Skeptic Paranormal Challenge.

Hey guys,

I know I've been away from this blog for years, but life sort of happened. However,  I recently had something so interesting to share that I've decided to resurrect Mentathlete. 

I've only casually mentioned this before, but I was a paid ESP test subject while in college.  I did unusually well on one particular type of experiment called binary ESP (also called binary intuition, binary precognition, and binary presentiment).  I didn't think much of it during the time. It was in the category of my memory banks of "weird things I did for money" not "evidence I may have ESP."  Testing for binary ESP is pretty simple. You have one of two choices--heads or tails, 1 or 0, male or female, etc.--and you have to predict which will randomly show up after you guess.  Chance says you should only be right 50% of the time, especially over a very long run of, say, 100 guesses. But during my testing days I always did well above chance, no less than 66% (66/100 guesses) and sometimes as high as 85%. 

I mentioned that part of my history to a few of my skeptic friends years ago in a discussion, and it wasn't until they pointed it out (with lots and lots of skepticism) that I had an inkling of how "odd" my experiences as an ESP test subject were.    My friends of course were all over that one to shred. It had to be impossible, after all. I submitted myself to all of their testing to find out--there was a lot of assumptions about what all I should be able to do, so consequently lots of variations on testing in the beginning.  This was actually good, because I eventually started figuring out what I couldn't do, which resulted in a firmer description. 

During this exploratory phase, it went from,
"I can score high on binary ESP tests" to
"I can score high on binary ESP tests if there is immediate feedback" to
"I can score high on binary ESP tests if there is immediate direct feedback"
and so on, until there was nothing else we could identify as a requirement.

After somewhere of the ballpark of 130 trials (most of them involving 100 runs or guesses), it eventually became clear what were the requiring factors to consistently perform so robustly.

1 ) Generous amount of time to guess. I average about 2.5 hours for a run of 100 guesses.
2 ) Immediate feedback.  That is to say after I guess, I need a result in under a second.
3 )  Direct feedback.  I need to see the result for myself, not have a result reported to me by way of a second party.  This is simple if the number (I'm usually guessing "will it be 1 or 0")  shows up on the computer screen I'm sitting in front of after I hit the button. 
4 ) Feedback after each bit, not for a sequence.  So guessing for 1, then getting feedback, then 0  and getting feedback, then 1 and getting feedback works, but guessing for 101 will not. 

Without these four, my results consistently return to predictable scores. 

Given all the controversy over how to test for ESP, what I just described is a surprisingly simple thing to measure for if you use a good random number generator (RNG) or something mechanical like a fair coin. Yet I definitely have always done no worse than 66% on testing in the past and this should not be so unless I'm actually remembering the immediate future or there is a design flaw in the protocol that no one has yet found.  So after a lot of nagging by others and a lot of curiosity of my own, I finally mustered up the courage to have more sophisticated testing done to see what was going on, even though I had a good idea of what to expect for coming forward.

I contacted the Skeptic Society nearest to me for assistance to figure out what's really going on here when I do this kind of test after my contacting JREF for assistance proved fruitless.  As it happens, the Skeptic group local to me sponsors a Challenge of their own, and I thought, "Hey, why not?"  I must say I expected the correspondence with the Skeptic point of contact--a man by the name of John Blanton-- to go much more smoothly than it did. A few bumps along the road of communication, sure, but not someone who was almost looking for a fight.   Instead, our correspondence got rather comical and very back-and-forth.*  I guess I was more disappointed than anything else, because I'd have rather flat out failed in testing than to not even get to test because my insistence that neither party be in a position where they could tamper with the RNG used was considered unreasonable.  I'm even more disappointed in his follow-up write-up because he--either intentionally or unintentionally--misconstrued quite a number of things that need to be cleared up, which I've done so here.  It's a Google Doc set to be read by the public, but anyone who reads it can edit, unfortunately.

Having said that, his write-up wasn't as bad as I thought it would have been. I can at least give him that. 
 
For the record, I'm pretty sure that my results on this test are not paranormal.  It's not because I don't believe in ESP, it's because this particular thing doesn't "feel psychic" to me.  The closest thing I can liken it to is a stimulus-response memory, only the response precedes the stimulus in this case.  I'm also pretty suspicious--or perhaps curious--why I would be *this* consistent on this test and have such a large effect size.  It's usually one or the other with ESP studies.

In fact, this endeavor has made me even more curious about what is going on here, so I'll continue to do research, both on my own and collaboratively to get a definitive answer.  I swear it's the most curious thing... 

*For whatever reason many of my own emails he posted are mis-formatted, so you can sometimes only read glyphs and hypertext commands where you should be reading what I actually wrote.  I'm sure it's just an accident, but if anyone wants an un-butchered copy just let me know as well as knowing where to send the
emails.

Note: Sometime in July of 2014, I went to check on the correspondence Blanton listed on his website, and discovered Blanton had taken it down.   But no worries, I found out it was archived, so the link to our correspondence is now changed to that one.  

Asperger's Antipode.

 I'm still working on the Brainetics program, but wanted to take a break to share something that occurred to me some time ago. 

It's no secret that Asperger syndrome, a type of autism, is overly represented in the high IQ community. You know the traits:
-Difficulty with social interactions
-Limited grasp of the pragmatic side of language (ex. they may not pick up on subtlety or wordplay).
-Narrow range of interests and insistence on routines.
-Physically uncoordinated.
-Mechanistic thinking
-Hypersensitive to some stimuli and hyposensitive to others (physical sensitivity, not emotional).

I'm actually 1-for-6.  I can "switch" to mechanistic-logical thinking, but it's not my default setting. And I was at one point in my life physically uncoordinated, but that is not the case now. The only trait I definitely have is the hyper- and/or hypo- sensitivity issue, which sounds like something most people would have, given how many signals we are bombarded with. The rest of the traits are in fact my strength areas.  This led me to wonder if there is a counterpart to autism, individuals with "hyperempathy" so to speak. 

Apparently yes, but for now such people exist mostly in a theoretical sense for science.

Simon Baron-Cohen has a theory that autism can be seen as having an extreme male brain, and,
"The theory also predicts the existence of the mirror-image of autism or Asperger syndrome, namely, the extreme female brain. Science has not even begun to investigate what such people are like, but we know they must have impairments in systemising, alongside normal or even talented empathising."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2003/apr/17/research.highereducation

I haven't read his book, but I did get some excerpts from a blog.

"All scientists know about the extreme female brain is that it is predicted to arise ... Scientists have never got up close to these individuals. It is a bit like positing the existence of a new animal on theoretical grounds, and then setting out to discover if it is really found in nature."

