Posted on June 28, 2007
Elizabeth Buchen, neuroscientist, science writer and advisor to Lumos Labs, explains human attention in engrossing eloquence. Visit Madam Fathom to read more about the biological basis of mind.
The world offers an awesome, indescribably magnificent profusion of sensory riches. For our meager mortal brains, however, trying to process this deluge of information is akin to taking a drink from Iguaçu Falls: it’s tremendously inefficient, and you will likely be violently ripped from your precipice and vanish in a ferocious torrent of natural wonder.
Because the world is too rich for our brains to process at once (or even in a lifetime), we are equipped with mechanisms that restrict the avalanche of information to a manageable trickle…
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Posted on June 25, 2007
The oldest child in a family tends to have a higher IQ than their siblings. While this difference is not huge (about 3 IQ points) and is not true in every case, it brings up interesting questions about what causes the difference. Is the first-born exposed to a more favorable chemical environment in utero? Or does the older sibling experience a social environment after birth that leads to higher IQ?
In the most recent issue of Science, Norwegian researchers reported that IQ levels are actually dependent on social rank within the family. They found that when the 2nd-born was brought up as the oldest child due to the older sibling’s death, the resulting average IQ score increased to that of a first-born.
An important takeaway from this research is that IQ is not genetically or developmentally fixed at birth. While genes almost certainly play an important role in intelligence, we see that environment and lifestyle can change level of intelligence. Hint-hint, nudge: go get smart with the Lumosity exercises. Or…
Posted on May 25, 2007
Several years ago, researchers were testing the cognitive abilities of a group of college students and senior citizens. During their initial data collection, most of which was done at night, they found that the college students significantly out-performed the seniors.
Then they started testing the groups at 8am. Suddenly the college students were doing worse, and the seniors much better. It became clear that cognitive prowess is related to time of day. One explanation is that the sleep cycle of the two groups is very different. At 8am, most college students are barely awake or responsive. Robert West et al suggested the groups have a different alertness cycle, and found that time of day affects working memory and executive function differently in the young and old.
Our Poll
I recently did an informal poll to see if our readers have personally observed differences in their performance across the day. In response to “During what part of the day does your brain function best?”:
44% Morning
33% Late night
22% Afternoon
0% said Same All Day or After Dinner
18 people responded (this is not a very popular blog yet!)
An immediate take-away is that everyone who responded felt that they perform best at a certain time of day. I would need more respondents to interpret if there is an overall favorite time, but “After Dinner” is emerging as the least favorite period for cognitive crunching. This may be due to the body’s need to start digesting that food, which involves the autonomic nervous system moving more blood to the digestive system, and a resulting reduction in alertness.
Since time of day has a significant impact on cognition, it would be prudent to schedule important or demanding tasks for times when we’re sharpest. Professional acquaintances may now have a better understanding of why I never want to meet in the morning…