The effect of cubing on the mind/intelligence

[Johannes91]

And you spelled practice "practised"

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/practice.html

 

[F.P.]

It seems obvious that you don't know too much about the brain.

Oh yeah, kid. You must be right then. Good luck with your research.

And by the way: I spelled practised practised because it's correct.

 

[qqwref]

And by the way: I spelled practised practised because it's correct.

Not really, you spelled it "practised" because you grew up in a country/time that taught UK English. If you'd learned US English you would spell it "practice". But neither is correct or incorrect on an absolute scale, rather they are just different ways depending on where you are from.


EDIT: My perspective on this topic: I don't think cubing increases intelligence any more than math increases intelligence, although of course it does make you better at tasks related to cubing (such as memorizing things if you do lots of BLD). What's interesting, though, is that cubing is one of those things that I think more intelligent people are more likely to get interested in, so if you look at a cubing community you'll probably find more smart people than in a community about something random. It's the same thing for math, math communities are composed of very smart people, and that is not because math practice makes you smarter, but because smart people are more likely to practice math.

 

[F.P.]

"I spelled practised practised because it's correct" doesn't imply that spelling it "practiced" is incorrect.

 

[tim]

It's the same thing for math, math communities are composed of very smart people, and that is not because math practice makes you smarter, but because smart people are more likely to practice math.

Nicely summarized .

 

[cmhardw]

I feel that cubing has definitely changed my brain, in at least some ways. I won't argue if those ways are better or worse than before, but simply changed. One example is that I have experienced "cube high" a number of times.

http://www.speedcubing.com/chris/cubehigh.html

It's an extremely euphoric feeling, as if my brain is a well oiled machine and I can, what feels to me, effortlessly solve and achieve fast times (subjectively from my own viewpoint, obviously). I had a friend say that this is possibly an overflow of chemicals in the brain, such as dopamine or some other neuro-receptor used in cubing that is generated at higher levels for some reason. I have no idea if that idea is even reasonable or potentially accurate, but it sounds interesting.

This is not really on the same wavelength as this thread, but I guess it is still on topic. Has anyone else gotten "cube high"? Also, has anyone here gotten "runner's high", a much more socially acceptable and recognized "natural high" than I'm sure everything thinks cube high is?

Chris

 

[teller]

Cubing is not a net-zero activity. It cross-pollinates with everything else, probably in ways too subtle to notice.

 

[qqwref]

Cubing is not a net-zero activity. It cross-pollinates with everything else, probably in ways too subtle to notice.

What exactly do you mean by that?

 

[F.P.]

@qqwref:

Yeah, that's it. Maths, physics, cubing, playing chess etc. doesn't improve anyones intelligence. But people with a higher intellectual potential are more likely to be interested in those topics.

@cmhardw:

Of course cubing changes the brain...just like everything you do; but it doesn't have any effect on your intelligence.
I never heard of "cube high" before but I read the content of your link and your experience just sounds to me like you have synchronized your cerebral hemispheres and/or lowered your "brain-frequency"/put your brain to the alpha-phase (I doubt that those are the correct terms in english).

That's a good thing to do before studying and if you want to experience this feeling more often then you can easily achieve it by practicing the techniques to synchronize the hemispheres and lower the frequencies in your brain because our brain more receptive in the phase right before we fell asleep (that's the alpaphase); in this phase, the brain-frequency is way lower than in the betaphase, which is the usual phase when we are awake.

I'm sure there are some good books on english with the the techniques to achieve this. The more often you do it and practice it, the longer the "feeling" will persist.

 

[mazei]

From recent posts here what it seems is that(from my point of view but as usual, it might be wrongly looked at) some people are born smart while some aren't. Although that is the case for some people but I think generally that isn't the case. I can't really explain why I think that way but its my opinion and I'm sure everyone can voice out their opinions can't they?

 

[qqwref]

I think some people are born smarter than others, but as with everything it's a continuum, not just "this guy's smart, this guy isn't". On the other hand being smart isn't everything - everyone has a lot of potential and it is up to each person to take advantage of that. If you spent as much time as you need to really understand cube theory and to do a bit of research on common methods and techniques for creating algorithms, you'll already have a huge advantage over a very smart person who doesn't know any of that stuff, and (no matter how smart you are) you'll be able to make good posts and really contribute to discussions in a way that most other people won't. The smartest people might have an advantage in how fast they can learn things, but that doesn't mean it is over anyone's head. No matter what facet of cubing people are interested in, motivation and research is worth a lot more than intelligence.