"[W]hat would such people look like?

... Their empathizing ability would be average or significantly better than that of other people in the general population, but their systemizing would be impaired. So these would be people who have difficulty understanding math or physics or machines or chemistry, as systems. But they could be extremely accurate at tuning in to others' feelings and thoughts.

Would such a profile carry any necessary disability? Hyperempathizing could be a great asset, and poor systemizing may not be too crippling. It is possible that the extreme female brain is not seen in clinics because it is not maladaptive.

We saw that those with the extreme male brain do experience a disability, but only when the person is expected to be socially able. Remove this expectation, and the person can flourish. Unfortunately, in our society this social expectation is pervasive: at school, in the workplace and in the home. So it is hard to avoid.

But for those with the extreme female brain, the disability might only show up in circumstances where the person is expected to be systematic or technical. The person with the extreme female brain would be system-blind. Fortunately, in our society there is considerable tolerance for such individuals. For example, if you were a child who was systemblind, your teachers might simply allow you to drop mathematics and science at the earliest possible stage, and encourage you to pursue your stronger subjects. If you were a systemblind adult and your car didn't work, you could just call the mechanic (who is likely to be at least a Type S). If your computer needs putting together, and you can't work out which lead goes into which socket, there are phone numbers that you can ring for technical support. And in evolutionary terms, there were likely equivalent people that a systemblind person could turn to for help when that person's home was destroyed in strong
winds, or when their spear broke."

"[A]re individuals with these psychiatric conditions (for that is what paranoia and personality disorders are) revealing the extreme female brain?

This cannot be the case. If someone is over-attributing intentions, or has become preoccupied by their own emotions, then by definition they are not exhibiting hyperempathy. Hyperempathy is the ability to ascertain the mental states of others to an unusually accurate and sensitive degree, and it can only occur if one is appropriately tuned in to the other person's feelings. A paranoid person, or someone who is easily inflamed into aggression by suspecting that others are hostile, has a problem. But their problem is not hyperempathy."
http://autistscorner.blogspot.com/2009/02/is-there-extreme-female-brain.html

I truly wish Baron-Cohen came up with different descriptors than "male brain" and "female brain" but I can get over that. Anyone who reads the first article will know that one can occur in either gender, but people being people...

 I actually do fit the extreme female brain's description more than the other.  I was dyslexic in all kinds of ways as a kid, so math wasn't my thing until about the age of 15. Thankfully I found strategies for working around most of my other dyslexic hiccups, but physical orientation still gets me.  And computers are still my kryptonite.  On the other hand, I'm naturally good at picking up emotional information from others (though I often ignore the data). I'm willing to bet that these theoretical hyperempathy people also experience mirror-touch synesthesia like I often do.   http://www.livescience.com/health/070617_touching_faces.html 

I got a lot out of reading all the links above, and I hope others do as well. Naturally I don't agree with everything
written, but respectful differences make life interesting. At the very least, this post may give some insight to those who consider themselves or are considered by others to be the overly empathetic type.

--Nathan (Nth)

Brainetics Update: Day 1 Magic Squares and Lightning Calendars

Hey Guys,

So I popped in DVD 1 of the Brainetics program, and must say that it's not starting out so great.  Within the first five minutes, they offer an erroneous factoid that humans only use a small percentage of their brain.  We've known for years that this isn't true.  However, it's actually not all bad.  Although Brainetics claims that their product is "Ages 9-99!", it's clearly aimed toward K-8 kiddos.  The videos are reminiscent of Nickelodeon's Truth or Dare from the early 1990's.  The music, the animated hosts, the competition element...all designed for keeping a kid engaged (and adults with short attention spans).


The first thing up is learning magic number squares.  At first I thought this was silly, but I have to admit that it makes a great deal of  sense to start out with this kind of game.  Math phobia is real, but for some reason, sudoku type games don't invoke that fear in many people.  Probably because it's more about pattern-recognition than numbers, and people are naturally good at picking up patterns, even when we're not consciously looking for them.  

My younger brother Brandon, who has no love for math, did enjoy the number squares.  However, he quickly realized that they only work under certain conditions--see what I mean about people recognizing patterns?  In truth he's right, the magic number squares taught in this product aren't all that robust.  Maybe that will change later on.  But if it doesn't, I think it would be a great exercise to extrapolate on how magic squares could work under different conditions. 

Up next was mental calendaring--learning how to calculate any day of the year. One of the mind sports that I'd like to train for is the Mental Calculation World Cup, which has mental calendaring as one of the competitive events.   The host in the DVD, Mike Byster, went through this part of Brainetics rather quickly. Strange, considering how multi-stepped the algorithm is he offers.  It's like even he knew there's no way you were going to get this skill down in one sitting.  The DVD recommends you give this "some practice." I'd have to agree.

Well, that is the review for today.  I have to work tomorrow, so I can't guarantee that I'll be able to post tomorrow, although I will try.    

It's way too early to say anything conclusive, but as of right now, I'd have to give this product a tentative C average. 

Best,

Nth

Brainetics

Hey Guys,

My birthday gift has come early.  I'm now in possession of the Brainetics program.  We'll see how it goes. I won't be able to toy around with with this thing until my next days off of work, which are Thursday and Friday.  Should be interesting.  Unlike with the EyeQ speed-reading program, I have no expectations one way or the other.  I'm more curious than anything (ah, my friend Nathan would be proud).   

Best,

Nathaniel "Nth"

The MAT Booklet.

Hey guys,


I did get a response from the guy who sent me a booklet about the MAT.  He does not want me sharing it with anyone, so I will honor that.  No worries, though, I doubt it would help anyone any better than the little "cheat sheets" in the back of ordinary MAT books.  It wasn't at all a magical solution or anything. 

For what it is worth, I'd encourage those reading this to take some advice from me.  With questions you don't know, rely on your intuition rather than on your recently acquired general knowledge!  My friend, Nathan Grimsley, gave me this sage advice, and I didn't listen.  Perhaps that is why he scored 517 on the MAT and I only scored 481.   Yes, the MAT is a highly culture-loaded test, but it is first and foremost a reasoning test (for US Americans, anyway). The best advice I could give someone (other than learn mnemonics and cram) is to learn how to hone your intuition (i.e. tacit reasoning).

Don't believe me? Try this approach for yourself and compare.  Just take a practice test where you let your *first* instinct--your gut and heart-- answer the questions you're uncertain about. Now compare the results to your original method. I did this, and was astonished at my score, 113 out of 120, which I'm figuring is in the 520's or so. I doubt Nathan and I are unique.


