Posts Tagged ‘problem-solving’
Want to train your brain? Work as a physician, air traffic controller, financial analyst (or similar)
Mentally stimulating jobs keep your mind sharp post-retirement (Tech Times): “If you want to stay sharp in your golden years, it’s best to get the hard yards in early — a new study has found that people with mentally demanding jobs fare better in the years after retirement.…Mental acuity and memory retention was found to be…
Read MorePromoting Mental Agility through Cognitive Control and Mental Representation
The words, The Agile Mind captured my attention immediately. The title conveyed energy, innovation, change, bouncing on a trampoline in my head. I knew that investigating the book would be an adventure. As soon as the book The Agile Mind by Wilma Koutstaal was in my hands, I explored the 24-page index, looking for my favorite topic,…
Read MoreIs There a Formula for Smart Thinking?
One day, one of my kids was staring at a simple circuit diagram. It showed a battery connected to a resistor and a light bulb. He was doing a homework problem. The particular question that had him stumped asked what would happen to the current in the circuit if the resistor was replaced with another…
Read MoreWhy Agile Minds Deploy Both Rational and Intuitive Problem-Solving
A rare aha moment in 2011 set me chasing new problem-solving research. The study Rational Versus Intuitive Problem-Solving: How Thinking ‘Off the Beaten Path’ Can Stimulate Creativity published in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts stung me out of a spot of intellectual arrogance. From my perspective, John Dewey’s 19th century step-wise
Read MoreEnhance Metacognition and Problem-Solving by Talking Out Loud to Yourself
The MC at the University of Michigan’s reunion dinner encouraged audience members to reveal the most significant take-away from their undergraduate nursing education. The greatest benefit was quickly clear to me — problem-solving thinking. Memory produced a mind video: a short, dark-haired, nursing instructor lecturing a small group of first year students in an empty…
Read MoreYour brain on puzzles: Insights come with a wider focus of attention.
A fascinating New York Time article on solving puzzles: Why you do it, how you do it, and what’s going on in your brain while you do it. The appeal of puzzles goes far deeper than the dopamine-reward rush of finding a solution. The very idea of doing a crossword or a Sudoku puzzle typically shifts…
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