this is the name of an article gently translated from Korean by Lee Hajin (4p) in her blog:


here is the link for you to read! http://www.starbaduk.com/23135#4

I think is simply wonderful!

I'll bet anything that the effects of these changes in the brain (increased concentration, better memory, better problem-solving power) are almost entirely Go-specific and not transferable to any other activity.

Similar studies were done for juggling and many other things. Basically doing anything at all leads to neuron growth and a gradual specialization of the brain for doing that specific activity.

You may be correct, but I'm not totally sure. I remember a period of time when I didn't study go at all, but studied for school very hard. When I did come back to play a game of go, I felt that I had improved a lot. I don't know if it's related to my study of other things, but it is certainly a possibility.

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be immersed

Chess has been proven to prevent/decrease diseases caused by neuronal degeneration... so I guess the same theory could be applied to Baduk.

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My blog about Go and Boardgames: Alejo's Tenuki

I am inclined to believe is that this is mostly accurate, but that studying go (or juggling, etc.) may affect closely related activities as well (e.g., certain limited types of logical reading). This belief of mine is almost entirely un-scientific.

It seems common for people, especially when they just starting learning go, to think of random everyday things in go terms. Maybe that has something to do with it. The brain is trying to make connections and fit unrelated stuff into the shiny new patterns it just learned.

And I guess there's anecdotal evidence that knowing go helps one learn chess quicker, and vice versa. I guess you're right.

This may be a case of the cart pushing the horse. People that are more inclined to that type of brain development might have a propensity for playing go. It is a shame that we can’t force a truly random sample of our population to play goes for 10 years, and then study the affects on brain development. On second thought that might be a good thing.

This sounds like saying certain fruits are good for your body...

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长考出臭棋.

Juggling is muscle memory, so obviously that isn't very transferable.

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TucsonGo.org - Play Go in Tucson
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This is obviously incorrect.

Obviously.

There is something called "lernpause" in german. I don't know the english term for it but it means that your brain somehow continues learning (or let's say practising or internalizing the things you learned) during the pause you give after a hard study.
That was my favourite concept in highschool, best excuse for laziness , but there is surely some truth in it.

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If you say no, Elwood and I will come here for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day of the week.

I've only studied a bit of psychology, but I'd think the effects most likely to generalize are on concentration, focus and willpower (recent research seems to say the metaphor of "willpower as muscle" is far more accurate than one might think).

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Recent research? Link please?

Couldn't give you one. But google "willpower research" and you'll get news summaries (it's received a lot of popular press). Somewhere you should be able to find info you need.

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Occupy Babel!

I would suspect that the reason is rather that when you gain some distance by taking a break, you will look differently at the game when you start again playing.

My experience was that I suddenly felt how bad I actually play and that I could only win a game because my opponent was playing even worse. It was like seeing the game suddenly a lot clearer.

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Stay out of my territory! (W. White, aka Heisenberg)

I'm always stronger after a break. The less I play, the stronger I am!

This is probably partly explained by increased mindfulness you get while doing something you're not too familiar with.

So it isn't muscle memory?

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TucsonGo.org - Play Go in Tucson
We meet twice a week, visit us!

Of course it involves muscle memory, but I don't think it's reasonable to say 'juggling is only muscle memory so it does nothing to the brain in a way that could affect other skils'.

In fact, I bet there have been studies that show juggling makes you better at maths or vice versa (on the basis that if there aren't, it'll be the only thing that won't ). Also it probably gives you cancer.

The brain re-uses everything. For instance, muscule memory is used in language. First, you learn to put one thing in front of another, with your arms. Then, you learn that you can put the first thing behind the other thing! A portion of your brain remembers that.

You then learn to write. You put one word in front of another. Then, you learn that you can put the first word in back of the other! Same part of the brain is used for that. Muscule memory is used to mentally manipulate concepts. in fact, as far as the brain is concerned, the whole of reality is just another concept.

What you learn, any skill at all, is used all over the brain, as much as possible. Otherwise, we would never be able to learn it all, constantly re-inventing the same techniques for slightly different things.

They have, indeed, tested the effect of learning a new skill, on people who were not inclined to learn that skill to begin with. The effect was the same, the brain developsin the same areas, whether you like the activity or not.

Neurons that are not in use, die off. The number of connections that they have determines the amount of food that they get. So, constantly learning, gets more food to the brain. Until death, anyways. Probably because people stop eating at that point.

Honestly, this news is very cool. I've always wondered about the effects of Baduk on younger people, and really, this is big sign that it has an overall positive impact. I hope they keep research like this up, so I can possibly see a surge in Go outside of Asian countries as a teaching reference or a development tool.

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I know nothing.