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Memorization Exercises To Boost Brainpower -- Braintenance -- Douglas E. Castle

On July 13, 2015 By // No comments:

Memorizing and being able to repeat certain types of sentences does more than build up your facility for rote memorization. The improvement in simple recall is actually the least of it! Memorizing the sentences which follow will strengthen your ability to visualize, organize and to think creatively. Memorize each of the seven sentences (or groups of sentences) which follow, one at a time. Then recite each one aloud several times. Get smarter, make more associative connections and have a bit of neural plasticity on the house! Ahoy, Braintenancers:

1) Let me repeat your order. You bought twenty apples, thirty oranges and fifteen bananas which you paid for using your Discover Card.

2) The parties agree that due to the many variables surrounding each business transaction that will occur because of this agreement, the commission to be paid between the parties may vary.

3) Contrarians don't generally agree with veterinarians who refuse to treat planarians with microscopic plantar warts.

4) She ran into the bathroom, slipped on the wet floor and fell downward, hitting her head on the side of the porcelain bathtub.

5) Can you tell me where the coffee cans can be hidden? Are they beneath the begonias in Mr. Brighton's flower bed?

6) He longed for lodging near the lakeside lounge area where his paramour was enjoying her pajama-clad paradise and pretending that those about her were not staring.

7) Two times seven equals fourteen, but if you add an additional six to the mix the total sum will soon become twenty, and as if that weren't plenty, if you multiply by three the result will be sixty.

Good luck with these, my fellow (and lady) Brainiacs. Do these Braintenance exercises and feel your cranial vault crawling with newly-inspired activity.

As always, thank you for reading me.

Douglas E. Castle for The Braintenance Blog

BRAIN TEASERS, BRAIN BOOSTERS & COGNITIVE ENHANCEMENT!

BRAINTENANCE: Train, Strain And Improve Your Brain. Expand Your Mind.

http://braintenance.blogspot.com

Braintenance contains articles, resources, exercises, games and specially-designed protocols to improve the power of your brain and your mind in every significant aspect, including memory, cognition, IQ, plasticity, creativity and problem-solving ability.

Key Terms: brain, mind, cognitive enhancement, memory, brain gym exercises, IQ, plasticity, mind expansion, creativity, meditation, altered states, perception, self-hypnosis, self-growth, neuron, artificial intelligence, learning, somatic intellect, mathematics, language, dissonance, individualism, herd mentality, puns and word games, linguistics, genius, emotion, subconscious, unconscious, intuition, instinct, psychedelic, reality, learning curve, probability, collective consciousness

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Seven Fabulous Memory Hacks - Braintenance - Douglas E. Castle

On June 21, 2015 By // No comments:

The following fabulous memory hacks (I'm using the term "hacks" in the non-pejorative sense of the term) were recently described in an article by Bruce Price in the Blog “Mental_Floss” which I happened to stumble upon while casually surfing about the labyrinth of, well, StumbleUpon. While the original article listed “10 Mnemonic Tricks,” I found the first 7 of them to be worth sharing; the other three (probably added in the interest of making an even 10), where either impractical or (pun intended) unmemorable.

Use these as part of your memorization mastery regimen for better Braintenance, my dear Cranial Campers. But be advised that they are not substitutes for true native memory development – they are merely shortcuts where our underdeveloped memories would otherwise fail us. Those few of us blessed with eidetic or photographic memories may simply skim over this article rapidly.

1. The rhyme.

For hundreds of years, schoolchildren started the study of American history with: "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue."

2. The verbal gimmick.

Clearly, modern civilization would be impossible without these four words: "Spring forward. Fall back."

3. The poem.

Probably a million people every day resort to this famous six-liner:

Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November;
All the rest have thirty-one
Excepting February alone:
Which hath but twenty-eight, we find,
Till leap year gives it twenty-nine.

4. The easy association.

Many people have trouble with these similar words —desert, dessert — until they remember that when it comes to tasty treats like cake and ice cream, you always want an extra helping — just as the word itself has an extra s.

5. The contrived association.

The essential trick is to focus on something odd or funny, and use that to jog your memory. All the memory experts are doing this when they rattle off the names of many people: Bob is big and bald; Charlie has a chin as big as China. And so on.

These two words are killers: stalactite, stalagmite. But stalag means prison; and mite suggests mighty. Clearly, a fortress solidly on the ground. So the other thing has to be hanging from the ceiling.

6. The acronym.

Suppose you have to buy three things: nails, plywood, and antifreeze. Use the initial letter of each item to create a word: PAN. Remember that. In the store, work in reverse, P-A-N, the letters reminding you what you have to buy.

