrong, then it will be very difficult to develop the brain, and it will not be possible to acquire a strong mind. Therefore, you should pay attention to your lifestyle, change it if necessary, and only then engage in the development of reason and erudition.

Sleep quality

Lack of sleep or its poor quality has a direct impact on a person's life. Lack of sleep leads to a decrease in brain activity, deterioration of memory and attentiveness. Good sleep is the main condition for achieving goals in life, as well as brain development. What do you need:

• Go to bed before 00:00;
• Get up no later than 08:00;
• Sleep duration - at least 8 hours;
• Small breaks for sleep during the day.

This even applies to weekends. If you break the regimen once a week, then the body will experience unnecessary stress.

Physical activity

When walking on fresh air and engaging in active sports, the brain receives a large amount of oxygen, which is necessary for proper blood circulation and the ability to think clearly. A person who goes in for sports is more calm, reasonable, easily copes with difficulties. The following types of physical activity are great:

• Walks;
• Sports or Nordic walking;
• Yoga;

People who go in for sports are much more likely to realize themselves in life and achieve success.

Bad habits

If you have bad habits, then you will not be able to achieve high intelligence. Regular drinking or smoking significantly slows down all processes in the human brain, which becomes critical for the development of the mind. Nicotine with alcohol penetrate into the bloodstream, which is why such a negative effect occurs. It is no less harmful to watch TV programs for hours or play computer games that do not require serious involvement of the intellect. You need to expand your mental abilities only after giving up bad habits.

Communication

The right environment will tell you how to increase intelligence. Therefore, you should try to communicate only with smart and educated people, while trying to become better than them. Good people always pull up, and bad - down. Therefore, the question of communication and environment is very important for a person who wants to achieve the development of the mind. Nearby there should always be people who have more developed intellect. They will help you get better.

Rest allows the brain to relax and prepare for work, training, new challenges. This has a beneficial effect on brain activity, the ability to improve intelligence and strengthen memory. It is enough to practice meditation for 20 minutes daily to achieve success in the development of the mind. A person will see additional benefits in ordering thoughts, clarifying the mind, and increasing creative skills. The triggering of this effect occurs after a few days of meditation.

The right way of life not only makes it possible to expand one's horizons and improve the quality of intellect, but also gives a person good health for many years.

Nutrition

Proper nutrition provides a person with good health, good mood and clear mind. How to increase intelligence with it: use healthy foods include health supplements in your diet and folk remedies. This is necessary for the brain to begin to develop if a person is already leading healthy lifestyle life, takes care of himself and trains the mind.

diet

Properly formulated diet is extremely important for people striving for brain development. Particular attention should be paid to the following products:

• Walnuts - lecithin has a positive effect on the brain, which increases the speed of intellectual activity and strengthens memory;
• Fish - iodine and omega-3 are responsible for the rate of energy flow to the brain, the regulation of cholesterol levels, and the normalization of vascular function;
• Pumpkin seeds - they affect the speed of processing the information perceived by the brain, as well as memorization;
• Spinach - lutein slows down the aging process, which helps to increase learning.

It is enough to include any of the listed products in the diet to feel their effect in a week. It is important to exclude from the menu all junk food that could have a negative effect on the body.

Medical supplements

Special preparations, which are presented in the form of food supplements, have a serious impact on the quality of brain activity. In search of an answer to the question of how to improve your intelligence, you need to think about acquiring the following tools.

Many are convinced that intellectual abilities are inherent in us by nature from birth, and doubt that it is possible to develop intelligence as an adult. They are wrong: it is quite possible to improve your cognitive abilities. CTD has compiled several recommendations and exercises.

“No amount of training will help every person become a genius on the level of Mozart or Einstein,” writes Adam Wilson in How to Develop Intelligence. Psychology of a nerd, "because a unique combination of genetic prerequisites, proper upbringing, suitable social conditions and the necessary development of natural abilities are important for genius."

Scientists have proven that intelligence is not constant value A: IQ can be greatly improved.

