mental-rotation

Rationality doesn’t equal efficiency: Cellphone data shows how we navigate cities

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The paths peo­ple take are record­ed by their cell­phones. Anony­mous data from thou­sands of phones shows the paths peo­ple take in Boston (above) and San Fran­cis­co (below). Car­lo Rat­ti, CC BY-ND

Think of your morn­ing walk to work, school or your favorite cof­fee shop. Are you tak­ing the short­est pos­si­ble route to your des­ti­na­tion? Accord­ing to big data research that my col­leagues and I con­duct­ed, the answer is no: People’s brains are not wired for opti­mal navigation.

Instead of cal­cu­lat­ing the short­est path, peo­ple try to point straight toward their des­ti­na­tions – we call it the “pointi­est path” – even if it is not the most effi­cient way to walk. [Read more…] about Ratio­nal­i­ty doesn’t equal effi­cien­cy: Cell­phone data shows how we nav­i­gate cities

Quick brain teasers to exercise your working memory

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Draw the let­ter J in your mind.

Now draw the let­ter D. Turn it 90 degrees to the left and put it in top of the J.

What does this shape resem­ble? [Read more…] about Quick brain teasers to exer­cise your work­ing memory

Mental rotation exercise to challenge your brain’s parietal lobe

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Men­tal rota­tion refers to mov­ing things around in your mind. It is one of the main visu­ospa­tial skills we all have…in dif­fer­ent degrees, yes.

Here’s an exam­ple. Please pic­ture in your mind an arrow point­ing to the right. Now, turn this arrow so it points to the left. Done? You have just per­formed a men­tal rota­tion. [Read more…] about Men­tal rota­tion exer­cise to chal­lenge your brain’s pari­etal lobe

Test your concentration and mental self-rotation skills with this quick brainteaser

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map-reading

What is men­tal self-rotation?

It is the cog­ni­tive skill to imag­ine your­self in dif­fer­ent loca­tions in space and to imag­ine your­self mov­ing accord­ing­ly. We need that skill in every­day activ­i­ties such as read­ing a map or find­ing our car in the park­ing lot. [Read more…] about Test your con­cen­tra­tion and men­tal self-rota­tion skills with this quick brainteaser

Brain teaser to exercise your mental rotation cognitive abilities

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Men­tal self-rota­tion is the cog­ni­tive abil­i­ty to imag­ine your­self in dif­fer­ent loca­tions in space, and to imag­ine your body mov­ing in space. We need it for every­day activ­i­ties such as find­ing a place or read­ing a map. The abil­i­ty involved is tech­ni­cal­ly called ego­cen­tric spa­tial trans­for­ma­tions (yes, that is the sci­en­tif­ic expres­sion) or men­tal self rota­tion, and the brain areas pri­mar­i­ly involved are the pari­etal lobes.

Here’s an example.

mental rotation brain teaser

— Fig­ures above: [Read more…] about Brain teas­er to exer­cise your men­tal rota­tion cog­ni­tive abilities

10. Quick brainteaser to test your mental rotation skills

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rotatednumbersVisu­ospa­tial skills are used every­day in many ways, rang­ing from going from one room to anoth­er in your house to nav­i­gat­ing in a new city.

Let’s take an exam­ple. Can you pic­ture in your mind an arrow point­ing to the right? Now, turn this arrow so it points to the left. Done? [Read more…] about 10. Quick brain­teas­er to test your men­tal rota­tion skills