HOMES is a famous example. It tells us our Great Lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior.

Almost as famous is Roy G. Biv, a phony name which tells the colors of the rainbow or spectrum (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet).

7. Cross words.

Acrostics are another thing entirely. You don't create a new word, you create a memorable phrase or sentence. The first letter of each word stands for the things you're trying to remember. In smart schools, middle-schoolers are given the task of inventing mnemonics for the 8 planets: My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nachos (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus. Neptune).

The eight little bones in the wrist are a big task for anyone: Scaphoid, Lunate, Triquetral, Pisiform, Trapezium, Trapezoid, Capitate, Hamate. The job is easier, or at least funnier, with this: Some Lovers Try Positions That They Can't Handle.

Med school is next to impossible without mnemonics. One of the most famous reveals the names of the nerves that come directly through the skull (not the spinal column): On Old Olympus' Towering Top, A Finn And German Vaulted And Hopped. (Olfactory, Optic, Oculomotor, Trochlear, Trigeminal, Abducens, Facial, Auditory, Glossopharyngeal, Vagus, Accessory/Spinal, Hypoglossal.)

=> Well, ladies and gentlemen of the Limitless Mind Society, there you have them. Seven terrific memory hacks to supplement your memory development Braintenance exercises in those cases where rote memory is all that is required and where our internal arsenals have a bunch of IOUs where the best tools should be.

Thank you, as always for reading me.

Douglas E. Castle for The Braintenance Blog

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Build Your Brainpower By Confusion -- Douglas E. Castle - Braintenance

On June 05, 2015 By // No comments:

In Braintenance, confusion is the magic which creates new neurological pathways, greater plasticity, and enhanced creative skills. The brain and mind are strengthened in the same fashion as the bodybuilder builds and defines new muscle -- by changing the workout regimen to "shock" the body into over-compensation. The mental exercises which follow are gearing toward forcing you to think (and problem-solve) in a different manner than you usually do by changing the entire problem-solving scenario.

Want to strengthen your mind? of course you do. Simply find the missing numbers or letters in each of the following sequences. You'll notice that you are not trying to find the next number or letter in each sequence (as you are accustomed to doing) -- you are being asked to think interpolatively instead of extrapolatively:

1)   A C _ D C E D _ E G

2)   _ 4 9 _ 25 _ 49

3)   2 4 _ _ 10 _ 14

4)   P_S_ENG_RS O_ A T_AIN

5)   _ 3 _ 7 _ 13 17 19 23 _ 31

Thank you, as always, for reading me.

Douglas E. Castle

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Analogies Are Mind Expanders: Braintenance - Douglas E. Castle

On March 16, 2015 By // No comments:

Analogies Are Mind Expanders

If you'd like to truly sharpen your ability to think associatively and to open up some exciting neural pathways in the bargain, doing exercises involving analogies may be just the think to add to your Braintenance regimen. These exercises even improve you pattern recognition, total cognition and creative thinking. If you'd like to think outside of the box (and keep your mind fresh in the process), analogies are wonderful tools.

An analogy (dog is to puppy as cat is to kitten, or, as it commonly appears on standardized tests, especially in higher grades: dog : puppy :: cat : kitten) is a comparison between two things that are usually thought to be different from each other, but have some similarities. They help us understand things by making connections and seeing relationships between them based on knowledge we already possess.

Analogies are a ubiquitous staple of standardized tests. This type of comparison plays a significant role not only in improving problem solving and decision making skills, but also in perception and memory, as well as communication and reasoning skills. Learning analogies can help with reading and building vocabulary.

Types of Analogies include:

Synonym (happy : joyful :: sad : depressed)
Antonym (inflation : deflation :: frail : strong)
Characteristic (tropical : hot :: polar : cold)
Part/Whole (finger : hand :: petal : flower)
Degree (mist : fog :: drizzle : tropical storm)
Type (golden retriever : dog :: salmon : fish)
Tool/Worker (pen : writer :: voice : singer)
Action/Object (fly : airplane :: drive : car)
Item/Purpose (knife : cut :: ruler : measure)
Product/Worker (poet : poem :: baker : pie)
Different types of analogies are introduced at different levels. Elementary school analogies may be simple, possibly funny analogies; whereas middle school analogies may focus more on analogical reasoning. Analogies practiced in high school delve even more deeply into analogical problem solving.

Analogy vs. Metaphor
Students often confuse analogies with metaphors. Both are comparisons, often involving unrelated objects, so what IS the difference? An analogy is a parallel comparison between two different things, whereas a metaphor is more of a direct comparison between two things, often with one word being used to symbolically represent another. "All the world's a stage. And all the men and women merely players." is an example of a famous metaphor. William Shakespeare is directly comparing the world to a stage, with the people playing " roles" as they go about their daily lives. A comparable analogy would be "Players are to stage as figure skaters are to ice rink."