If you do not aim at genius, you can increase the intellectual level by your own efforts at any age. Recent studies have proven that the human brain is able to create new neurons even at 60-70 years old.

Intelligence is a complex concept that includes such elements as memory, attention and logic. Therefore, if you want to improve your intellectual abilities, you need to take care of proper development all components.

“Intellect requires harmonious and full development! Wilson insists. - An unbalanced development of the mind is somewhat reminiscent of uneven muscle training. Working on perfecting one ability is like enrolling in Gym and engage in the development of only the muscles of the hands.

Include daily exercises for memory, attention and logic in your training program, and in a couple of weeks you will notice the first changes. The main thing is that the loads are not only complex, but also constant. For the constant development of the intellect, they must become a habit, become a way of life. You can draw a parallel with the process of losing weight: you can go on a diet from time to time, and then break loose and gain weight back, or constantly eat right and maintain a normal figure.

Whatever program for the development of intelligence you choose, it should not be boring and monotonous, otherwise you will quickly get tired of doing the exercises and you will not achieve anything. At the same time, it is absolutely not necessary to spend a lot of time on classes. As Roger Sipe notes, "Stress is the biggest killer of your brainpower." Therefore, choose for yourself the type of training that is closest to you and suits your character. In addition to direct exercises for the development of intelligence, some quite everyday and familiar activities are also effective.

Methods for the development of intellectual abilities

1. Write down all your ideas on paper

When scanning the brain of a writing person, it turned out that several departments are involved in writing at once, even more than when typing on a keyboard. When you write a text by hand, and then reread it, the information is perceived by you visually, so the parts of the brain that are responsible for vision are also involved in the work. In addition, when writing, you analyze information much deeper, think more intensively.

2. Play mind games

The game is the best way to learn and at the same time the most enjoyable. The development of intelligence is facilitated by both crosswords, sudoku, puzzles or chess, as well as computer games. Even if you are playing a simple arcade game where you have to shoot monsters, you still load your RAM and train it.

3. Continue education

The educational process helps people become smarter and teaches them how to handle information, helps to broaden their horizons and develop intellect.

Most useful for the intellect:

Exact sciences - after all, in order to solve mathematical problems, we need to use logical and abstract thinking, critical, analytical and deductive abilities, and also have a good memory.

Foreign languages ​​- when they are studied, the anterior cortex of the brain, which is responsible for decision-making and emotions, works.

Needlework - it helps to improve fine motor skills of the hands, which in turn helps to develop cognitive and learning abilities, has a positive effect on the work of speech centers.

Music - playing musical instruments is somewhat similar to meditation. It teaches you to concentrate and disconnect from the rest of the world.

By the way, the music itself plays important role in the development of intellectual abilities, says researcher Francis Rauscher. His experiment involved 36 students who were randomly divided into three groups. For ten minutes, one of them listened to silence, the second to relaxation recordings, and the third to Mozart's sonata in D major for two pianos. Immediately after that, all participants took an intelligence test. It turned out that the average score after listening to silence is 110, after recording for relaxation - 111, but after playing a Mozart sonata - 119.

4. Don't live by a pattern

When we perform a task we are used to on autopilot, the brain turns off. The action algorithm has long been built, so there is nothing to think about. But if you do the usual action in a new way or change the order of the own rituals, the brain will be forced to work actively.

5. Laugh more often

As you know, laughter promotes the release of endorphins - hormones of joy, and therefore is the most fast way relieving tension and stress. In addition, laughter helps break stereotypes and interrupt protracted and unproductive reflections. In this sense, it can serve as an operational "charge" for your intellect.

6. Give up bad habits

In addition to the obvious benefits for the body, this will help the development of intelligence. It was found that the memory of smokers works 15% worse than those who quit the bad habit, and 21% weaker than those who have never smoked. Alcohol abuse also negatively affects memory.

