Brain Workshop - a Dual N-Back game Realistic Lateral Thinking Puzzles Lateral Thinking Puzzles, unlike most puzzles, are inexact. In a sense, they are a hybrid between puzzles and storytelling. In each puzzle, some clues to a scenario are given, but the clues don't tell the full story. Your job is to fill in the details and complete the story. You can try solving these puzzles on your own -- that's certainly a legitimate way to go about this -- but usually you can have more fun if you involve other people. Warning: For some reason, these puzzles have a tendency to be rather morbid. The scenarios given on this page are realistic, if unlikely.
Top 5 Websites with Fun and Insightful Psychological Tests There aren’t silly pop psychology tests that have no basis in fact; they’re legitimate psychological tests that are either backed by significant research or are actually parts of ongoing studies that are using your results to obtain more data. They’ll help you dig into your mind and explore your subconscious, memorization abilities, personality, and much more. BBC’s Tests The BBC has a surprisingly large collection of free psychological tests online. Many of the tests are parts of ongoing studies, so rest assured that the results you’re getting are coming directly from professional psychologists and researchers. Cognitive Fun Cognitive Fun is an excellent website with tons of unique psychological tests. One of the site’s best features is that you can register an account and save your stats on all of the site’s tests. Jung Typology Test Project Implicit Project Implicit is an excellent Harvard study that may reveal your subconscious biases regarding race, gender, religion, and more.
Internet Resources - Writers Resources - Writing Links & Writers Links for Writers - Word Stuff Unsorted [/writers] James Patrick Kelly - Murder Your Darlings - "When time comes to make that final revision, however, you must harden your heart, sharpen the ax and murder your darlings." Greda Vaso - Determining the Readability of a Book - includes formulas for Gunning's Fog Index, Flesch Formula, Powers Sumner Kearl L. Kip Wheeler - Literary Terms and Definitions L. Kip Wheeler - Comp - Lit - Poetry - Links - more Style - Grammar - Errors in English [/writers]American Heritage - Book of English Usage - free download Band-Aid AP StylebookPaul Brians - Common Errors in EnglishCJ Cherryh - Writerisms and other Sins The Chicago Manual of Style FAQ Gary N. Curtis - The Fallacy Files - Logical fallacies and bad arguments Prof.
120 Ways to Boost Your Brain Power Here are 120 things you can do starting today to help you think faster, improve memory, comprehend information better and unleash your brain’s full potential. Solve puzzles and brainteasers.Cultivate ambidexterity. Use your non-dominant hand to brush your teeth, comb your hair or use the mouse. Write with both hands simultaneously. Switch hands for knife and fork.Embrace ambiguity. Learn to enjoy things like paradoxes and optical illusions.Learn mind mapping.Block one or more senses. Readers’ Contributions Dance! Contribute your own tip! There are many, many ways to keep our brains sharp.
Brain is not fully mature until 30s and 40s (PhysOrg.com) -- New research from the UK shows the brain continues to develop after childhood and puberty, and is not fully developed until people are well into their 30s and 40s. The findings contradict current theories that the brain matures much earlier. Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, a neuroscientist with the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, said until around a decade ago many scientists had "pretty much assumed that the human brain stopped developing in early childhood," but recent research has found that many regions of the brain continue to develop for a long time afterwards. The prefrontal cortex is the region at the front of the brain just behind the forehead, and is an area of the brain that undergoes the longest period of development. Prof. Blakemore said brain scans show the prefrontal cortex continues to change shape as people reach their 30s and up to their late 40s. Explore further: Study: Our brains compensate for aging
Physical Exercise and Brain Health What is the connection between physical and mental exercises? Do they have additive effects on brain health? Are they redundant? Let’s start by reviewing what we know about the effects of physical exercise on the brain. The effect of physical exercise on cognitive performance Early studies compared groups of people who exercised to groups of people who did not exercise much. Laurin and colleagues (2001) even suggested that moderate and high levels of physical activity were associated with lower risk for Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. The problem with these studies is that the exercisers and the non-exercisers may differ on other factors than just exercise. The solution to this problem is to randomly assigned people to either an aerobic training group or a control group. In 2003, Colcombe and Kramer, analyzed the results of 18 scientific studies published between 2000 and 2001 that were conducted in the way described above.