Practice

Here are some examples (without answers supplied, so if you are overly-challenged, you'll need to employ dictionary.com or some other vocabulary resource) of analogies to sharpen your mind and refresh your vocabulary as well...

JUROR : JUDGE

Your answer:
criminal : sentence
umpire : oust
broom : sweep [this answer is correct]
decision : vacillate
doctor : cure

AUTHENTICITY : COUNTERFEIT

Your answer:
reserve : reticent
mobility : energetic
anticipation : solemn
reliability : erratic
argument : contradictory

TURTLE : REPTILE

Your answer:
snake : rattle
leaf : branch
oyster : clam
oak : tree
snail : shellfish

AGENDA : CONFERENCE

Your answer:
man : woman
executive : employee
agency : assignment
teacher : class
map : trip

EMBARRASS : HUMILIATE

Your answer:
labor : suceed
bicker : fight
reduce : enlarge
spank : whip
pilfer : steal

COT : BED

Your answer:
hand : finger
hotel : motel
tissue : hankerchief
lesson : composition
tea : lemon

CONCOMITANT: ACCOMPANYING

Your answer:
loyal : staunch
rough : texture
separate : attached
hard : granite
tanned : leather

DISORGANIZED : SYSTEM

Your answer:
retired : hope
greedy : money
athletic : intelligence
traitorous : loyalty
conserve : party

FIX : STABLE

Your answer:
mend : torn
fortify : strong
deter : active
captivate : attractive
furrow : productive

INVARIABLE : CHANGE

Your answer:
unfathomable : depth
extraneous : proposition
incurable : disease
ineffable : expression
varied : appearance

I wish you the best of luck, fellow Braintenancers, and I thank you as always for reading me.

Douglas E. Castle for The Braintenance Blog

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Douglas E. Castle, neural, brain exercises, Braintenance, analogies, metaphor, associative thinking, pattern recognition, self-development, self-help, IQ

Learning Backwards: Braintenance Mind Jolt - Douglas E. Castle

On January 30, 2015 By // No comments:

Learning Backwards: Braintenance Mind-Jolt

How often have you heard of someone knowing something "backwards and forward(s)"? There is a reason for this in the etymology of the expression itself: it is generally perceived as being difficult for people who have learned and memorized something in a particular order to be able to learn and memorize it in a different order. Learning something "backwards" requires a (with apologies to Liam Neeson) special skill set. The skills involved are used both consciously and subconsciously every day by most people. In learning backwards, you'll have to use these skills consciously -- at least at first.

These skills include visualization (visualizing the list of items with eyes closed), creating acronyms (using the first letter of each image to create a word) and sensory association (i.e., linking a group of things to a simple song, or making them part of a simple story).

The benefits to backwards learning are tremendous. The process stimulates memory and recall, improves cognition and improves creativity.

Following are some lists of items for you to learn "forwards" and backwards. Since I'm not proctoring this exercise, I'll trust that you will be able to recite each of the following lists without cheating. One hint: The most bizarre or humorous associations are generally the most memorable.

---------------

1) A B C D E F G H I

2) 5 1 6 7 8 5 1 0 4

3) Apple, Snake, Pickle, Bicycle, Ruler

4) Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet

5) Sulfur, Phosphorous, Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen, Nitrogen

---------------

The video below provides an incredibly simple [oxymoron intentional] means of learning the entire alphabet backwards. This is a great way to be entertaining at social gatherings with friends who are either mathematicians or MENSA members...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wCxRn35jwA

Douglas E. Castle for the Braintenance Blog

Braintenance Express - A Newspaper For Your Mind

On July 05, 2013 By // No comments:

You must read this. You must obey. Sleep... Okay. Snap out of it and read a fresh-off-the-press edition of my newspaper. I made it just for YOU!

Braintenance Express

A newspaper filled with interesting brain-training and cognition-enhancing news, advice and exercises to keep your mind at its very best and most powerful. Related to The Braintenance Blog.

	Published by
	Douglas E Castle

05 July 2013

Stories Health Technology Education Art & Entertainment Leisure #android #brain

Today's headline

Mullins' Seven Domains Model - Strategy Tools From MindTools.com

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mindtools.com

www.mindtools.com - Mullins' Seven Domains Model allows you to look at a potential project or venture from seven different angles. Can you imagine buying a car without first taking it for a test drive? Or buying a hom...

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