7. Get more sleep

Get at least eight hours of sleep a night and go to bed during the day if possible. Sleep helps activate the processes in the brain. Moreover, any knowledge that a person receives before falling asleep is better absorbed. Finally, during sleep, the short-term memory area is freed, so after waking up, you will be better able to perceive new data.

8. Eat right

Try to drink as much as possible more water during the day. Dehydration leads to a decrease in concentration.

At the same time, it is important to drink water, and not any other drinks. In particular, caffeine contributes to dehydration in more that quenches thirst. Matcha tea is also extremely useful: it has a positive effect on the functioning of the brain centers. Eat foods rich in vitamins D (shrimp, shellfish) and B12 (seafood), fatty acids (sea ​​fish), iodine (seaweed).

8 simple exercises for the development of intelligence

Count backwards from one hundred to one and try to do it as quickly as possible.

Speak the whole alphabet in your head and for each letter come up with a word in which it is the first (A - watermelon, B - long loaf, and so on). Try to increase your speed.

Quickly say 20 male and 20 female names, calling the number of each of them (1 - Anna, 2 - Victoria, 3 - Maria, and so on).

Repeat the last exercise, but instead of names, use any category of objects - fruits, clothes, furniture ...

Choose any letter of the alphabet and quickly name 20 words that begin with it. Number them in the same way as in the previous assignments.

Count to 50 and back with your eyes closed.

Open the book and choose any word from there. Set a timer for five minutes and during this time try to write as many sentences on paper as possible with this word. Phrases can be completely absurd; reaction speed is important in this exercise.

Take a newspaper or book, turn it upside down and read the text aloud.

We train memory, attention and logic

As already mentioned, memory, attention and logic are an integral part of the intellect, so their training is also important.

Attention: concentration, conditional commands and straight lines

Attention is inextricably linked with the process of concentration. How better man focused on something, the more efficient is his brain activity. Attention helps a person notice new information and gather information that will help them make sense of it.

Wash dishes carefully. Break the process into several cycles (washing cups, plates, forks) and focus on each of them. After completing one, say "Done" out loud and move on to the next.

Place several small objects in front of you and focus on each one in turn.

Take a sheet of paper and draw a straight line on it, focus all your attention on the lead. Every time you get distracted, draw momentum. Write down how many impulses you got.

Observe the world around you and note what you see. Give yourself conditional commands. When your attention wanders, tell yourself "Attention!"

Logic: chains, forecasts, incorrect conclusions and a look through the eyes of others

It is easiest to develop logic from childhood, but anyone can easily improve their data at any age.

Come up with logical chains. The first concept can be any object. First you need to come up with three concepts, and then arrange them in order from specific to general. For example, "a rose - a flower with thorns - a flower - a plant."

Come up with the wrong conclusion. Take one statement and come up with a conclusion that is not true. Explain to yourself why it is false. For example: “At night, all cats are gray. So all gray animals are cats.”

Imagine how a medieval resident would explain what a subway is. Try to find the answer to any question from the other person's point of view.

Come up with a new name for a famous thing. It should be such that there is no need to explain its meaning.

Make predictions. Imagine what might happen next and explain to yourself why you think so.

Memory: repetition, association, play and chewing

Everyone who complains about bad memory tends to get stuck in the traditional ways of developing it, which come down to cramming the facts. In fact, such methods are ineffective, because over time it becomes more and more difficult to remember information.

The opinion that cognitive abilities of a person decrease after 60 years turned out to be false. As a recent study showed, without regular practice, memory, for example, weakens after 45 years.

The ideal moment to repeat information is when it has almost been forgotten. Each time it takes less and less time to update the data. It is also useful to repeat information a few seconds after assimilation, then an hour later, a few hours later, a day, a few days, and so on. This is how spaced repetition works.

Test your knowledge instead of just repeating it. For example, ask yourself "Name the capital of Spain" instead of repeating "Madrid is the capital of Spain". It is known that our brain does not store words, but their meaning. How more images, associations and emotions you put into information, the longer it is stored in memory.

