You’ve probably heard someone say that listening to Mozart makes you smarter or that they have
a photographic memory.
But... that’s just not the case.
Using the power of scientific research, let's bust...
some popular misconceptions about intelligence, memory and your brain.
If somebody tells you “listening to classical music makes you smarter” tell them to take
it Bach.
In one study, participants listened to either a Mozart sonata, verbal instructions or silence
and then did parts of an IQ test.
Those who listened to Mozart did perform better in spatial-reasoning tasks.
But… this enhancing effect of music, also known as “the Mozart effect”, is only
temporary.
It wore off in less than 15 minutes.
Subsequent studies have found that the “Mozart effect” only works for short periods when
people enjoy the music, and it doesn’t work when the major chords and replaced by minor
chords.
If you hear that someone “has a photographic memory”, don’t let it strike a… chord.
There’s no scientific evidence that we can remember things so instagood that our abilities
mimic a camera.
People may have eidetic memory, where they have an exceptional ability to process and
organise information very efficiently–but this isn’t the same as having an image in
your brain.
In one study, researchers shows that mental representations about photographs aren’t
encoded the same way that photographs are recalled.
It’s not possible to view a picture in your brain just as you observed it.
If you do want to think like the flash… crossword puzzles and brain games aren’t
the way do it.
There’s a popular belief that playing games keeps your brain young.
But... that’s a trivial pursuit.
In one study, participants from 60 to 90 years old were split into groups.
Some groups learnt new skills, like digital photography or sewing quilts, and the other
groups participated in social clubs, did crossword puzzles or watched documentaries.
Those who learnt new skills and applied them to something creative - like photography or
quilting - showed the greatest improvements on memory tasks after three months.
And if you’re looking to stitch up a higher score on a multiple choice test, thinking
“your first guess is always your best” isn’t sew smart.
Pretty much all research on sticking with your initial hunches suggests that most answer
changes are from incorrect to correct, and people who change their answers usually improve
their test scores.
It’s said we buy into this myth–sometimes called the “first instinct fallacy”–because
it feels worse to change a correct answer to an incorrect one.
That makes changing right answers to wrong more memorable, so it seems more probable.
If now your first instinct is to click away - science suggests that may be wrong… come
back and let me know what you think in the comments.
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