Skip to content

Study Reveals Mind Hacks that Actually Work

A new study confirms what common sense would tell us, namely, that you need to try what is unfamiliar and mentally challenging to improve cognitive function. This might involve learning a new skill, like photography. 
Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter
A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

We hear all the time about mind hacks and brain games that are designed to keep you sharp, even as your brain ages. As it turns out, a new study confirms what common sense would tell us, namely, that you need to try what is unfamiliar and mentally challenging. Less demanding activities, it turns out, don’t really have much impact on cognitive functioning.

So what kinds of activities does the study – to be published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science – recommend?

Learning a new skill
Subjects in the study were introduced to either digital photography or quilting, or both. Other groups engaged in social interactions or less strenuous mental activities like listening to classical music or completing word puzzles. The study concluded that “only the groups that were confronted with continuous and prolonged mental challenge improved.”

Read more at Science Codex

Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter
A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people
Related
A person with long curly hair and a headband gestures with one hand, wearing a black shirt that says "everyday" and a smartwatch on the other wrist, against a plain background.
Former CIA agent: The truth about manipulation
“The truth is that the skills that go into both motivation and manipulation are almost the same skills. The same level of persuasion, the same level of influence, the same level of charisma and dynamic creative thinking drives us to both be manipulated and be motivated.”
▸
13 min
—
with
Andrew Bustamante
Up Next