How intelligent you are, the story goes, is genetically hardwired and there is little you can do to alter this. Some people are naturally smart: they learn quickly, grasp complex matters, problem solve effectively and make good decisions. Others have to work that bit harder, relying more on practice and conscientiousness to keep up.

Decades of psychometrics and cognitive neuroscience inform us this is simply not true. General intelligence is subject to neuroplasticity change.

 

I’m Dr. Mark Ashton Smith, founder of IQ Mindware – an applied cognitive neuroscientist and evidence-based brain training provider.  

I earned my joint neuroscience and cognitive psychology Ph.D. at the Carnegie Mellon & University of Pittsburgh’s Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition (CNBC) program.  I lectured and researched in the Department of Psychology at Cambridge University for a number of years and went on to help build and direct psychology programs around the world. Now as an applied cognitive neuroscientist, I use my expertise to develop apps and programs to help individuals increase their general intelligence and become more cognitively resilient.  I now work with CEOs and executives of topflight corporations, the military, the public sector, educational institutes and the general public.

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What is Intelligence? What is IQ?

General intelligence is capacity to focus, effectiveness in problem solving, efficiency in learning, breadth and depth of knowledge, and successful adaptation to environmental demands.

Intelligence as the interplay of three complementary abilities: fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence and adaptive self-regulation. While your fluid intelligence (Gf) is your ability to reason, abstract and make inferences in problem solving, your crystallized intelligence (Gc) is your ability to store and access relevant knowledge and skills in long-term memory. Adaptive self-regulation (SR) is your ability to self-monitor and act rationally to prioritize your cognitive efforts and adapt to your environment successfully.

IQ tests are designed to measure the general intelligence factor (G). Your IQ is a standardized measure of G, where the average is 100 and the spread of scores in the general population looks like this ‘bell curve’. Using this bell curve you can figure out what percentage fall in certain ranges – e.g. 16% above 115.

General intelligence (G) can also be understood in terms of bioenergetic efficiency and resilience. Information processing consumes energy, and the more intelligent you are the less energy you consume to solve problems or learn new skills or materials. The person who first identified and named the ‘g factor’, Charles Spearman,  understood a tight link between information-processing intelligence and bioenergetics. And the cognitive challenges intelligence is applied to can be stressful, so there is a close link between intelligence and cognitive resilience. 

The Transforming Power of Neuroplasticity

The accumulated evidence paints a clear picture about the immense power of adult neuroplasticity. You can train to rewire your brain – not just in in forming new memories or learning new skills, but in augmenting core cognitive capacities underlying general intelligence (G). You can push your cognitive limits beyond your current baseline, to learn faster, think & reason better, comprehend better, make better decisions and be more efficient with your cognitive resources. The evidence for the neuroplasticity effects of IQ Mindware training apps can be found here.
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How To Start

Brain training for core neuroplasticity change requires commitment over a training period of around 4 weeks, 20 minutes a day. This gives enough time for significant cognitive gains. 

I suggest you consider the following points, if you want to succeed with your program.  

 

What Are Your IQ-Related Cognitive Goals?

A useful first step in a successful program is to identify what goal or goals you want to achieve or problem to overcome. This could be something general such as:

 

• Increasing your IQ – how smart you are: your ability to grasp situations, reason, solve problems, understand material, learn rapidly.
• Pushing your limits to attain maximum cognitive potential: upgrading yourself and expanding the bounds of what is possible.
• Becoming more productive and innovative at college or work.
• Being more resilient to maintain focus and clarity under pressure at college or work.

Or you may also have specific IQ-related goals such as:

• Gearing yourself up for a cognitive challenge (e.g. a project, an interview, a training course) you are committed to taking on.

Or you may want to take control and address cognitive issues that may impair your IQ such as:

• Attention-related disorders.
• Stress & anxiety issues that undermine your cognitive performance.
• Signs of cognitive decline with age – losing track, lapses in attention, memory problems, or simply not being as sharp as you once were.

 

i3 Mindware

i3 Mindware is an evidence-based IQ increase app and training program with supplementary eBooks and tutorials. It is focused on applied intelligence – increasing your cognitive capacity through neuroplasticity change to then apply in day to day cognitive challenges. It is a training program that combines the following:

 

1. Core Neuroplasticity Training

i3 Mindware’s core neuroplasticity training integrates two well-established scientific brain training interventions in one game:

1. Working memory training (developments of the classic dual n-back)
2. Executive control training (attention control and flexibility, interference control and speed of processing)

 i3 Mindware’s innovative game design integrates both of them in the gCODE brain training method, resulting in the most effective brain training for intelligence on the market. The evidence for the gCODE is reviewed here.

 

2. Mindware Training For Applied Intelligence 

‘Mindware’ is the cognitive science term for the knowledge & strategies you have at your fingertips to solve problems and organize your thinking.  i3 Mindware comes with an extensive set of tutorials to help you develop useful strategies for  problem solving, reasoning, decision-making, strategizing and planning, efficient learning of new content and skills, and so on.

 

3. Cognitive Performance Tracking

The gTRACK Test Battery module provides you with an optional selection of short, well-known scientifically valid tests for a broad spectrum of IQ and executive-related cognitive abilities. With this you can chart your progress and prove your objective training gains.

 

4. IQ Increase Guarantee  

Whether you use the gTRACK Test Battery or free external IQ tests we provide links to, we guarantee a 10-20 IQ increase as a result of training – or your money back. We are the only training provider to give this level of guarantee. Terms of the guarantee are found here.

For  i3 Mindware specs and purchase options click the button.

 

i3 Mindware App

 

Good luck with your training goals moving forward!

 

Mark Ashton Smith, Ph.D.

Director, Cambridge Mindware Lab
Director, IQ Mindware Apps
Department of Psychology, University of Essex Online
@LinkedIn

 

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