Renata Salecl: The Paradox of Choice Bio Renata Salecl Renata Salecl is Centennial Professor at the department of law at the London School of Economics. She is also Senior Researcher at the Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana, Slovenia and also often teaches at Visiting Professor at Cardozo School of Law in New York. She has been Fellow at Wissenschafts Kolleg in Berlin (1997/8), Visiting Professor of Law at Humbolt University in Berlin, Visiting Humanities Professor at George Washington University in Washington, DC, Visiting Professor at Duke University in Durham, NC and Fellow at Remarque Institute at NYU. To download this program become a Front Row member. ZOOM IN: Learn more with related books and additional materials. Encyclopædia Britannica Article existentialism Philosophical movement oriented toward two major themes, the analysis of human existence and the centrality of human choice. existentialism on britannica.com © 2010 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Demystifying the Creative Process “I’m not creative.” “I wish I could be more creative, but I don’t have it in me.” “Why are some people creative and others aren’t?” If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard those statements or questions… The truth is almost everyone has creative potential. A large part of the problem is that there is an air of mystery and mysticism around the creative process. So, let’s take a few minutes and demystify the creative process. The Four Steps of Creativity We’ve known for a long time that the creative process can be broken down into four distinct processes, most of which can be fostered and augmented. PreparationIncubationIlluminationImplementation I’ll spend some time on each step. Preparation This is the first phase of what most call work. The reason I say most call this phase “work” is because these processes may or may not be inherently enjoyable. Incubation This is the phase that most people mess up the most with distractions and the hustle and bustle of daily lives. Illumination
Brain Exercises for the Weekend By: Alvaro Fernandez Harriet Vines, Ph.D., an experienced author and retired college professor, sends us a few fun brain exercises to train our attention and working memory (the ability to keep information current for a short period while using this information). Given them a try! They are not as easy as they may sound… Say the days of the week backwards, then in alphabetical order.Say the months of the year in alphabetical order. PS: Enjoy these 50 brain teasers to test your cognitive ability. Women's exercise linked to lower cognitive skill - health - 07 January 2011 WOMEN who habitually take strenuous exercise might be at risk of damaging their cognitive function later in life. Strenuous exercise is known to reduce oestrogen levels in women and girls. This can delay the start of menstruation, and can lead to irregular periods in adult women. Mary Tierney at the University of Toronto, Canada, reasoned that strenuous exercise might therefore lead to impaired cognition in later life. The overall benefits of regular exercise are well established, but Tierney says the possible impact of strenuous exercise on cognition should be investigated further to see if it is significant.
Women's exercise linked to lower cognitive skill - health - 07 January 2011 WOMEN who habitually take strenuous exercise might be at risk of damaging their cognitive function later in life. Strenuous exercise is known to reduce oestrogen levels in women and girls. This can delay the start of menstruation, and can lead to irregular periods in adult women. Low levels of oestrogen in premenopausal women have been linked to impaired mental function in later life. Mary Tierney at the University of Toronto, Canada, reasoned that strenuous exercise might therefore lead to impaired cognition in later life. She asked 90 healthy post-menopausal women to report their life-long exercise habits, and then tested their cognitive ability. The overall benefits of regular exercise are well established, but Tierney says the possible impact of strenuous exercise on cognition should be investigated further to see if it is significant. More From New Scientist 'Iron Man' plants are supercharged by nanotech power (New Scientist) Bacterial explanation for Europa's rosy glow (New Scientist)
Riddles Test your intelligence Test your IQ Common Knowledge Questions Are you Smart "I wanna ban greenpeace cos they're trying to save the bloody planet that hit me on the head last time I came home from the pub." - Bandicoot, Osso Booko These are interesting riddles that will test your ability to both think out of the box and to utilize some common knowledge. Test your IQ!!! Collection 1 1. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Answers scroll below. ê ANSWERS: 1. Collection 2 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. Scroll Down 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.