Lessons from this in order to be a better mentathlete:

1. Don't overstress.  Relax.  I was a little stressed when I took the test; there was a scholarship on the line, after all.   Nathan, on the other hand was not.  He was just interested in what the high IQ society's were like.  Since they almost all accept the MAT (and it's a rather inexpensive and quick test) he opted for that.  I went in with a mildly stressed mind, Nathan went in with a curious and relaxed one. Look who did better.

  By the way, he dropped out of all of the high IQ groups he joined out of sheer disinterest and a little disappointment.

If you're struggling with relaxing, try these techniques. I personally use autogenics. 

2. Trust your reasoning powers.  Not just your linear and sequential reasoning powers,  your nonlinear tacit reasoning abilities (your intuition) too.  Intuition is scary, I suppose, because it means different things to different people, but it always involves some bit of a mysterious process.  For what it is worth, I'm talking about the kind of intuition mentioned here, not ESP or anything else that also uses the term (although I guess that wouldn't hurt, if you have it).  I suppose #2 is another way to say believe in yourself, in what is already inside of you. 

3. Have fun learning.  I came across this funky site which, in retrospect, could be applied to the MAT.  Perhaps I enjoy the site so much because I go there with a kid-like attitude. "Oh, I didn't know that! Cool."  It's never work. As a mentathlete, having fun learning is equivalent to an athlete having fun training.  



Best of luck, whatever you all choose to do.

--Nth

Them Precognition Days

Hey everyone,


Sorry for the long gap in posts.  I've recently moved to Texas from California.  Talk about a study in contrasts! But that's another story for another time.  Anyhoo, that and my general lack of ideas about what concerning cognitive development to discuss explains my dearth of attention paid to my baby, mentathlete.  Ah, but Daddy's back!

I did not get to go to New York at all this March.  The US Memory Championship, The American Crossword Puzzles Tournament, and all the rest will have to wait until next year.  No biggie.  You'd think that after all of the training I did for those things, I'd be let down about not being able to attend, but I'm not.  At some point, the training for those mind sports had morphed from fun to a full-time job.  This wouldn't have been so bad had I not already had a full-time job. 

There is only so much one can do in a day.  So I've reverted to "dabbling" in mind sports, much like the Williams sisters (and Kim Clijsters, now that I think of it) have been accused of "dabbling" in tennis.   Hey, there was a time when being an amateur or dilettante was considered respected. Such a person was considered to be a well rounded-person and Renaissance Man...or Woman. 

There's so many things that I want to do and take a stab at, that "professional dabbler" or "scanner" may best sum me up.  Now, mind you, I'm still about being a responsible adult, with some sort of consistent way to support oneself (in my case, pursuing the work as a statistician of some kind), but that is merely so that I can support the other endeavors. 

Alrighty, bye for now. 

Neurobics--Easy Work Out for the Brain

 Recently a friend of mine emailed me to inquire about an issue that perhaps some people reading this can relate to, directly or indirectly.  My friend wrote:

"Recently several family members are getting older and having memory difficulties.  Sometimes they will tell me the same story over and over unaware that they told it to me before, or not remember their agreements or scheduled appointments.  At times they realize they are doing it and it causes them to be quite nervous and afraid for their future and I don't enjoy seeing them in that state of mind.

I am looking for some exercises that I could get them to do which meet the following criteria:

1.  They are easy to do

2.  They won't have too many objections to doing them (some get defensive and insist their memory is perfect)

3.  They measurably improve their memory

4.  They continue to improve their memory with practice as opposed to reaching a plateau

I purchased the pmemory course at one point and like it quite a bit, but I am finding my relatives either can not

do the exercises or don't want to do them, preferring to do things like crossword puzzles or to use affirmations.

The articles I have read don't seem to really have a clue, and don't provide any studies or tests showing credible

statistical evidence in a controlled study."

I mentioned to my friend that the loved ones in question honestly should get checked out professionally.  There could be a variety of reasons why a person's memory is starting to fail, regardless of their age.  The underlying cause may be a nutritional deficiency, depression, or a genuine disease. Each would require different treatments to rectify memory issues or at least ameliorate the symptoms.  For example, when I worked mixed-shifts for years, my sleeping suffered and consequently so did my memory.  For me the right thing at the time was to take modafinil and then later a soporific. The brain exercises prescribed to someone who is suffering memory loss from a degenerative disease like multiple sclerosis would have done nothing for me, because my memory problem did not have an organic origin, it was a sleep pattern issue. 

Sadly, from my friend's response, it seems like some of his family members are much like some of mine.  A few Fieldses and Barfields just will not go to the hospital until something extreme happens, like their skin turns green or something falls off that isn't supposed to.  Even then, they may think their willpower can still fix the problem and skip the hospital visit.  

My friend replied to me:

 "Hey,

They would definitely not go see a therapist, but were open to doing a few exercises with me."

That's unfortunate, as I am a strong advocate of always getting a doctor's opinion before trying anything for your health.  But I also try to work with where people are at in their life.   So I searched through my own personal memory banks, and recalled  doing the exercises in the book _Neurobics_ a few years ago.  The book is rather terse, but has dozens of activities you can do to keep your mind fresh.  The book is co-written by the late neurologist Dr. Lawrence C. Katz, and the activities (I call them "activities" rather than "exercises" because that better describes them) fulfill all of my friend's criteria.

Neurobics is all about making new neuronal connections by exposing yourself to quotidian novel situations.  Taking a new route to home and work, brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand, and experimenting with new recipes are but a few examples of activities suggested in the book to help you do this. I tried out all of them. 

In a way what is expected from doing these activities is similar to how children's brains stay engaged in a stimulating environment.  The world is a playground to them, and there is always something new for them to discover.  And kids so often do discover whatever it may be...rapidly.   No doubt because children are constantly making new neuronal connections when doing new activities throughout the day.

When I was doing neurobics, I obviously couldn't scan my own brain to see if I did indeed develop more neuronal connections by trying something new every day.  But I  i) definitely felt like a kid again in terms of energy and engagement of the present, and ii) remember that it was easier for me to see ordinary things in a different light as well as "think outside the box." I certainly felt like my brain was fitter.   

Neurobics is sort of a general remedy for a lack of cognitive fitness the way aerobics is a general remedy for a lack of physical fitness.  I think most people could benefit from incorporating a few neurobic activities into their everyday life--though of course, always consult your physician before trying anything recommended by me.

 Having said that,  their website shares a few activities you can try out for yourself. You can buy the book from Amazon or likely check it out from your local library if you're interested.

 

Happy New Year & Neurons, 

--Nathan (Nth)

 

Eye-Q: Speed Reading Update

Hey everyone,

I thought I'd give you an update about my experience with EyeQ.  So far, the product has done what it claims to do.  I'm happy about that, as I don't look forward to giving less than stellar reviews of something, although I'm sure that day will come.

