Boost your IQ by Ron Bracey

Author:Ron Bracey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Watkins Media

YOUR KNOWLEDGE RESERVOIR

Having access to seemingly infinite amounts of information with a few clicks of a computer mouse, do we still need to carry knowledge around in our heads? Should we spend time and effort learning things like facts and figures?

THE VALUE OF KNOWLEDGE

Knowledge isn’t intelligence, but developing a rich reservoir of information can confer various advantages in terms of enhancing your overall thinking abilities:

Faster thinking speed

Your mind’s retrieval system is far faster than any computer. Having a large knowledge database to draw on instantaneously, speeds up your thoughts and responses.

Deeper comprehension

A broad range of knowledge strengthens your ability to understand complex issues and make decisions. It also increases your ability to see connections between apparently unrelated topics, thus enhancing your capacity for creative thinking.

More efficient memory

A large network of existing knowledge makes it easier for you to learn and remember new information, as explained below.

EXPLOITING THE BRAIN’S STORAGE SYSTEM

The brain has a wonderfully effective storage system that uses a wide variety of tags to retrieve information via associative triggers. We get a glimpse of this process in action with word associations: think bird, think yellow, and immediately CANARY will pop into your mind. All our senses and emotions are involved in this tagging process: a friend’s voice conjures up their face in your mind; a whiff of ozone brings to mind a childhood seaside vacation. As we saw on pages 48–9 pathways to and between pieces of information are reinforced by repetition and habit, and by employing more than one of our senses.

This association by multiple stimuli gives us huge potential not only to retrieve material from our memories but to assimilate new information. When we receive data, our brain “files” it with knowledge we already possess, forming associated clusters. So new information is much easier to retain if it relates in some way to something we already know. It’s like doing a crossword puzzle – each clue you fill in gives you more help with the remaining answers. School lessons (in theory, at least) are structured to help children’s learning in this way, and we use the same process when we’re adults, whether we’re getting to grips with a new job or learning to drive a car. Providing a wealth of “hooks” on which to hang new information increases our learning capability, which is one of the foundations of intelligence.

“Knowledge is the life of the mind.”

Abu Bakr (AD 573–634)

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