Life In 19x19

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.

palapiku wrote: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.

....

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.

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

palapiku wrote: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.

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.

judicata wrote: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...

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

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

This is obviously incorrect.

Obviously.

Kirby wrote: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.

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.

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).

hyperpape wrote: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).

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.

Kirby wrote: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 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.