In any event, I am reading at about 500 words per minute now.  I say "about," because I've been testing myself with different reading material.  A graphic novel is by far the easiest thing for me to read very quickly (626 words per minute), and a college textbook is the slowest (391 words per minute).  I also read a nonfiction novel (506 words per minute) and a fiction novel (509 words per minute).  I should emphasize that these speeds are as fast as I can go and still 100% understand what I'm reading.  I can go a bit faster, in the 600's for the novels, but I start missing details about 40% of the time, and have to guess about what is written quite a bit.  I'm usually right, but it's still guessing or deducing, rather than knowing what it is I read.  

I'm a little more than half way through the main series of twelve exercises.  You're supposed to only use the program every other day, in order to give your eyes a rest.  About five years ago, my grandmother tried this course, but was gung ho about it, and did it every day.  She soon began complaining of having headaches.  At the time I thought it was due to her age, but now that I'm doing the EyeQ program myself I realize that she, much like many people's first day in a gym, over did it.  In some ways EyeQ is a gym for your eye muscles.  Like all striated muscles, they need alternating off days. 

To my surprise, the EyeQ program that I have comes with a vocabulary builder, which came in handy for my cousin Ronald (remember he's studying for the SAT).  His results have been positive, but not as good as mine.  Then again, he is 17 and hasn't been as completely focused on the training as I have been (girls).  I guess this just goes to show what you put in to your training is what you get out of it.  But what I did notice was while Ronald wasn't going to be choosing EyeQ over girls any time soon, he did actually like doing the video game-exercises.  They weren't a chore to him. 

My only criticisms with the EyeQ program are small ones:
1) The image on their website about the brain activity is a bit misleading.  When you become really good at something, you tend to use less brainpower to do it, not more!
2) There doesn't seem to be any strategies offered for handling different sized text.  For me, I had to tailor my own techniques from their general principles for handling very small and very large print. 

But these two issues are very minor ones indeed, in comparison to everything that actually is good about this product.  In my case, there was even a bonus benefit.  All of the effort of learning to quickly see images has helped me in my lucid dreaming activities.  For the past few days, I've had a much easier time being aware of the brief hypnagogic imagery that comes before and after sleeping.

Overall, I give EyeQ 4.5/5 stars.   If you're looking for a last minute Christmas gift for someone who likes to read (like me), struggles with reading (like Ronald), or who looks forward to getting reading assignments out of the way (like both Ronald and me) then EyeQ may be it.  It's a video game and a brain skills tool.

And as a Christmas gift to my readers:  If you do decide to buy EyeQ, just mention this blog, Mentathlete, and get $50 taken off of the price!

 Well I'm calling it a night, everybody.  Happy Holidays from Nth. 

--Nathan (Nth)

Speed Reading: Day 1 the EyeQ review.

So the Mentathlete blog is all about acquiring brain-skills, one of which includes speed-reading.  Right now the hottest brain enhancement product on the market for rapid reading is EyeQ from the Infinite Mind company.  According to their website, their product currently goes for about $265.  I didn't pay that.  To be honest, I didn't pay anything for the EyeQ program laying next to my keyboard.  I found it in my uncle's garage.  But if you are thinking about buying EyeQ, then perhaps it's best to first let me try it out for you, then give you my opinion of it.

The company makes a few claims. The ones I'll be testing are:

• "Skills and tools to manage information overload"

Ought to be good.  

• "Read 2 to 10 times faster"

I read through the accompanying pamphlet, and I'm supposed to do one of their exercises every other day, and it's only after day (exercise) 6 that I am supposed start focusing on actually increasing my reading speed.  I just tested my reading rate here, and clocked in at a amazingly average 256 words per minute.  We'll see if after two weeks I'll be able to efficiently read at 512 words per minute or more.

• "Improve scanning ability"

We'll see.

• "Increase comprehension"

Hmmm...This may be hard for me to personally evaluate.  I tend to max out on reading comprehension tests already.  Not to fear, I've enrolled my 18-year old cousin Ronald into this vital  investigation.  He has to take the ACT, SAT, etc. for college.  It will be rather easy to test his reading comprehension before and after taking this course.  

• "Process information faster"

Ronald's our guinea pig for this too. 

• "Immediate, dramatic and measurable results"

"Immediate" and "dramatic" are rather subjective words, but I'll just report my and Ronald's experiences and let you decide for yourself. 


We'll see how this goes,

--Nathan (Nth)

Mnemonics and the Miller Analogies Test results

Hey all,

So I took the Miller Analogies Test earlier today, and according to the preliminary report, I did very well.  I've read and heard other people mention their exact scores, and it usually comes across as bragging to me unless there is some purpose for mentioning it, and I don't want to do that.  But you probably need to know the actual number in order to decide if mnemonics is something for you. I scored 481 out of 600.  For my purpose, that means I should do well in scholarship competitions, and for the blog's purposes, it does suggest mnemonics can greatly help a person "cram" if they have to (which I did in order to meet the deadline for this scholarship).  Believe me, I am not naturally capable of doing so well on such tests, especially under such short notice.  I'm probably naturally below in aptitude in comparison to most people reading this blog.  The difference is I train wisely, and consequently my mind rarely performs poorly, even if it doesn't always perform as well as I would like. 

Remember that I started studying for the MAT less than two weeks ago.  I'd be curious to see how a person would do if they used the peg system, Russian doll system, and loci method I advocate using a month or two...or three before taking the test or any similar exam like the MCAT or GRE.  

But in all fairness, I didn't just read, read, read and memorize, memorize, memorize.  In fact, after a friend of mine who scored 517 out of 600 on the Miller Analogies Test suggested I give my work schedule a significant rest, I did (wise training I mentioned earlier). Remaining calm helped a lot during the testing session.  In my case, it also helped that I was the only person in the room and could therefore think aloud.  Yes folks, I talk to myself.  But it turns out talking to oneself is actually a great problem-solving tool.