 

[goldencuber]

Yeah definately ppl who practice more will be better than genius' who don't

@qqwref:

Yeah, that's it. Maths, physics, cubing, playing chess etc. doesn't improve anyones intelligence. But people with a higher intellectual potential are more likely to be interested in those topics.

@cmhardw:

Of course cubing changes the brain...just like everything you do; but it doesn't have any effect on your intelligence.
I never heard of "cube high" before but I read the content of your link and your experience just sounds to me like you have synchronized your cerebral hemispheres and/or lowered your "brain-frequency"/put your brain to the alpha-phase (I doubt that those are the correct terms in english).

sry for the previous post, I enjoy debate, and you just disagree with me on many things. Do you define intelligence as the ability for us to learn, as encoded in our DNA or what?

@qqwref:
That's a good thing to do before studying and if you want to experience this feeling more often then you can easily achieve it by practicing the techniques to synchronize the hemispheres and lower the frequencies in your brain because our brain more receptive in the phase right before we fell asleep (that's the alpaphase); in this phase, the brain-frequency is way lower than in the betaphase, which is the usual phase when we are awake.

I'm sure there are some good books on english with the the techniques to achieve this. The more often you do it and practice it, the longer the "feeling" will persist.

Oh? interesting idea, elaborate please

 

[Chris Brown]

cross = spatial awareness ie: ecology of movement
f2l = a matching game that we play over and over again
oll and pll = pattern recognition and muscle movement memorization

We're at least exercising our minds.

Also.. you have the "I can solve the rubik's cube" factor. Knowing that you can learn to solve the cube can shatter many mental road blocks that one might have when learning a new skill.

Funny 1st post huh.

 

[tecnikal]

http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10662


small explanation of the brain waves and states:

Cortextual

 

[Jokerman5656]

if you take a cube into an MRI wouldn't the magnet from the machine explode your cube?

 

[Stefan]

if you take a cube into an MRI wouldn't the magnet from the machine explode your cube?

Ah, I'm not the only one...

Hint for Erik (or other fast solvers) to go into an MRI with a scrambled cube

But please please please a Meffert assembly one!

 

[Cloud_9ine]

Yea but sticking to the motivation vs. smart argument, one's mental capacity (IQ for instance) is generally fixed. However intelligence is on a sliding scale the same way motivation is and is in no way truly dependent on one's mental ability.

Back to cubing though, just because one doesn't have a intuitive advantage doesn't mean they have a cubing disadvantage, for instance while one can't do much stuff intuitively, they might be able to commit things to muscle memory easily.

As for the effect though, cubing helps at first in that its another mental exercise that involves you forming ideas and organizing objects mentally, but once your mind considers it "mastered" (about the time that your time progression slows to a near halt), the effects that you got remain but may slowly disappear. So in general it can help with logic.

But this can also depend on your method.

 

[goldencuber]

But, after as you get faster, you're brain begins adapting less and less. In fact, the easier it is to do something, the less brainpower your using. My essential question is this, would the adaptation your brain develops to get from say...avg of 17 to avg of 15 really be (brain health wise) worth the hours of practice? Likely your brain adapts less per minute of solving time as you get faster. (Like watching television, your brain's working, but not enough...so you end up w/ Alzheimer's)

As for the effect though, cubing helps at first in that its another mental exercise that involves you forming ideas and organizing objects mentally, but once your mind considers it "mastered" (about the time that your time progression slows to a near halt), the effects that you got remain but may slowly disappear. So in general it can help with logic.

But this can also depend on your method.

I find that most people w/ low avg's can cube while talking or just daydreaming, it doesn't take much effort. In fact, I sometimes solve it without realizing it. When i practice, I occasionally daydream at the same time. That doesn't really help my times. It's actually similar to practicing an instrument, only with an instrument you get new songs to play every once in a while.

I found that my improvement slowed down after I finished learning the Fridrich algs, so maybe doing new stuff would be beneficial, so the brain wouldn't consider the cube "mastered".

..This sounds like a new thread to me

 

[blindfold cube]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgQMqI6uidc

too bad its in another language.