If You're Curious About These Questions...
You should listen to this audiobook
- Did you know that your IQ isn’t actually fixed for life, and there are scientifically validated methods to significantly boost your brainpower?
- Have you ever wondered if those popular brain-training apps really work, or if there’s a more effective secret to increasing your fluid intelligence?
- What if you could unlock a higher level of cognitive performance by combining simple physical habits with cutting-edge psychological techniques?
Listen to Smarter — Free Audiobook
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Key Takeaways from Smarter
- Understand the critical difference between crystallized intelligence and fluid intelligence, and discover why scientists now believe your fluid problem-solving abilities can actually be expanded.
- Learn how neuroscientists use fMRI scans to observe fluid intelligence in action, revealing that your working memory and prefrontal cortex activity directly impact your cognitive abilities.
- Master the concept of working memory—the brain's ability to manipulate the information you need to remember—and find out why it is the primary target for modern intelligence training.
- Discover how scientifically designed computer tasks like the N-Back game can train your working memory, potentially boosting your fluid intelligence test scores by up to 40 percent in just four weeks.
- Find out why stepping away from the computer to engage in physical resistance training, such as weight-lifting, yields significantly larger gains in attention and memory compared to standard aerobic exercise.
Learning Tools
Reinforce what you learned from Smarter
Mind Map
Smarter
Understanding Intelligence+
Measuring Intelligence+
Methods to Increase Intelligence+
Debate and Applications+
Quiz — Test Your Understanding
Question 1 of 6
According to psychologist Raymond Cattell, how does fluid intelligence differ from crystallized intelligence?
Question 2 of 6
Which specific cognitive function do modern brain-training games, such as the N-Back task, primarily aim to improve?
Question 3 of 6
In Teresa Liu-Ambrose’s 2012 study on exercise and cognitive impact, which type of exercise was shown to improve participants' performance on traditional cognitive tests of attention and memory?
Question 4 of 6
According to Glenn Schellenberg's 2004 study on children and cognitive development, which activity resulted in the greatest improvements in IQ scores?
Question 5 of 6
In the context of evaluating brain training games, what does the term 'far transfer' refer to?
Question 6 of 6
What is the book's actionable advice regarding 'magic smart pills' like Ritalin and natural supplements like Omega-3?
Smarter — Full Chapter Overview
- 1Recommendation
- 2Intelligence is famously hard to define, but we’re making progress!
- 3Psychologists keep inventing new methods to assess fluid intelligence.
- 4Computer-based brain games can boost how well you think.
- 5Non-digital methods of boosting intelligence have also passed scientific tests.
- 6Doubts about raising fluid intelligence remain – except in the military.
Smarter Summary & Overview
Smarter questions our understanding of intelligence in this new age of brain-training games. From the traditional adage of “healthy body, healthy mind,” to the latest advances in computerised brain training games, these blinks explore scientifically established methods of improving cognitive abilities.
Who Should Listen to Smarter?
- Psychology students and those interested in cognitive science
- Anyone who’d like to learn tricks to increase their intelligence
- Anyone skeptical that we can improve our IQ
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