My only beef the test was that two questions on mine specifically could have multiple answers that were logical, in my opinion.  I don't want to get in trouble for sharing questions on the test, so I'll change around one of the questions in question a little.  It went like so:

Poseidon: Neptune :: Zeus : (a. Jupiter, b. Venus, c. Aphrodite, d. Saturn)

Now before all of my studying, I would have automatically selected  "A." Neptune is the Roman equivalent to Poseidon the way Jupiter is the Roman equivalent to Zeus.  However, after all of the memorizing I did, I now knew that Poseidon is the Father of Neptune, as is Zeus is the father to Aphrodite.   I also started seeing too many patterns in the question.  "Poseidon" ends in the letter "n"  and "Neptune" begins with it.  Similarly Zeus ends in the letter "s" and "Saturn" begins with it.  While all of this is true, the test-makers probably wanted the more superficial reply of "A."  But instead I picked "D."  It may sound counterintuitive, but I probably would have done better if I "dumbed down" my answers. Actually, a better description is give them the answer they think is right, rather than the answer you think is right.     Depending on what and how you do on the practice tests, this may be a strategy you also have to incorporate.

There is a lot more I want to say, and I may say it later, but right now it's time to call it a night.  Tomorrow I return to editing and then marketing my books, though I doubt I'll rarely mention the work on this blog.  I will, however, cover the speed-reading program Eye-Q tomorrow.  I was going through my uncle's garage a few days ago, and found his copy of it there.

A review of Brainetics is also coming soon!  

Testing Intuition and Intuiting the Test

Hey everyone,


So Day 3 of studying for the MAT next Tuesday continues.  I received a surprise gift from someone to help me prepare for the Miller Analogies Test, a 100-page synopsis of the topics most commonly tested on the MAT.  This study guide has helped me cut down my study time tremendously, and gave me an opportunity to play-around, so to speak.  

Today I decided to take another MAT practice test, but this time if I was uncertain about an answer to a question, I'd go with my very first instinct, the answer that "popped out" at me, my intuition.  Now, the "I" word means different things to different people, so I'll clarify that I'm talking about the kind of intuition that can be described as nonlinear intelligence capable of making flashes insights without consciously thinking about the data.  I'm not talking about psychic intuition, per se--that's a topic for later down the road.  I'm talking about times when the brain puts the disjointed pieces of information together faster than your logical step-by-step mind can. 

In any event, of the 100 problems on my practice test, I had to resort to intuition on 22 of them.  Of those 22 intuitive or gut-reaction replies, 17 were right and 5 were wrong.  That makes my intuitive ability--at least for general knowledge presented in a multiple-choice format of four options--a little over 77% accurate.  That's pretty interesting to me.  I take it to mean that the recesses of my mind (and by extension, human minds in general) have an awareness of much more information than the conscious part does.  If I was just totally guessing, then I should have only gotten 25% of those questions right (you have four options, you have to pick one, ergo 1/4=25%), but my intuition was over 3 times better than guessing, and I'm sure yours is as well, if not better.

I have to be honest, I didn't figure I'd be turning the MAT into a game of intuition, but that is exactly what it was for me.  At least the problems that I didn't know the answer to were.  I look forward to testing my intuition again, and seeing if I can make it even more accurate.  I can tell you that of the 22 intuitive guesses, there were a couple where I second-guessed, and both were costly mistakes.

Intuition is rarely offered as a test-taking cool, but I think it is a wonderful adjunct to the more formal test-taking strategies.  Sometimes it's worth guessing, but if my personal experience is any indication, the "guess" may be a little less wild ass than we think. 

I certainly wouldn't use my intuition as the primary test-taking strategy for the MAT or similar tests.  Afterall, while my intuitive guessing was 17/22 (77%), my accessible knowledge and know-how was 67/78 (86%). So in my case, formally acquired knowledge trumps intuition when going head-to-head.

Of course there are times when my conscious mind will truly lack the knowledge to solve the given-problem.  In those cases, I think it's great to have a well-honed backup brain-skill.

That's about all for me today.


Until next time,

Nathan (Nth)

Memory Training and the MAT Part 2--GW Bush at Bat.

Good evening, Everyone.

So memorizing a large amount of information in a small amount of time is what I found myself doing today, and I will likely continue doing this until the 12th or 13th of this month, depending on my mood.  I'm of course doing this to prepare for my Miller Analogies Test, and figured I could use the exercise to cover some of the basics of how to memorize voluminous information.

Today was all about the US Presidents and world leaders,  Shakespearean characters, philosophy/philosophers, film/filmmakers, and vehicles. I chose these five topics after taking an MAT practice test that can be found here on page 77, and having to guess on problems involving these topics (whether I got them right or wrong is another topic for tomorrow).

So, I'm embarrassed to say I am like many Americans and couldn't name half of the U.S. presidents, much less even a minor fraction of famous world leaders. Until today.  Here's how I remedied that, and if you ever need to memorize a list (in order or as a free set) a way you could do it too.

Mnemonists have developed a variety of mnemonic techniques, sort of like how a wizard may have a variety of potions at his or her disposal. Different ones for different occasions in the case of both the memorizer and the thaumaturge.  A great mnemonic technique for remembering a list when order is important is the peg system.   A brief description of the peg system would be assigning items to be remembered to images that represent numbers.  It does take a bit of prearrangement to form an image for a number that is significant to you.  One person may think an image of a ladybug should represent the number 6 (six legs), while another thinks a gambling die would be better (six sides).  Whatever works for you. 

In my case, the number images I use are mainly the ones Andi Bell mentions in his highly recommended book about mnemonics. I changed some of them to fit me, and did so many years ago, so they're second-nature for me. For numbers 44-40 they are as follows:

44--India Arie (long story...)
43--Baseball bat ( "6-4-3" baseball card)
42--Streetlight (42nd Street)
41--Mozart (Symphony #41)
40--Champagne (something you may drink on your 40th birthday)

I started with #44, because the USA is currently on its 44th POTUS and it's easier for me to start from Obama to Washington rather than the other way around.

So as I previously mentioned, the peg system works by associating the desired thing to remember to the numerical symbols that you know by heart.  The thing is, if you want to remember them for a relatively long time, you have to make the association outrageous, surprising, exotic...even illogical.   It's the best way to ensure the information will "stick" in the minds of us who are not blessed with a natural eidetic memory.

If I want to remember Obama is the 44th President, I don't envision him shaking hands with India Arie (she's #44 for me, remember).  That's too easy to eventually forget.  No, I picture him getting busted in a hotel room (Room #44, of course) in India with India Arie by the TV show Cheaters.  That's an image I'm not going to forget! 

The same goes for our 43rd President, George W. Bush.  It's tempting to just unimaginatively see him swing a bat at the World Series. But it's even more memorable to see him swinging a bat at the shoes this guy "pitches" to him:
 



I did this type of memorizing for all 44 Presidents (43, if you don't count Grover Cleveland twice).  Along the way, I went here and made the Presidents more "human" by reading a variety of facts about them.  Because I had their names anchored in my head thanks to the peg system, it was easier to devote time to remembering the trivia in a casual and leisurely way.  I figure what sticks will stick, and I'll likely remember more of the tangential information than I think I would.  I'll discuss why tomorrow when I talk about test-taking and intuition. 

