Participants in the Singularity Summit 2011 workshops held on October 17-18 brainstormed a list of cognitive enhancement methods they would like to see tested — some of them for the first time, many of them more thoroughly than has been done so far. Here is that list:
- rationality instruction
- potassium and nutrients/micronutrients in general
- modafinil and its class
- racetam class, adderall, riatlin
- paleo and other popular diets
- multigenerational embryo selection
- particular TMS interventions
- doing math or logic problems every day
- amount of sleep
- neurofeedback; EEG, etc.
- physical health, specific types of exercise, yoga
- more red blood cells
- certain types of electrical stimulation
- spaced repetition
- practicing visualization
- practicing chess and Go
- dual n-back training
- prolonged sensory deprivation
- experience manipulating physical objects (craftsmanship and engineering)
- listening to music actively (and engaging with other art forms actively)
- using specific visual languages for specific tasks
- happiness in general (gratitude, etc.)
- changing the oxygen content of what you're breathing
- gene expression levels
- operant conditioning
- irradiation or administration of other toxins
- lucid dreaming
- GHB
- intermittent fasting
- creatine
- nicotine, caffeine
- arterial glucose drip to get more sugar to the brain
- Ekman training
- steroids
An article in the Atlantic talks about a paradox in modern societies; people are more lonely despite (supposedly) more opportunities to interact with others. This also coincides with the rise of cognitive declining mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety. It references the falling of close confidants and more rocky relationships with family and spouses as a possible source. Indeed, 10 minutes of conversation can enhance cognition, less quality (but not quantity of) relationships predict cognitive decline in the elderly, and people with more friends have better executive functioning. Forced social isolation deteriorates cognition in other social animals such as rodents.
I think this is important because cognitive enhancement is discussed somewhat frequently in LW (to my knowledge), but developing close friendships less so, and (also) to my knowledge, never in the context of cognitive enhancement. The knee-jerk reaction is that correlation is not causation, and indeed loneliness is hereditary despite it being increased in the past several decades. I suspect, the hereditary aspect is in part, due to the fact that some people are more prone to seek out close relationships, and receive the mood and cognitive enhancement as a positive side effect.
Based on what I could find, no experiments have looked at developing quality relationships and seeing its effects on cognition, and most studies are correlational or based on animal-models. At the very least, it is something to look at.
Links:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/05/is-facebook-making-us-lonely/308930/ http://psychsocgerontology.oxfordjournals.org/content/58/2/S93.full http://journals.lww.com/psychosomaticmedicine/Abstract/2010/11000/What_Aspects_of_Social_Network_Are_Protective_for.12.aspx http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306452210006159
I suffer from extreme social isolation, and I have a constant mental fog which sometimes lifts during periods of emotional intensity. By itself I think this is evidence that cognition is tied to social health. Not that it can tell you much else.