Does Cubing Help Your Brain?

[MrMan]

Disclaimer: I haven't read the thread.

A psych major I know told me that "brain training" like cubing will help you get better at cubing, but not other brain activities. My personal experience seems to confirm this.

I think that too. Although other activities can learn how to work more effieciently or quickly, etc...
As instance, music taught me to work slowly and precisely before working faster, programing made me way more organized and clear.
All these little things result in me working with more efficient manner and also faster, the organization has been a great improvement.
For cubing I don't really find any help I had with it.

 

[Mozart]

Every skill you master in life will have a positive impact Cubing most definitely contributes to your learning capacity, and if you continue learning new things you are able to keep improving your brain all the way up to 65 years of age. If you don't, your brain will slowly begin to degrade from the age of ~25 onwards..

 

[ElectricDoodie]

Every skill you master in life will have a positive impact

Every skill?
What about a skill for murdering people?
How about a skill for pooping upside down?
What about a skill for lying about cheating to your spouse?

 

[Bindedsa]

Every skill?
What about a skill for murdering people?
How about a skill for pooping upside down?
What about a skill for lying about cheating to your spouse?

1. I'd probably be pretty good at defending myself
2. You never know where you'll be when you need to poop
3. It would be better if I was a terrible at deceiving people? How would I play poker?

 

[ElectricDoodie]

1. I'd probably be pretty good at defending myself
2. You never know where you'll be when you need to poop
3. It would be better if I was a terrible at deceiving people? How would I play poker?

1. Ok, how about a skill for murdering 5 year-olds?
2. I agree.
3. Not deceiving people in general. I mean, you have a skill for specifically lying to your spouse about cheating on her/him. Any other kind of lie, you suck at. But you have a great knack for this particular skill.

 

[Bindedsa]

1. Ok, how about a skill for murdering 5 year-olds?
2. I agree.
3. Not deceiving people in general. I mean, you have a skill for specifically lying to your spouse about cheating on her/him. Any other kind of lie, you suck at. But you have a great knack for this particular skill.

1. Well, I'd still be good at defending myself from 5 year olds?
2. Yeah
3. That's completely unrealistic. Now I'm mastering skills, but somehow they are not affecting other parts of my life? Even so if I am cheating on my spouse it's probably something I want to be doing and thus it is helping me to do that.

Everything has some positive impact. If I went out and killed babies, at least it would slow down over population.

 

[ketchuphater999]

1. Well, I'd still be good at defending myself from 5 year olds?
2. Yeah
3. That's completely unrealistic. Now I'm mastering skills, but somehow they are not affecting other parts of my life? Even so if I am cheating on my spouse it's probably something I want to be doing and thus it is helping me to do that.

Everything has some positive impact. If I went out and killed babies, at least it would slow down over population.

omfg

So, this thread went from how cubing helps your brain to slowing population increase by killing innocent little babies. Wow.

 

[PenguinsDontFly]

omfg

So, this thread went from how cubing helps your brain to slowing population increase by killing innocent little babies. Wow.

But we are arguing that doing terrible things has a benefit to something in life SO THAT something as specific as speedcubing seems like it has a more of a benefit to life than other things. Its all a good cause.

 

[cashis]

That's a really... deep, dark, and disturbing point.
That everything bad has a benefit.

 

[GuRoux]

That's a really... deep, dark, and disturbing point.
That everything bad has a benefit.

not really deep, only semantical.

 

[Sauce]

1. Ok, how about a skill for murdering 5 year-olds?
2. I agree.
3. Not deceiving people in general. I mean, you have a skill for specifically lying to your spouse about cheating on her/him. Any other kind of lie, you suck at. But you have a great knack for this particular skill.

Have to agree with you. You should not lie, only when absolutely nescessary.

 

[Sauce]

1. Well, I'd still be good at defending myself from 5 year olds?
2. Yeah
3. That's completely unrealistic. Now I'm mastering skills, but somehow they are not affecting other parts of my life? Even so if I am cheating on my spouse it's probably something I want to be doing and thus it is helping me to do that.