Good night, guys. 

--Nathan (Nth)

Memory Training and the Miller Analogies Test Part 1

Hey Everyone,

The NaNoWriMo project was a blast (well, not an actual blast. "Fun," I mean).  A huge relief to actually write the novel by that deadline.  Granted, editing the novel will take a while, but the steepest hill has been climbed!

And with precious little time to appreciate that accomplishment, I'm already working on my next topic, mnemonics.  I guess it's strange that I have yet to write a post specifically about memory training, as I'm more of a mnemonist than any other type of mentathlete.  I can't think of a better time to remedy that than now.

You can find a nice free online resource entitled "How to Remember Anything" here. It's a great introduction to mnemonics.  I'm presently putting some of these techniques into action in the real-world.  You see, I've signed up to take a graduate school admissions exam called the Miller Analogies Test. I take it on the 14th of this month.

The MAT is a rather difficult test to do very well on. By "very well," I mean getting at least 90% of the questions right.  The maximum score you can attain on the MAT is 600/600, but of the 60,000 students who take it annually, perhaps the highest scores in any given year are in the 520's, and I understand it's only two or so who accomplish even that.  I don't believe anyone has ever scored perfect on the new version of the test.   If I do well enough, then in addition to my GPA and other accomplishments, I will hopefully earn enough financial aid to pay for my enrollment into this Texas A & M statistics online program.   I like statistics and I'm good at it, so why not make a career of it?  I confess to being a bit of a scanner, so I'll likely always be doing a number of things, but you (2nd person) do sorta need some stable way to support yourself and your other "hobbies."  I think a career as an applied mathematician or data analyst is the "security job" for me. 

So how exactly is mnemonics going to help me with preparing for the MAT?  Well, even though the test is primarily an exercise of your reasoning abilities, the more general knowledge you have, the more likely you can do your personal best on the MAT.  Sadly, there is a lot of information for me to re-learn or learn in the first place. How much? According to the test's own description, analogies on the MAT cover terminology, references, and concepts from life experience, pop culture, work, comparative religion, ethics, history, literature, modern & classical languages...algebra, arithmetic, finance...geography, anthropology, civics...public health, and sociology." They mentioned 41 different subjects in all.  That's quite a bit of information to touch upon in such a short amount of time, and they can cover some rather obscure items within these topics. If you don't believe me, here are a few examples of the harder questions:

1. MEATUS : (a. body  b. river  c. impetuous  d. contumelious) :: STRAIT : WATER
2. FABACEOUS : (a. plant  b.seed  c. shrub  d. bean) :: AQUILINE : EAGLE
3. TIFFANY : GLASS :: CHRISTO JAVACHEF : (a. islands  b. sculpture  c. found objects  d. paining)
4. TIZANO VECELLIO : TITIAN :: DOMENIKOS THEOTOKOPOULAS : (a. Domenik  b. El Greco  c. Theo  d. Poulous)
5. ASSOCIATIONS : (a. celestial sphere  b. cosmic rays  c. binary stars  d. cardinal points) :: SCATTERED : BOUND
6. OEDIPUS : (Clymaenestra  b. Jocasta  c. Antigone  d. Cassandra) : CLAUDIUS : GERTRUDE
7. NORSE : JUDEO-CHRISTIAN :: (a. Bragi  b. Balder  c. Buri  d. Ask) : ADAM
8. TONI MORRISON : BELOVED :: (a. Jane Smiley  b. John Updike  c. Norman Mailer  d. Alice Walker)  : RABBIT AT REST
9. STEVENSON : EISENHOWER :: (a. Wilke  b. Dewey  c. Landon  d. Davis)  : COOLIDGE

Yeah... I don't know about your childhood, but my family definitely did not discuss the consequences of a fabaceous diet, and John Updike's *Rabbit at Rest* around the dinner table.

I know completely what they're talking about in those particular analogies in perhaps 4 of the 9.  I know the words, but not what they're getting at in 1. There are 2 that I honestly never heard of half the words, but can figure out what they probably mean. But that's still 22% of the analogies that are totally gibberish to me.  A lack of a broad enough knowledge-set is evidently a challenge--to varying degrees-- for everyone who takes this test.  People may have prior knowledge of on the average 1/3 of the questions (not necessarily the same third), but are totally in the dark about the rest.   Suffice to say I have a lot of subjects to learn at least the basics about.
 
It's tempting to complain about the test's obvious cultural bias, but that's hardly proactive. A good mental athlete can adopt a winning attitude when he or she has to, so that's what I'll do here.  Besides, there's evidence that cultural bias or no, the MAT is actually a better predictor of graduate school success than is the GRE and that analogies are excellent ways to assess a person's powers of abstract reasoning.  Furthermore, analogies are all about finding patterns and relationships, which is also what statistics is supposed to be about--though in a different way.  So if I'd like to think I'd make for a stellar statistician, then this test should be a cakewalk!  Hey, the attitude adjustment is already working!

So here's the plan:  There are about 36 of the 41 subjects the MAT covers that I really am totally ignorant about that I need to memorize at least the basics.  I have eight days (I'm not including the 14th, as I've learned it's a mistake to study the day of a test. Instead I meditate and stay in a relaxed state the morning of the exam) to cover these subjects.  That's about 4-5 subjects per day.

I think what I'm going to do is post which 4 or five subjects I memorize each day, and then post which websites I found the most useful.  Perhaps I can help someone in the future who has to take the MAT.  This ought to be interesting.  Wish me luck!

Alrighty then,

-Nathan (Nth)

P.S.  Here is a pretty cool mnemonic device for remembering the countries of the world














 

Schedule for the month..maybe longer.

Hey all,


So today is the first day of the NaNoWriMo project.  I already have my outline ready, which saves on both time and sanity.  There is one little hitch, though.  I decided to polish up an old superhero-fiction story I wrote a few years ago called _Godchildren_, so _Complex_ will have to wait a while.  I had a few pieces of the Godchildren piece published here and there, but it's for the most part incomplete.  Only 6,000 words written.  My goal is to have it completely written and edited by November 30th, self-publish through Amazon, then spend the month of December marketing and advertising my opus, so I can make some money.   Promoting a book on one's own should be an exercise in practical creativity if ever there was one.  Oh, and to be fair, instead of writing 50,000 words, I'm aiming for at least 56,000 given that I coming into NaNoWriMo this year with extra junk in the literary trunk than I should. 

