Image Streaming

Brainpower Newsletter

I have a new creative problem solving technique for you this week: Image streaming. It's a technique created by Dr. Win Wenger and his Project Renaissance. I haven't tried it yet, but after reading up on it, I thought you should be introduced to the technique. It is a way to improve your ability to visualize. This, in turn, can be very useful for creative mental work.

The basic theory is that by speaking about what you are imagining while you are visualizing it, you make cross-hemispheric connections. Visualization, you may remember, is handled by the right hemisphere in most people, while language is processed in the left hemisphere. It is not common to speak while visualizing with your eyes closed, but it is a way to improve the quality and strength of your visualization.

For example, to use this technique to solve a problem, you would sit quietly and relax. Maybe even pay attention to your breath for a few minutes, to slow down your brain waves. Then you "see" the problem in your mind, and start describing in detail what you see, speaking aloud. As you describe the image, it should become clearer, allowing you to describe more details and continue the process.

This is a very basic outline of how image streaming works. You would of course make a note of any good ideas that came to mind, but only later, when the exercise is done. Alternately, you could have a tape recorder going as you do this. As I said, I haven't tried it yet, so I would appreciate any feedback from those who have.

Einstein's Riddle

The story behind Einstein's riddle is that Albert Einstein created it in the late 1800s, and claimed that 98% of the world population couldn't solve it. I am not sure of the true origin, but I have seen this one floating around the internet, and it is a good brain exercise. Here it is:

- In a street there are five houses, painted five different colors.

- In each house lives a person of different nationality

- These five homeowners each drink a different beverage, smoke different brand of cigar and keep a different pet.

Einstein's riddle is: Who owns the fish?

Necessary clues:

1. The British man lives in a red house.

2. The Swedish man keeps dogs as pets.

3. The Danish man drinks tea.

4. The Green house is next to, and on the left of the White house.

5. The owner of the Green house drinks coffee.

6. The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.

7. The owner of the Yellow house smokes Dunhill.

8. The man living in the center house drinks milk.

9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.

10. The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.

11. The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.

12. The man who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.

13. The German smokes Prince.

14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.

For the solution, as well as a step-by-step explanation of how I arrived at it, see the page:
http://www.IncreaseBrainPower.com/einsteins-riddle.html

Memory Doesn't Equal Brainpower

Researchers at the University College, London, studied the top contestants at the annual World Memory Championships. There was no evidence that they had any differences in brain structure or had higher IQs. They did have show activity in three key areas during memory tests, though. These areas are normally active during navigation tasks and movement.

In this case, it makes sense, because the participants tested were using a technique in which they placed items to be remembered along a route or path that they then walked or traveled in their minds. Champions could remember the sequence of a deck of 52 playing cards by giving each card an identity, perhaps making it a thing or person. Then, as they look through the cards, they make a story based on interactions between the persons and things the cards represent.

The point here is that the difference between those who can memorize whole phone books or audiences full of people is not in mental capacity. The difference is simply that they practice and use techniques that have been proven to work. I have covered some of these techniques in previous newsletters, and will cover others in the future.

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Until next time,

Steve

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