Cognitive Flexibility The Key To Learning and Creativity....Not Our IQs

OneEyedDiva

OneEyedDiva

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According to this article:
"Cognitive flexibility provides us with the ability to see that what we are doing is not leading to success and to make the appropriate changes to achieve it. If you normally take the same route to work, but there are now roadworks on your usual route, what do you do? Some people remain rigid and stick to the original plan, despite the delay. More flexible people adapt to the unexpected event and problem-solve to find a solution." Read on...
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/...flexibility-is-key-to-learning-and-creativity
@feywon
 

Absolutely. My Dad was my first 'teacher'. He thought highly of cognitive flexibility, tho that's not what he called it. It simply said to him a true sign of intelligence is the ability to change one's approach, tactics, habits, and opinions when one receives new verifiable information that changes the nature of the problem or challenge.

Cognitive flexibility can become a habit, it involves questioning one's own assumptions as well as things one reads, hears. Dad essentially made us do this by requiring us to back up any opinion that wasn't just a matter of personal taste. What's more we could even question HIM without incurring any bad feelings from him. (He often seemed almost proud we'd gotten his point about 'question everything'). You've probably seen my mentions of neuroplasticity--the brain can actually be physically rewired. It does some of that itself when we have an injury and lose use of a hand or limb.

One would think that learning to meta-think (think about how/what we think--consider if our way is produces the desired results would be as simple as training neurons controlling limbs to fire differently to achieve best results is, but because our emotions are sometimes kind of entwined with our thought processes it take a good bit more 'intention' and focus on the goal.

As for the driving example, knowing that most accidents happen within 25 miles of home, and likely because people become complacent and are more likely to go on 'autopilot' when on a familiar route for the last 2 decades of my work life i deliberately switched up my route from home to work a couple of times a week. Laramie was not a metropolis but just large enough that a good 3 or 4 options were possible without adding too much extra mileage or time to the trip. On long drives that there is only one time/gas efficient way to travel if i can't have daughter with me to talk and keep me alert i put on a radio station where the DJ have interesting 'patter' as well play music.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
According to this article:
"Cognitive flexibility provides us with the ability to see that what we are doing is not leading to success and to make the appropriate changes to achieve it. If you normally take the same route to work, but there are now roadworks on your usual route, what do you do? Some people remain rigid and stick to the original plan, despite the delay. More flexible people adapt to the unexpected event and problem-solve to find a solution." Read on...
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/...flexibility-is-key-to-learning-and-creativity
@feywon
Click to expand...

Fascinating. Thanks for posting this!:)
 

A recent book I've read is How To Create A Mind by Ray Kurzweil a leading artificial intelligence scientist. AI research has significantly changed our understanding of the human brain in just a few years. One of the key facets is that our neocortex is structured as multi-level hierarchial pattern recognizers.

What is pattern recognition about:

https://cognitiontoday.com/why-did-humans-evolve-pattern-recognition-abilities/

The following summarizes the incredible recent advance in understanding how the brain is wired for such.

http://vinodwadhawan.blogspot.com/2014/03/125-kurzweils-pattern-recognition.html

...Kurzweil (2012) hypothesizes that the basic uniform unit of action in the entire neocortex is the so-called pattern recognizer (PR); it is the fundamental component of the neocortex. Deviating a bit from Mountcastle's model, Kurzweil stipulates that the PRs are not separated by specific physical boundaries; rather they are placed closely one to the next in an interwoven fashion. A cortical column is simply an aggregate of a large number of PRs. The PRs wire themselves to one another throughout the course of a lifetime. Therefore the elaborate connectivity between modules that is there in the neocortex is not specified much by the genetic code; rather it gets created to embody the patterns we actually learn over time.

Kurzweil estimates that there are ~500,000 cortical columns in the human neocortex, each being ~0.5 mm wide and ~2.5 mm long. Each contains ~60,000 neurons. Since each PR within a cortical column contains ~100 neurons, it follows that there are ~500,000 x 60,000 / 100 or ~300 million PR s in our neocortex. (from 100 billion brain neurons with 100 trillion synapses)

A most astounding result of this recent research is that our neocortex begins at birth with these pattern recognizers (PR), essentially empty, ready to be filled by each individual's life experiences. Our brains don't complete the base structure of PR's till our mid 20s. Though the PRs are loosely connected to specific more ancient creature lower brain areas, they are so flexible and similar that if one PR area is damaged say due to injury, another area can take over its function to some degree by rewiring even if it was wired for something else. This is another facet of neural plasticity that greatly diminishes the old psychological science value of IQ and shows our intelligence by time we become adults is also significantly the result of what we have fed our brains with experience, knowledge, and learning.
 
David777 said:
A recent book I've read is How To Create A Mind by Ray Kurzweil a leading artificial intelligence scientist. AI research has significantly changed our understanding of the human brain in just a few years. One of the key facets is that our neocortex is structured as multi-level hierarchial pattern recognizers.

What is pattern recognition about:

https://cognitiontoday.com/why-did-humans-evolve-pattern-recognition-abilities/

The following summarizes the incredible recent advance in understanding how the brain is wired for such.

http://vinodwadhawan.blogspot.com/2014/03/125-kurzweils-pattern-recognition.html

...Kurzweil (2012) hypothesizes that the basic uniform unit of action in the entire neocortex is the so-called pattern recognizer (PR); it is the fundamental component of the neocortex. Deviating a bit from Mountcastle's model, Kurzweil stipulates that the PRs are not separated by specific physical boundaries; rather they are placed closely one to the next in an interwoven fashion. A cortical column is simply an aggregate of a large number of PRs. The PRs wire themselves to one another throughout the course of a lifetime. Therefore the elaborate connectivity between modules that is there in the neocortex is not specified much by the genetic code; rather it gets created to embody the patterns we actually learn over time.

Kurzweil estimates that there are ~500,000 cortical columns in the human neocortex, each being ~0.5 mm wide and ~2.5 mm long. Each contains ~60,000 neurons. Since each PR within a cortical column contains ~100 neurons, it follows that there are ~500,000 x 60,000 / 100 or ~300 million PR s in our neocortex. (from 100 billion brain neurons with 100 trillion synapses)

A most astounding result of this recent research is that our neocortex begins at birth with these pattern recognizers (PR), essentially empty, ready to be filled by each individual's life experiences. Our brains don't complete the base structure of PR's till our mid 20s. Though the PRs are loosely connected to specific more ancient creature lower brain areas, they are so flexible and similar that if one PR area is damaged say due to injury, another area can take over its function to some degree by rewiring even if it was wired for something else. This is another facet of neural plasticity that greatly diminishes the old psychological science value of IQ and shows our intelligence by time we become adults is also significantly the result of what we have fed our brains with experience, knowledge, and learning.
Click to expand...
Several researchers since middle of the 20th century have shown that mental, neuronal, 'maps' can change to compensate for injuries to either a body part or the part of brain that 'controlled' that body part.

I'll have to check out Kurzweil's book. But if you have a strong interest in brain function and neuroplasticity i'd recommend Dr. Norman Doidge's 'The Brain That Heal's Itself' that gives both a history of research into neuroplasticity as well stories of practical applications of it that have facilitated people regaining brain/body functions that were impaired.

I've been reading it since got it in late August--almost done. But i have a process for such books that gives me time to 'digest' new info, compare/contrast it with other info on the topic (which sometimes means investing time refreshing memory on earlier learned info) and consider the implications of it all.
 

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