But glutton for punishment that I am, writing is not the only thing on my agenda.  March will be here before you know it, which means it's time for Nth to start re-training for the U.S.A. Memory Championship, American Crossword Puzzles Tournament, and for Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.  Trivia, word games, and memory.  All in March and all in New York.  Piece of cake [no matter what the little inner-voice of skepticism chants]


So my daily brain-training schedule for November is going to look like so:

1. Work on my novel.  (1 hour)
2. Revisit my old stomping ground, the School of Phenomenal Memory, refresh myself on the techniques taught there, and integrate them into my own memory training (1 hour).
3. Use this website as a starting point for trivia training.  Oh, and this one.  (1 hour)
4. Work on a crossword puzzles daily from here. (1 hours).
5. Do a weight-free workout regimen daily, because Nth is starting to get a little puffy around the midsection...and it turns out exercise is great for your cognition.  (2 hours)

I'm looking at about 6 hours a of training a day.  That with 8-hours working, and 8ish hours of sleep, leaves me with two hours of daily play.  Sadly there are no clubs or anything of the sort where I'm currently living, but I'll work fun into the daily routine, as God's my witness!  Who am I kidding, I'll probably just veg out and watch retro short lived TV shows on Youtube for those two hours. 

Getting the Creative Juices Flowing.

Hey everyone,


Sorry for the multi-week delay in posting.  Life has been incredibly busy, both in a good and bad way.  But good ole' Nth is back in the swing of things!  Today, I thought I'd talk about creativity, and how to enhance it. Creativity is one of those things we struggle to define, but readily know it when we see it.  Where we tend to run into roadblocks is in attempting to measure it and enhance it.  Well, I can't address the first task too competently, but when it comes to enhancing creativity, I believe I may know a useful thing or two that you may find interesting. 

Aside from getting a good night's rest  and putting some distance between you and your problems by daydreaming,  you can also:

1)Throw a little spontaneity in your life. 

The Odyssey of the Mind is an annual creative thinking tournament that I sadly never had the chance to participate in.  They have a number of practice problems and spontaneous problems that you can try on your own time.  Now, we adults are fully aware that real-life often throws us enough spontaneous problems to contend with. Like, "What do you mean I'm being audited?'"  Or, "What do you mean you hid cocaine in my car?" Yes, I feel you. Undoubtedly the very thought of actually looking for more surprises to solve in your everyday life makes the blood pressure rise while you utter, "Adding more grease to my fire?  No thank you." 

 Spontaneous problem-solving isn't for everyone,  and we at Mentathlete understand that.  For others looking to tap into their creativity well, there is

2)  Neurobics (Neural aerobics)

Getting yourself out of your comfort zone, and having to make adjustments is something you should welcome a little more often.  It turns out little things like brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand, or trying a new restaurant can actually help your brain form new neuronal connections which is great for mental flexibility and agility.  Symbolically enough, creativity itself is often about forcing two things to connect that at first glance seem unconnected.  Another way to make connections--conceptual, neuronal, and social-- is to

3) Do some creative writing. 

One of the best ways I personally get the innovative juices flowing is too start writing.  Poetically enough, November starts the National Novel Writing Month project, better known as NaNoWriMo.  From their website:

"National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.



Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.


Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.


Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down."

I actually did the NaNoWriMo challenge for the first time last year; talk about a head rush.  I did it with a couple of friends who were NaNo veterans, which made it more memorable and energizing.  There's something about knowing your friends are also working on their own creative projects with you.   And if you're looking for a mind-stretching, creativity nurturing exercise, then writing a novel in a month (or at least trying to) would be it. 

I strongly encourage you to sign up for the NaNoWriMo project for next month.  You'll find your imagination being forced to make connections and clever shortcuts as you attempt to put novelty into your novel.  But you probably want to start on an outline and general concept for your opus right now.  I've already began the outline for mine.  It's a novel put to rhyme.  The title is "Complex."  I'll share it with you at the end of November.  Hopefully I'll get to read yours as well.  

Until next time.

--Nth

Mirror Writing and Neurobics

This entry was a tough one to write.  A friend of mine asked me to investigate mirror writing, the ability to write backwards or inverted from what is the cultural standard.  I was excited to do so, as I am a lefty who used to write backwards and/or upside down as a kid (hey, it looked "right" to me). So before I started  investigating the science behind this, I had preconceived notions that research would have only positive things to say about this topic.  I was wrong.

I'll get the bad news out of the way first.  If you suddenly start mirror-writing out of the blue and unintentionally, you may want to talk to your doctor rather than show off the ability to your friends.  Spontaneous acquired mirror-writing may be a sign of a serious neurological problem. On top of that, even if you are an adult and naturally a mirror-writer, some researchers have concerns. It's not regarded as a real issue if small children mirror-write, as their brains are more flexible or neuroplastic than are adult ones. For them it's perfectly natural if they do it (or if they don't).

At four years of age, the presence of mirror writing is generally nothing to be concerned about. To understand why, it's important to know how the ability to write from left to right emerges in a young child. A young child first develops what's called laterality. This is an awareness of "leftness" and "rightness," or at least that the body has two sides. This internal awareness then matures into what's called directionality, which is the recognition and appreciation of right-left, up-down, forward-backward, etc.

By now you're probably wondering why on Earth would I think mirror-writing is something I suggest you try.  Didn't I just mention it being a feat connected to cognitive processing errors and dissociative disorders.  Well, yes.  But only if it is unintentional.  If you're doing this intentionally, then we're talking about a totally different matter, and it happens to be a good one.  

It turns out that mirror-writing is a very useful (and fun) neurological exercise. As we become adults, our brains make less and less neural connections, instead relying on the old tried-and-true ones it already has established. While this makes you crystallized in what you already know (do you really want to re-learn how to drive a car every time you get behind the wheel?), it can become challenging to learn new things.  
Much like a muscle, the brain needs to be exercised and exposed to new exercises. And mirror-writing is a great one.

You see, mirror-writing tends to correlate with having a thicker corpus callosum, and that is the part of the brain that enables the right and left hemisphere to communicate with each other.  Furthermore, there is some evidence that mirror-writers have bilateral language centers.  With the brain, two isn't always better than one, but in the case of language centers it is. Second-language acquisition comes easier to those with two active language centers, and word play probably does as well.

So give this exercise a try!  Start making new neural pathways and cognitive connections. Maybe you'll find learning a new language easier later on.

I should note to parents who want to give their tyke a cognitive boost that I wouldn't force mirror-writing on a small child.  Forcing a child to mirror-write is tantamount to forcing a lefthanded child to write with her or his right hand, which science now says is not so great.

For everyone else, here are a few videos to see what mirror-writing looks like. The first video is the only way I can mirror-write now.





