Improving brain performance is a very popular thing. After all, every person wants to get tired, at least less than his opponent. It is the increase in brain performance, or increase in the endurance of the mind, that we will consider in this article.
By the way, if you want to become smarter, pay attention to 8 ways of brain development (including the famous Pythagoras method).
Why is improving brain performance so important? The fact is that no matter how strong a person is, if he gets tired twice as fast as his weaker but hardy rival, he will most likely be inferior to him.
In this case, the question arises: what determines the endurance of the brain, and why does it play such a serious role in our performance?
A group of scientists from the Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences was engaged in this issue. You can read more about the results of their long-term experiments in the book of the outstanding Russian psychophysiologist, Doctor of Medical Sciences and Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences - P.V. Simonova - "The Motivated Brain".
Scientists have found that people with high performance are characterized by alternating activation of the right and left hemispheres of the brain.
It is as if you, carrying a heavy bag, were not carrying it in one hand, but constantly changing your hand.
Persons with low efficiency are characterized by stagnant activation of the left hemisphere.
Here it is necessary to clarify that the structures of the left hemisphere of the brain are responsible for the formation of stereotypes of activity, and that of the right one - for their mechanical implementation.
That is, when we do unfamiliar work for the first time in our life (learning to walk, draw, play a musical instrument or type with the blind method), then the stereotype of activity has not yet been formed, as a result of which the left hemisphere is working at full capacity.
When the stereotype is formed, the left hemisphere begins to rest, and the right hemisphere, on the contrary, connects and monitors the mechanical execution of the already formed stereotype.
And if everything looks quite simple with walking and playing the guitar, then with mental work the situation is much more complicated. Indeed, in it, along with old tasks, new ones constantly appear.
- People with poor brain performance differ in that they are not able to "turn off", that is, to give rest to their left hemisphere, because they unconsciously believe that without constant control the task will not be completed. In fact, this is the neurophysiological solution to what is today called the buzzword "perfectionism."
- People with high brain performance, unconsciously relate to the task being performed more simply, that is, they allow the left hemisphere to rest, switching to a kind of "autopilot".
Hence, it is concluded that people with low performance mistakenly believe that without constant control by the left hemisphere, the task will not be completed.
In other words, as a normal person gets tired, an adaptation mechanism is connected to the task, which changes the state of the nervous system.
If this mechanism does not work properly, the performance of the brain is noticeably reduced.
Imagine that when you walk, you are in control of every step. The body leans forward, you say to yourself "attention, I am falling." Further, to maintain balance, you continue to think and give the command to the muscles to push the opposite leg forward. In this situation, in the process of walking you will get tired extremely quickly, since the left hemisphere will continuously monitor the correctness of the right one.
When the system is working as it should, the whole process is done mechanically.
To simplify, we can say that when the left hemisphere masters a new type of activity, a switch is triggered in the brain, which transfers control over the task to the right hemisphere.
But what if this switch sticks? For this we have prepared a special exercise for you.
Synchronization of the cerebral hemispheres
It is possible to synchronize the work of the cerebral hemispheres using an unusual exercise based on the Stroop Effect.
Its essence is as follows: in the shortest possible period of time, you need to compare the written word and its color, and then name the color.
The perception of color and text is carried out by different parts of the hemispheres. That is why regular sessions with this exercise will help you synchronize the work of the hemispheres, learning how to quickly switch between them.
Stroop test
So, very quickly name the COLOR of the word in order:
If you have successfully completed all the lines, try this random exercise.
Nowadays, this exercise, better known as the Stroop Test, is widely used to diagnose the flexibility of cognitive thinking, and tasks based on it are often included in programs for self-development and brain training.
By the way, we examined the most common cognitive biases (or thinking errors) in a separate article.
If you do this exercise at least once a week, your brain will become much more resilient, and its performance will pleasantly surprise you.
Now you know how to improve the performance of the mind using a unique brain development technique.