Helps to say important information aloud. So, if you keep losing your keys in your bag, say to yourself, "I put my keys in my inside pocket." As a result, mental memory will work together with auditory memory. There is an even more interesting way - you can not say, but sing.

Exists effective technique remembering numbers with words. Make up a phrase from words, each of which has as many letters as numbers in a number. For example: "He sleeps a lot" is 254.

If the number is long, you can break it down into several short ones that have something to do with it. For example: 1312 is 13 (an unlucky number) and 12 (the number of months in a year).

Ask yourself or others easy but unexpected questions: how many floors are in the next house? What color are the curtains in the kitchen? Explain things to the other person more often. With such communication, the meaning of what you said will remain in your memory.

Studies have proven that chewing movements of the jaw help to remember information better and reproduce information faster. Scientists have not yet been able to explain what it is connected with. However, according to one theory, the reason is that the rhythmic movement of the jaws increases the heart rate and improves the blood supply to the head. Therefore, if you want to remember something, chew gum.

In the age of high technology, the mental abilities of a person are the basic foundation for success in life. The ability to quickly memorize and reproduce information, erudition, competence - all these features relate to the concept of "intelligence". Let's see what is meant by this term, and also learn how to develop intelligence.

The essence of the concept

For the first time, intelligence and its components were described by the German scientist Wilhelm Stern at the beginning of the 20th century. Then a lot of scales and methods for diagnosing mental abilities appeared, including the famous IQ test.

Intelligence is defined as a stable set of mental abilities of a person, allowing him to adapt to environment to know and change it.

It is impossible to equate this concept with cognitive, mental abilities. They are only a working tool of the intellect.

The most detailed model for this term was proposed by the American psychologist Joy Paul Gilford. According to him, intelligence includes 120 factors.

All of them can be classified according to three indicators:

1. content (mental work of a person);
2. operations (method of information processing);
3. result.

The development of intelligence is possible if work is carried out on all these points. However, in ordinary life, a person can have many ideas that he analyzes in every possible way, but cannot put into practice. He just doesn't have the skill to do it. It is very important to know how to increase your intellectual level in all areas. But more on that later.

Charging for the mind

Let's consider in more detail how to develop intelligence with the help of special actions. Before moving on to concrete examples, it should be noted that the development of intelligence is impossible without the ability to fully relax.

The human brain must be active, process a large amount of information. This is impossible without good sleep. Normally, 8 hours is enough for a person, but it all depends on individual characteristics. The main thing is that the individual feels rested and complete. vital energy to improve their intellect and develop creativity.

In addition, active rest is also important. Hiking, running, cycling, swimming are ideal for this. At the same time, the head has the ability to temporarily disconnect from solving global problems.

And now let's go directly to the exercises and ways to develop the intellect:

• Board games

This is the most famous and ancient way to improve the mental abilities of a person. Playing chess, checkers and backgammon allows, involves intelligence and creativity. Thinking, memory, will, emotions are actively working here. The player logically plans his moves, trying to predict the opponent's response.

Except famous games, well increase intelligence and psychological table action. These include the games "Mafia", "Evolution", "Dixit" and others. In such games, not only knowledge is important, but to a greater extent communicative competence in order to convey your point of view to others, to feel the players.

• Puzzle

The name itself suggests that the brain will have to work. Puzzles include the Rubik's Cube, puzzles, solving crosswords and scanwords, mathematical and other riddles.

Thanks to this, it is possible to competently organize intellectual leisure for both adults and children. After all, it is very important to introduce the child to mental operations from childhood. When solving puzzles, work is included and fine motor skills, due to which the ratio of visual analysis, thought and action develops.

• art

Here, the relationship between intelligence and visual creativity is most clearly seen. While a person is engaged in creativity, the brain is actively working and can find solutions for very important tasks. This is also called insight or insight.

The fact is that when drawing and sculpting, an individual falls into a light trance state, renounces everyday life. This helps to activate the unconscious impulses that are responsible for brilliant ideas.

