{"id":2414,"date":"2017-10-13T08:00:35","date_gmt":"2017-10-13T08:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/braindevs.net\/blog\/blog\/?p=2414"},"modified":"2017-12-07T16:52:35","modified_gmt":"2017-12-07T16:52:35","slug":"we-need-a-bigger-boat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/we-need-a-bigger-boat\/","title":{"rendered":"We Need a Bigger Boat"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/braindevs.net\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AdobeStock_72647120_Credit.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-2417\" src=\"https:\/\/braindevs.net\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AdobeStock_72647120_Credit-1024x553.jpg\" alt=\"AdobeStock_72647120_Credit\" width=\"640\" height=\"346\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AdobeStock_72647120_Credit-1024x553.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AdobeStock_72647120_Credit-300x162.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Because working memory is so important for learning, and because human working memory capacity isn&#8217;t as large as we wish it were, we would LOVE to be able to increase it.<\/p>\n<p>If we could make working memory bigger, then all sorts of complex cognitive tasks&#8211;comparing historical figures, multiplying multi-digit numbers, parsing complex sentences, coding useful programs&#8211;would just be easier.<\/p>\n<p>Various researchers and companies have touted exercises and games to embiggen working memory. However, many scholars are quite skeptical about such activities.<\/p>\n<p>Except in unusual circumstances (say, a particular kind of brain injury, or a very long gap in schooling), we simply haven&#8217;t had much luck in artificially boosting WM.<\/p>\n<p>Recently I&#8217;ve been reading more and more about an alternate <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Transcranial_direct-current_stimulation\" target=\"_blank\">approach<\/a> to cognitive enhancement: transcranial direct-current stimulation. That&#8217;s a fancy way of saying: applying electricity to the brain through the skull. (Safely.)<\/p>\n<p>Although\u00a0the ideas sounds really cool in a sci-fi kind of way,\u00a0this recent <a href=\"http:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/0956797617698139\" target=\"_blank\">study<\/a> dampens the hype. The details of the study, and the statistical analysis, are quite complex.<\/p>\n<p>The short version is: don&#8217;t sign up to get zapped any time soon.<\/p>\n<p>Given that working memory training programs tend to be VERY expensive and VERY time consuming, I advise skeptical caution before going that route.<\/p>\n<p>When he first sees Jaws, Roy Scheider tells Robert Shaw that they&#8217;ll need a bigger boat. If we want to enhance working memory, we&#8217;re going to need a better technology.<\/p>\n<p>For the time being, the best working-memory enhancer is what it&#8217;s always been:\u00a0<em>school<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Because working memory is so important for learning, and because human working memory capacity isn&#8217;t as large as we wish it were, we would LOVE to be able to increase it. If we could make working memory bigger, then all sorts of complex cognitive tasks&#8211;comparing historical figures, multiplying multi-digit numbers, parsing complex sentences, coding useful [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":2417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[19,30],"class_list":["post-2414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lb-blog","tag-skepticism","tag-working-memory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2414"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2416,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2414\/revisions\/2416"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}