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Does Cubing Help Your Brain?

Tamara Tomato

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I'm just wondering but does cubing have any benefits for your brain?

Like how playing chess is meant to "raise your IQ", "promote thinking", and stuff; does cubing do the same thing or anything similiar?
 

PJKCuber

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Well, I have an International Rating in Chess, but it does not raise IQ. My results on IQ test before chess have been 130-140 and they haven't improved even after I play. Promoting thinking is all right.
As for cubing, I would say it improves spatial reasoning by a decent amount. I used to get really bad scores on spatial reasoning tests and now they have improved. Cubing can also improve reaction and dexterity. When you move your hands so quickly for long periods of time, your dexterity improves. I can now play faster songs on piano and my typing speed improved from 45 wpm to 70.(And I still look at the keyboard)
 

guysensei1

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Well, I have an International Rating in Chess, but it does not raise IQ. My results on IQ test before chess have been 130-140 and they haven't improved even after I play. Promoting thinking is all right.
As for cubing, I would say it improves spatial reasoning by a decent amount. I used to get really bad scores on spatial reasoning tests and now they have improved. Cubing can also improve reaction and dexterity. When you move your hands so quickly for long periods of time, your dexterity improves. I can now play faster songs on piano and my typing speed improved from 45 wpm to 70.(And I still look at the keyboard)

I look at the keyboard as well :p

Cubing on a whole has improved my reflexes I would say. And to a limited extent... Problem solving skills?
 

1w3playZ

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When you don't cube for a while your brain says "cube cube cube". When you cube your brain says "thank you, more please". So I would say that cubing makes your brain happy.
However, don't quote me on this to any non-cuber because they might think I (and you by association) am crazy

Cubing makes me happy for shure. But for non cubers it can be frustrating.
I get mad when I cube sometimes, like when you break your pb then find out its a
Plus 2. Or when you get a cube with defective pieces (me today). Anyway, I can make this list very long but I don't want too :).
 

goodatthis

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I've noticed that once I learned how to double flick, I got very good at drumming my fingers.

I am inclined to say that cubing can help your spatial relations and pattern recognition in some way or another, but it is very specific- that is, I wouldn't really say that getting better at cubing will affect your inherent ability to recognize patterns. But it may help you in other areas that may relate to cubing in which the same part of the brain is used. They do say that pattern recognition is one of the most determining factors in intelligence.

Note that a lot of this is just conjecture, I haven't done studies to determine any of this, so just take it with a grain of salt. Although my mom does have a major in Psycology, and participated in/conducted studies in college that pertain to pattern recognition.
 

Ollie

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Is that reaction time and dexterity useful or is it just an arbitrary measure?

Let's replace "reaction time" with "processing speed." Before you argue that they're the same, they're really not.

It could be that cubing improves processing speed, or that people with high processing speeds are more likely to pick up cubing.

It could also be that the areas of the brain involved in processing speed are also responsible for other cognitive skills, such as planning and spatial working memory. Therefore, cubing could be inadvertently improving/hindering other cognitive skills.

So actually, it's a question worth investigating.
 

IRNjuggle28

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Let's replace "reaction time" with "processing speed." Before you argue that they're the same, they're really not.

It could be that cubing improves processing speed, or that people with high processing speeds are more likely to pick up cubing.

It could also be that the areas of the brain involved in processing speed are also responsible for other cognitive skills, such as planning and spatial working memory. Therefore, cubing could be inadvertently improving/hindering other cognitive skills.

So actually, it's a question worth investigating.
You phrased that much better than everyone else.

Going back to Kennan's example of avoiding a car crash due to reaction time, how much of an overlap is there in reflexes and processing speed? Do you have an opinion on whether reflexes involve processing in a way that cubing would affect?
 
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GuRoux

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i would like to think that chess or cubing help raise your IQ closer to your full attention, chess obviously more than cubing. But pretty much anything that engages your brain to memorize, process, problem solve, etc. should do that.
 

Par0dy

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Cubing improves memory a lot. I use to be very forgetful then I started cubing and I could remember things much easier now. It also improves spatial thinking, reaction time and finger speed (???? I dunno what that's meant to be called).
 

Maskow

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Cubing? I can't say anything about it.
But blindfold cubing and especially MBLD (single bld not really) - I believe yes, it can improve our brain a lot. Why? Because long-term memory, like in MBLD, is all about our IMAGINATION and concentration. Good imagination + perfect concentration = good memory. Even Einstein said (if it's really his quote) that "Imagination is more important than knowledge". I think that imagination is very helpful with understading the world and influences our IQ. I still practice it because I really feel much more better and I feel that my brain is able to do anything after that. I did a lot of brain tests in the past and I wasn't good at them.

www.cambridgebrainscience.com

It's a good site where in that moment 85677 people have taken full IQ challenge. I tried it loooong time ago and I didn't remember anything special. I came back in this year and tried it few times in ~2 days. I was amazed by my own skill.

My results with permormance rating:
What's your Performance Rating?
Your Performance Rating places your top score within the general population of people who have taken this task.

For example: if your Performance Rating is 80% then your top score would fall within the top 20% of scores.

Memory tests:
Digit Span 100%
Monkey Ladder 100%

Reasoning tests:
Gramatical Reasoning 60%
Double Trouble 100%
Odd One Out 100%

Concentration test:
Rotations 100%
Feature Match 99%
Polygons 100%

Planning tests:
Spatial Search 100%
Hampshire Tree Task 100%
Spatial Slider 50%


Almost everything is 100%
I failed Gramatical Reasoning <<< it's in English, I did it only few times and I lost time on thinking what that English words mean, I know them but I really don't feel them that fast, my English isn't perfect at all.
Feature Match - oh no, 99% instead of 100 xD
Spatial Slider - ok, I am weak here.


There are really nice results.
I also did real IQ tests. 4 years ago? 128 [Cattell scale]
This year result: 156+ [Also Cattell scale, 156+ mean that it's probably more but Mensa's test is too weak and I need a stronger one to check it]
Obviously I didn't even practice IQ tests, I did it for fun invited on the test by friend.


So I believe it works.
And I recommend taking a test on cambridgebrainscience.com ;]
 
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