Re: does doing math really make you smarter?

<bennett@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1160961011.449711.122740@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Is there any empirical evidence that doing math actually strengthens
your logical skills? It's the kind of claim you hear tossed around a
lot but I'm wondering if there are studies showing that it's true.

Of course I'm not talking about the fact that doing a particular kind
of math problem over and over will make you better at solving that
particular type of problem. I know that if you do a lot of calculus,
you'll get better at calculus. But will it make you better at solving
the type of logical/mathematical problem that you've never seen before?


A completely rigorous study would be one in which:
1) You have one group of test subjects practice on the kinds of math
problems that you think will make them smarter. The control group
doesn't engage in any kind of extra practice.
2) At the end of the practice period (which could be an hour, or
several weeks, whatever), you give both groups a set of math problems
that are completely different from the kind that you gave the test
subjects during the practice period, and are also completely different
from any type of math problem that you would normally encounter in
school.

Then you see if the test subjects who did the math practice, score
better than the control group.


The August 2006 issue of Scientific American had as its cover story, Secrets
of the Expert Mind. The article showed how it is possible to train a mind
to become expert in some endeavor, but there seemed to be very little
evidence that there was any spillover effect to other areas.

An interesting piece of research that was contained in the article was one
that I had read before. Chess experts seem to have great ability to
memorize chess pieces on a board. When tested against lesser quality
players, they could recall the placement of pieces in controlled tests to a
much greater extent. But the initial test used positions that might
actually be encountered in a real game. When the pieces were placed
randomly on the board, their ability to recall the placement was not much
better than the poor chess players.

It seems the mind picks up not only specialized skills with certain types of
practice, but even something as seeminginly unrelated to particularized
efficacy such as memory is affected by the training. But a gift or an
acquired ability with the chessboard does not help in other walks of life.


.

Relevant Pages

  • does doing math really make you smarter?
    ... Is there any empirical evidence that doing math actually strengthens ... of math problem over and over will make you better at solving that ... You have one group of test subjects practice on the kinds of math ... better than the control group. ...
    (sci.math)
  • Re: does doing math really make you smarter?
    ... of math problem over and over will make you better at solving that ... You have one group of test subjects practice on the kinds of math ... Chess experts seem to have great ability to ... acquired ability with the chessboard does not help in other walks of life. ...
    (sci.math)