Some other interesting facts about mirror-writing

• Mirror writing is likely genetic. So if you are a natural mirror-writer, you can thank your mom or someone from your uterine family line!
• Roughly 1 person in 6,500 is estimated to be a natural mirror-writer. 

"As with all entries in Mentathlete, this entry is not to be taken as medical advice.  Always consult your physician before pursuing any activity involving your health." 

Autogenics: The brain skill that can save your life.

 Autogenics is great for any stress-related issue. Just some of these include: insomnia, incontinence, hives, high-blood pressure, sexual dysfunction, eczema, and heart issues.  If you or someone you know may be struggling with a stress-related issue, this entry is for you. 

 Lucky me.  I was born with a electrical heart disorder called WPW. Occasionally my heart would seemingly lose its rhythm and take off as though I was in a race...for my life.  At one point my ticker went as fast as 200 beats per minute.  Not good. So why would I consider such a "defect" to be good fortune?  Well, I probably wouldn't have ever discovered autogenic training without the issue.  I know it sounds like a lemonade out of lemons story, but bear with me.

I didn't know I had a heart disorder until I was an adult.  I knew my bio-pumper would occasionally flutter, but I thought everybody's heart did that.  It never ceases to amaze me about life when you're little.  You assume if "X" happens to you, "X" happens to everyone. Or if you can do something, everyone can do it. But I digress.
 
I had some surgeries to fix my heart issue, and took beta-blockers prescribed to me to assist with the occasional palpitation thereafter. However, I later discovered that beta-blockers are not ideal for those with a higher risk of diabetes, like (gulp) African-Americans, so I just stopped taking mine. Arguably not my smartest moment, but I think being forthcoming is a worthwhile policy, even when it's unflattering.

Now most people can probably guess what happened next: I had a serious tachycardic episode one night.  This was about two and a half years ago, and I remember being terrified that I  was going to die. I've certainly had a few close calls in everyday life, just like everyone who has lived long enough, but this one felt ominously different.   I probably hadn't been in a church in at least four years before that night, but let me tell you, I prayed like a mantis not to die! To my surprise, my heart did regulate itself.  When I left the hospital that night and my heart would go erratic again, I would do a quick prayer as a remedy for each episode. 

You would imagine that I would have become a religious zealot from then on, but instead I wondered if I really had to resort to orisons in order to preclude an episode.  So the next time a palpitation happened, I just said "Stop" instead of appealing to the divine.  My heart "behaved itself" in response.   I no longer had  to call upon divine intervention for the heart issue any more than I needed to to scratch my nose.  This event made me even more curious, as it seemed to me that what I began doing was a healthy version of psychosomatics, the mind influencing the body in a good way.  After a bit of research, I discovered the name for it, a type of psychophysiological self-regulation called autogenic training. Lucky me.   

I had to admit, I was a bit disappointed to discover that what I could now do--speed up or slow down my heart through my emotions--could not be branded as a superpower, but in fact quite ordinary!  Medicine has known about this ability for a loooong time.  Yoga, biofeedback, progressive relaxation techniques, and autogenics are all disciplines that can lead to the ability to control involuntary aspects of your physiology, like your brain-waves, blood pressure, and heart rate. And I did indeed later learn how to control all of these things about myself.   I hesitate to use absolutes, like "always" and "everyone" but autogenics evidently is something that practically anyone can do.

I wondered why aren't people prescribed autogenic training rather than surgery  and/or drugs for certain health issues.  It's cheaper (my old beta-blockers cost about $40/month. My surgery bill soared into the thousands. On the other hand, autogenics--once you learn it--is free to use.) and always at your beck and call to utilize. And you can't forget to bring it with you, like you may with a bottle of pills. But the question of why autogenics and its variants are not more commonly prescribed is a question for another day.  I hope that one of the physicians I contacted will answer this question. If and when one does, I'll post the Q&A here.     

Of course in the meantime, you may want to try autogenics yourself. It's one of those things that you can go to a trainer to learn, or try to learn on your own.  I personally did a mixture of both.  Because of my circumstances, I learned heart control--which is considered one of the more advanced feats-- on my own before I learned the supposedly simpler ones like mentally erasing a tension headache via formal training.  Formal training helped me "fill in the blanks."

You can click here for a very thorough six step-plan for learning autogenics.  It typically takes 90 days to master, but people's learning curves vary, and you can expect some results in about 3 weeks, if you do the exercises daily.

--Nathan (Nth)


"As with all entries in Mentathlete, this entry is not to be taken as medical advice.  Always consult your physician before pursuing any activity involving your health."

First entry

Hello Everyone:


Thank you for stopping by my blog about honing various mind skills and applying them to everyday life.  My name is Nathan Fields, but I go by Nth BarFields.*  I'm a mnemonist returning to competition, training to be an exponentially better mentathlete than I was in my first foray into mind sports. Other than that, I'm an online tutor and aspiring writer, formerly an autogenics trainer/biofeedback therapist, and I do volunteer work for a missing persons group called Find Me.


I am very much interested in mind sports.  So what exactly are mind sports, you may ask?  Great question.  They are mental skills tests, or games of skill.  We're talking about events like memory competitions and chess tournaments.  My own personal take is that mind sports fall into two categories:


1) Games of strategy.
    Some examples include backgammon, checkers, go, othello, scrabble, and poker.


2) Cognitive skills.
    Some examples include mental calculation, IQ, speed reading, creativity tournaments, and spatial puzzles,
    and word puzzles. 


Undoubtedly there will be some "mind sports" that will in the future blur the lines between the categories, and even between mental and physical sports.  Biofeedback tournaments like the proposed Brainball comes to mind. 


Anywho, as I previously mentioned,  come 2011 I hope to win a multiple number of mind sports events.  This blog will help me to stay focused on this goal. This time around I plan on competing in the following type of tournaments:


01) Backgammon
02) Creativity
03) ESP
04) Memory
05) Mental Calculation
06) Mind Mapping
07) Reasoning & Spatial Puzzles (IQ)
08) Speed Reading
09) Trivia
10) Word Games


If I return to college, then I may also compete in academic competitions like the Rudolf Ortvay International Competition in Physics.I'll likely compete in competitions open to the public, like short story competitions.



I'll post my strategies for how I plan to accomplish champion level scores in these different fields, and how I apply the skills to everyday life.  I gladly appreciate your feedback and additional suggestions.


I have seven months to get ready for the first two mind sporting events on my agenda, the USA Memory Championship and the American Crossword Puzzles Tournament. They are both in March and in New York.  I also plan on making it to Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in the same month, for a nice trifecta.  


* My 2009 five minute digit stats were actually 78 numbers, not 5.