Post by healthy11 on Oct 25, 2015 19:13:45 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/opinion/sunday/can-you-get-smarter.html?ribbon-ad-idx=3&src=me&module=Ribbon&version=context®ion=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Most%20Emailed&pgtype=article
Richard A. Friedman writes for the NY Times on the topics of mental health, addiction, human behavior and neuroscience. On 10/23/15, he writes about brain training, and even touches on whether drugs like Adderall or Ritalin are "smart pills." A portion of the article follows:
"...there is little question that these stimulants increase focus and make the world feel more interesting by releasing dopamine in key brain circuits. But when it comes to their effects on memory and learning, the data are mixed. The only consistent cognitive benefit of stimulants is their effect on the consolidation of long-term memory, meaning that they strengthen the ability to recall previously learned information — an effect that might confer some advantage in the real world.
Some worry that stimulants might somehow boost efficiency at the cost of creativity, but research suggests otherwise. The concern reflects a common notion of creativity, namely that you need to be a little unfocused to think in a synthetic, novel way, and that stimulants will impede this mental process. For example, one study compared two groups of healthy young adults who were randomly assigned to Adderall or a placebo. Both groups were give four different tests of creative thinking. Adderall enhanced performance on one of the tests, the embedded image test, which requires subjects to reassemble a whole image from a scrambled one. Still, these are subtle effects, and there is no evidence that any prescription drug or supplement or smart drink is going to raise your I.Q.
But there is one thing that doesn’t require a prescription that seems to help preserve cognitive fitness: other people. There is strong epidemiologic evidence that people with richer social networks and engagement have a reduced rate of cognitive decline as they age...."
Richard A. Friedman writes for the NY Times on the topics of mental health, addiction, human behavior and neuroscience. On 10/23/15, he writes about brain training, and even touches on whether drugs like Adderall or Ritalin are "smart pills." A portion of the article follows:
"...there is little question that these stimulants increase focus and make the world feel more interesting by releasing dopamine in key brain circuits. But when it comes to their effects on memory and learning, the data are mixed. The only consistent cognitive benefit of stimulants is their effect on the consolidation of long-term memory, meaning that they strengthen the ability to recall previously learned information — an effect that might confer some advantage in the real world.
Some worry that stimulants might somehow boost efficiency at the cost of creativity, but research suggests otherwise. The concern reflects a common notion of creativity, namely that you need to be a little unfocused to think in a synthetic, novel way, and that stimulants will impede this mental process. For example, one study compared two groups of healthy young adults who were randomly assigned to Adderall or a placebo. Both groups were give four different tests of creative thinking. Adderall enhanced performance on one of the tests, the embedded image test, which requires subjects to reassemble a whole image from a scrambled one. Still, these are subtle effects, and there is no evidence that any prescription drug or supplement or smart drink is going to raise your I.Q.
But there is one thing that doesn’t require a prescription that seems to help preserve cognitive fitness: other people. There is strong epidemiologic evidence that people with richer social networks and engagement have a reduced rate of cognitive decline as they age...."