Everything has some positive impact. If I went out and killed babies, at least it would slow down over population.

I know, but for 1 and 3 then you pretty much have very low moral standards, and a low moral level. And this thread has escalated a lot.

 

[A Leman]

I feel that cubing is a compulsive behavior and indulging in it is a way to develop habits that aren't based on self control. Most people here are in some way or another addicted to cubing. That's not very healthy.

BLD solving (especially the longer events like MBLD) does seem to have positive effects on my brain health though. The cube takes a backseat in the process and basically becomes a tool for measuring memory. My best memorization results are made when I'm in a determined and calm state of mind. It's almost a zen activity. I put myself into a state where it's easy to be mindful of small details and for some minutes maintain a complete focus. That's a cross disciplinary skill which can improve performance in many different areas.

 

[tps]

I just started cubing a few weeks ago. It will be interesting to see how it works with me. In 1991 I had a life-threatening brain tumor removed, and it disrupted my motor skills. Among other things, I had to learn to walk and write again. So far as I and the therapists could tell, my cognitive skills and higher brain functions were unaffected.

A little over 20 years out, I've noticed that some skills suddenly came back without having to relearn. One activity which I tried periodically, but was never able to do, was running, but something changed and I found I could a few years ago, so I started do that regularly.

I never cubed before, but it will certainly be interesting to see if there are any lingering effects which negatively affect my dexterity.

 

[StachuK1992]

This may be my favorite thread. For the record, Bindedsa is right.
Similarly, everything you do that makes you happy is winning. Everything else isn't.

 

[ElectricDoodie]

This may be my favorite thread. For the record, Bindedsa is right.
Similarly, everything you do that makes you happy is winning. Everything else isn't.

For the record, Bindedsa is wrong.
See, I can do that too!

 

[jms]

Disclaimer: I haven't read the thread.

A psych major I know told me that "brain training" like cubing will help you get better at cubing, but not other brain activities. My personal experience seems to confirm this.

Have you hear of dual-N-back? It's a test/game where you are shown a series of numbers, and also a played a number of sounds, and you have to repeat back the last 'N' sounds and letters in the sequence.

YOu basically start with dual-3-back, and build up from there. To start with it's really difficult, but you can end up after a while training your brain to go all the way up to 9-back or more... meaning you can remember multiple sequences of 9 simultaneous sounds and letters.

It is purported to increase IQ scores, but sceptics say it only increases your ability to do the dual-n-back test.

I didn't explain it all that well so here's a video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3eDn60HTMQ

 

[tseitsei]

, everything you do that makes you happy is winning.

No. And this is a fact.

Being appy doesn't mean you win. Being better than your opponent(s) is what makes you win. That's the definition of winning...

 

[GuRoux]

Have you hear of dual-N-back? It's a test/game where you are shown a series of numbers, and also a played a number of sounds, and you have to repeat back the last 'N' sounds and letters in the sequence.

YOu basically start with dual-3-back, and build up from there. To start with it's really difficult, but you can end up after a while training your brain to go all the way up to 9-back or more... meaning you can remember multiple sequences of 9 simultaneous sounds and letters.

It is purported to increase IQ scores, but sceptics say it only increases your ability to do the dual-n-back test.

I didn't explain it all that well so here's a video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3eDn60HTMQ

i doubt this actually helps IQ scores because it's about short term memory and multitasking. if you practice stuff that IQ test tests, then you will get better at IQ tests.

 

[jms]

i doubt this actually helps IQ scores because it's about short term memory and multitasking. if you practice stuff that IQ test tests, then you will get better at IQ tests.

There have been papers written which show a correlation between dual-N-back training and an increase in fluid intelligence, which is in turn a component of IQ.

However there have been other papers criticising the methodology of the first papers. Which is ever the case in science...

I am sceptical too, as anyone should be about new claims which are as yet unproven.