Self makes you smarter

brains of people with high self-control works more efficiently, the conclusion reached by researchers from the University of Toronto's Rotman in. The thing is that people who can not control themselves well, have to make less effort to achieve the desired result.

The author of Mark Berman and his colleagues analyzed the results of the famous "marshmallow test" conducted within the framework of the same study 40 years ago. Then the four-year children put before a choice: get a sweet marshmallow now or wait 15 minutes and get two. For a small child it is quite a difficult task. However, it appeared that those who at an early age was able to wait for their own benefit, then more likely to receive at school and university higher marks refrain from ........, were in better physical shape, have more money in their bank accounts and happy family life.

For further research, scientists were invited to participate in tests of some of these people - and those who took the marshmallow immediately, and those who have decided to wait. It was decided to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of the brain. Subjects performed the task to check the working memory - the participants briefly showed 6 words and then asked to identify which of the words was shown earlier, and what is not.

Those who 40 years ago refrained from immediate Eating marshmallows, showed the best results. MRI showed they have more blood flow to the frontal lobes of the brain, which indicates a high brain activity. In addition, these people have used simple and intuitive algorithms for storing, in contrast to the second group, and were able to explain them. In fact, to concentrate on the task at hand, they spend less effort.

Unfortunately, the data can not give an exact answer to the question whether the increased ability to self-control natural gift, or is the result of education. Mark Berman and his colleagues believe that it is necessary to spend more series of tests to determine this.

via factroom.ru