Thank you to everyone who has written so many fun haikus over the summer (following the post Top 25 Brain and Mind Haikus. Yours?). These are the 10 I have enjoyed the 
most:
(Also, Can you write a haiku describing anything crossing your mind now? Remember the simple rules: write 3 lines, which don't need to rhyme, containing 5,7, and 5 syllables. You can leave your haiku as a comment below for extra points...)
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Top 10 Brainy Haikus - enjoy!
- Amit:
Love, college, career.
A new world of transitions.
Will I survive? Yes.
- Kathy:
My release technique,
Forgive, forget, love all,
Meditate on that!
- Alan:
Through the microscope,
slice of brain stains pink and blue,
the wonder of thought.
- Justin:
Justin the genieus
Must spell check the word genius
to post this Haiku
- Tim: Continue Reading »
A recent CNN article explains well why a growing number of companies use brainteasers and logic puzzles of a type called “guesstimations” during job interviews:
- "Seemingly random questions like these have become commonplace in Silicon Valley and other tech outposts, where companies aren't as interested in the correct answer to a tough question as they are in how a prospective employee might try to solve it. Since businesses today have to be able to react quickly to shifting market dynamics, they want more than engineers with high IQs and good college transcripts. They want people who can think on their feet."
What are technology companies (Google, Microsoft, Amazon) and consulting companies (McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, Accenture...) looking for? They want employees with
good so-called Executive Functions: problem-solving, cognitive flexibility, planning, working memory, decision-making, even emotional self-regulation (don’t try to solve one of these puzzles while being angry, or stressed out).
Want to try a few? Below you have our Top 7 Guesstimations/ Logic Puzzles for Brain Challenge:
Please try to GUESS the answers to the questions below based on your own logical approach. The goal is not to find out (or Google) the right answer, but to Continue Reading »
Today we introduce a highly evolved version of brain teasers.
How quickly can you provide the correct answer to these 3 questions?
- 1) What is going on in these 2 pictures below?
- 2) what may explain it?
- 3) Is there some element out of place?
Ready. Set. Go! Continue Reading »
What is mental self rotation? It is the ability to imagine yourself in different locations in space and imagine your body moving in space. This is an ability that is used in different everyday activities such as navigating in an environment or reading a map.
- Ability involved: egocentric spatial transformations (yes, that is the scientific expression) or mental self rotation.
- Brain areas involved: mostly parietal lobes.
Let’s take an example. Imagine that you plan to go to a new Walgreens’ location. You wonder whether going North on Big Bend Avenue you would have to make a right or a left turn onto Forsyth Blvd to get to Walgreens. You then look at the map that your spouse has laid out on the table. It turns out that the map is upside down so your perspective is not aligned with the one shown on the map (see Figure 1 just below, Box A). How do you get the answer to your question? Continue Reading »
Dr. Pascale Michelon recently shared with our readers which brain areas and cognitive functions are engaged as we solve the type of brain teaser known as Spot the Difference, where we have to find the differences between two versions of one image: Continue Reading »
Readers have contributed a good number of haikus on brain-related topics. Below you have my Favorite 7, and many other fun ones...which ones do you like the most?
Also, Can you write a haiku describing anything crossing your mind now? Remember the simple rules: write 3 lines, which don't need to rhyme, containing 5,7, and 5 syllables. You can leave your haiku as a comment for extra points...
My Favorite 7 Brain and Mind Haikus
- Techne, the philosopher, wonders:
Solve the big questions:
How do I know when I know?
Who knows the knower?
- Steve, the environmentalist, requests:
Neuroplastic good.
Plastic, though lasts forever.
Always recycle!
Continue Reading »
You know your weight. And your physical fitness. And a variety of health-related metrics.
What about your brain fitness?
Two recent announcements bring out how the assessment of cognitive abilities, or brain functions, is increasingly being done thanks to new computerized options:
1) Last week, OptumHealth announced an exclusive 3-year agreement (estimated at $18m) with the Australian company Brain Resource. OptumHealth will be embedding the Brain Resource platform into their overall Behavioral Solutions program.
- OptumHealth Behavioral Solutions will work with Brain Resource to provide clinicians with a Web-based assessment that measures general cognition (how people process information) and social cognition (how people manage their emotions). This 40-minute assessment is based on well-known and validated tests of memory, attention, executive function, and response speed, and mood, social skills and emotional resilience.
Continue Reading »
Here you have 4 of the most popular brain games in our blog, plus a bonus stress management tip.
Brain Teaser 1. In which direction is the bus pictured below traveling?
Continue Reading »
Consider Linda, a 31-year-old woman, single and bright. As a student, she was deeply concerned with discrimination and social justice and also participated in anti-nuclear protests.
Which is more probable? (a) Linda is today a bank teller; (b) Linda is a bank teller and active in the feminist movement.
Quick, what's your answer?
Continue Reading »
How many differences can you spot?
You have seen and maybe tried that exercise or game in the Sunday paper many times: find 5 differences between the two images.
You may like it or not. You may think it is only for kids. But it is a GREAT brain exercise!
Let’s see what cognitive processes and which brain areas are involved in this exercise:
Continue Reading »
