Brain Fitness Pro Training Blog » multi-tasking

NY Times Article – Gadget and Information Overload

martin — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 19:05:34 +0000

My Desk - Complete with 3 Computers

The NY Times began a series of brain-related articles today with an article called “Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price.” For anyone who uses even a modicum of technology for home and work, the story will resonate, I think.

The piece does a great job of outlining the dangers of being overly attached to e-mail, text messages, twitter feeds, and the Internet in general.

Knowing that our habits and repeated actions reinforce our need to stay connected and multi-task points to the solution – we must work mindfully and diligently to break the habit!

For me, it’s great to have a training program like Brain Fitness Pro that demands my attention and helps me train my brain to stay on task.

Fluid Intelligence And IQ

martin — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:25:08 +0000

I had a rightfully skeptical question from a customer about whether, as a person long since identified as gifted, he would see any noticeable gains from working-memory training. He also pointed out that the measured gains in fluid intelligence of 40% and more could not possibly translate into the same percentage gains for IQ, particularly for someone with a high IQ. Quite right. Here is an abbreviated version of my answer:

“The BFP training blog enjoys frequent contributions from those with measured IQ scores at or above the MENSA level. They’ve obtained benefits from the training that have kept them training well beyond 19 days. One BFP customer increased his IQ score by more than 15%, gaining entry to MENSA, after training for two 19 day periods.

“Specifically, as you correctly point out, an increase in fluid intelligence of 40% does not translate into an increase in general IQ of 40%. General IQ has to do with several factors, not just fluid intelligence. To the best of our knowledge, smart people tend to see gains in IQ of 10 to 20%, but we don’t have enough data yet to generalize and define this increase more precisely. But quite apart from raw scores, the BFP working-memory training produces beautiful, noticeable changes in one’s life. It can enhance any experience that places demands on working-memory, fluid intelligence, concentration and multi-tasking, such as playing a musical instrument, writing a paper, or operating smoothly in a complex social situation.”

Working-Memory Limits in Modern Life

martin — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:10:21 +0000

The Wall Street Journal ran a piece today focusing on task overload and information overload of modern life. Torkel Klingberg has written a book called “The Overflowing Brain” in which he describes how life today gives our brains too much to think about. Our lives and the technologies we use have evolved more quickly than we have. (This is something I think about often.)

In revealing the problems of multi-tasking, Klingberg hones in on the limited capacity of working-memory. When we switch between tasks we quickly overload our working-memory.

Klingberg also points out that we can only be truly attentive to one task at once.

I’m writing about this because while I believe in simplifying our lives and reducing the information clutter, we cannot eliminate complexity entirely. That’s where Brain Fitness Pro comes in. It is specifically designed to increase working-memory capacity and multi-tasking capability with an exercise that demands concentration and focus. This accounts for some of the experiences that customers have reported describing better overall attention and ability to get tasks done.