The ability to draw and sculpt in this sense does not matter. The main thing is to surrender to the creative process. You can simply draw spots and lines, paint a picture to a pleasant melody.

• Foreign languages

How to develop intelligence through the study of foreign languages ​​is clear to everyone. The more knowledge, the wider the field for their application. It's not the quantity that matters, but the quality.

A person should be interested in the language being studied and the very culture of a given country, find the consonance of words, compose poems, songs in this language. This is what involves a bunch of "intelligence and creativity."

• Reading

Books for the development of intelligence are an indispensable assistant. Through reading, a person not only learns new things, but also immerses himself in unusual worlds, gets acquainted with the secrets of science, comprehends new cultures. How to develop intelligence in the process of reading, because this is a common human occupation?

The right choice of books is important here. As already described above, it is necessary to read thoughtfully and with pleasure. If the book is not interesting, do not force yourself. Such reading will not bring joy, which means it will go to waste.

• Template break

A person whose life is subject to a clear routine often acts by inertia. Work and existence on the machine do not even allow the individual to think about how to increase intelligence, and whether it should be done at all. Unfortunately, this is how most people live.

It is important to find the strength in yourself to break this vicious circle. You usually have to start small. For example, change the route to work. Walk in the park in the evening for an hour. On the weekends, do something you haven't done before. Instead of household chores, go to Orphanage or to a neighboring city. Breaking the template allows you to look at the world differently, actualizes mental activity.

This article gives only some of the ways to increase intelligence. In this process, the most important thing is to understand how life will change when the intellectual level becomes higher. What will then happen to inner world, family, how will prosperity, relationships with others change? If the picture is positive, then this is the right path of development.

The connection of intelligence with mental processes

The human psyche is a complex structure, therefore all processes in it are interconnected and interdependent.

In particular, intelligence is more influenced by the following internal realities:

• Thinking

Some scientists even considered these concepts synonymous. But this is fundamentally wrong. Thinking is the process of learning and processing information, and intelligence is the ability to correctly apply knowledge at the right time. Without mental operations, the intellectual level of a person would be very low.

Willpower is needed in order to master new material, study important books, bring thoughts to the final result.

• Memory

The ability to save, store and reproduce information is an integral part of intelligence.

• Attention

Intelligent people are distinguished by an attentive attitude to the world around them. They are able to notice the smallest details, analyze and study them. The development of intelligence is closely related to the improvement of human attention.

• Creativity

About this sweet couple: intelligence and creativity, Guilford wrote. This term refers to the ability of a person to think creatively, that is, outside the box, to synthesize original ideas.

Key indicators of intelligence

Psychologists have identified four key characteristics of intelligence:

1. The depth of the mind is the ability to get to the bottom of phenomena and events.
2. Inquisitiveness - curiosity, the desire to learn new things.
3. Flexibility and mobility - the ability to act outside the box, bypass barriers, overcome difficulties.
4. Logic - the ability to justify one's point of view, to correctly present the material.

Erudition and intelligence

The development of intelligence is closely related to such a concept as erudition. Let's figure out what it is?

Erudition is a set of deep knowledge in any field of science or life.

Erudites have an inquisitive mind, they are always looking for new information on a topic of interest to them. An intelligent person does not stop at one area, he develops in all possible directions. The line between these concepts is rather shaky. An erudite may also be interested in several areas at once, but, for example, be a layman in communication.

It is important to learn the following: in order to increase your intellectual level, you need to strive to become an erudite person in any field.

How to increase the erudition of an ordinary person? The best way is to read themed books. Moreover, the quality of reading is extremely important. It should be thoughtful, meaningful. A person should write down or mark favorite or controversial phrases, questions, look for an answer to them.

After reading the book, you can discuss it on a special forum so that knowledge works, and does not lie in memory as a dead weight. In the special psychological and pedagogical literature, you can also find out the opinions of scientists on how to develop intelligence.