Braingle's Mentalrobics

Creativity : Think Like a Child

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:00:01 GMT

We have discussed how children tend to be more creative than adults for various reasons. Thinking like a child is a good way to rewind your mental clock and potentially invent some creative solutions to your current problem or project. A good way to start thinking like a child is to abandon your judgment and knowledge of what is practical and start asking playful questions.

1. What if your project were an animal? What would it look like? Draw it.
2. If your project had parents, what would they be like?
3. What does your project like to eat?
4. If you were a hundred years in the future, how would you solve your problem?
5. What if you were a caveman? Would the problem still exist? If it didn't, what would be a related problem?

These are just examples of playful questions. Think up your own that make sense to your project.

Memory : Semantic Memory

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Semantic memory refers to the memory of meanings and knowledge. For example, semantic memory would be used to remember your mother's birthday. The location of semantic memory in the brain is still debated, but many scientists believe that semantic memory is widely distributed across the entire brain.

Semantic memory is what is most often emphasized in schoolwork. The student is often required to memorize facts for later recall. It is interesting to note that semantic memory requires repetition whereas episodic memory is by definition the memory of a one-time event.

Vocabulary : Word of the Day : Coterie

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:00:01 GMT

co-ter-ie

noun :: An intimate and often exclusive group of persons with a unifying common interest or purpose.

"The Quilting Coterie got together every Sunday evening to make quilts."