You might get an ego boost from looking at your own well-put-together Facebook profile, but in the long term you could be hurting yourself. A report in Media Psychology journal found that people feel less motivated to do well on cognitive tasks after viewing their own profiles. The name of the report: “Feeling Better But Doing Worse: Effects of Facebook Self-Presentation on Implicit Self-Esteem and Cognitive Task Performance.”
Source: TandFonline.com
According to new findings from Virginia Tech’s Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute, small-group dynamics such as small meetings or cocktail parties could have a negative impact on your intelligence. Researchers measured people’s IQs before and after such scenarios and found a drop in their ability to solve problems after small group meetings.
Source: Huffingtonpost.com
According to the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory, cramming too many people into one space can negatively affect one’s ability to think strategically and make decisions. To put it simply, the more people there are in one space, the less oxygen there is for each of those people’s brains, making it hard for their brains to function.
Source: Newscenter.lbl.gov
One UCLA study found that eating a diet high in sugar can slow down your brain and make it harder for you to remember things. Luckily, the study did find that consuming omega-3 fatty acids can reverse the effects of sugar on the brain.
Source: Ucla.edu
Scientists at University of Michigan performed studies that found living in an urban environment could negatively affect your attention span and ability to remember things. They measured cognitive performance in participants after viewing images of nature, and/or images of urban areas and found that those who viewed images of nature performed much better than those who viewed images of urban areas.
Source: Fastcompany.com
A study published in Media Psychology found that reading about people who are behaving stupidly or watching people behave stupidly causes viewers to perform worse on knowledge tests. The name of the study: “A Story About A Stupid Person Can Make You Act Stupid (Or Smart): Behavioral Assimilation (And Contrast) as Narrative Impact.”
Source: TandFonline.com
If you often travel long distances for work, you could be at risk of experiencing lowered memory retention and learning capabilities. Psychologists at University of California, Berkeley found that chronic jet lag can lead to diminished cognitive functions long after the jet lag is over.
Source: Berkeley.edu
Listening to someone complain for more than 30 minutes can deplete neurons in the part of your brain that’s involved in problem solving, according to the book, “Three Simple Steps: A Map to Success in Business and Life.” However, the book specifies that there is a difference between talking about a problem in hopes of solving it and complaining for the sake of complaining — the latter being what negatively affects the brain.
Source: Inc.com
Researchers at several educational institutions including Harvard and Princeton universities found that worrying about money can negatively impact spatial and cognitive tests, and temporarily lower ones IQ. Luckily the research found the IQ scores rebounded when the money worries were gone — a good argument for buying lottery tickets.
Source: Bankruptcysoapbox.com
Research from Cardiff University in Wales found that chewing gum can impair short-term memory for both item order and item identity. So, for example, if you were shown a chart with 10 different images on it, after chewing gum, you might struggle to recall what those images were and where on the chart they were placed.
Source: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
