Hacking Cognition

We are fortunate as software developers to spend our lives learning. Our careers require us to keep pace with an industry that innovates like few others and we adapt ourselves to constant change. Given the amount of time we dedicate to learning it is surprising that we don’t make a greater effort to improve our cognitive ability itself. Cognitive function can be improved with some simple techniques that apply broadly in our profession, and it only makes sense that we should expend at least as much effort improving our ability to learn as we do actually learning.

This presentation will offer you some immediately actionable steps to improve your cognitive ability and be more efficient with your programming studies. You’ll learn techniques mnemonists use to memorize random pages of binary digits, how your brain physically changes as you learn something new and how simple changes in your daily routine can have a deep impact on your work.

We spend hours refactoring our code and preparing for roflscale, why not spend some time optimizing our brains?

Transcript

1. Hacking Cognition Overclock your brain Thursday, March 7, 13
2. Jonan @1337807 Thursday, March 7, 13
3. Jonah @1337807 Thursday, March 7, 13
4. Jonas @1337807 Thursday, March 7, 13
5. Jonan @1337807 Thursday, March 7, 13
6. Conan @1337807 Thursday, March 7, 13
7. Jonan @1337807 Thursday, March 7, 13
8. Basics first Sleep, exercise, eat Thursday, March 7, 13
9. Simon says Sleep You need 8 hours Thursday, March 7, 13
10. Exercise for 6 minutes Sabrina Segal Thursday, March 7, 13
11. Eat healthy foods that stabilize your blood sugar Dentate Gyrus (Hippocampus) Thursday, March 7, 13
12. Glycemic Load GI * (Carbohydrate/100g) Glycemic Index: Watermelon = 72 Wonder Bread = 72 Glycemic Load: Watermelon = 4 Wonder Bread = 10 Thursday, March 7, 13
13. Neuroscience! How does it work? Thursday, March 7, 13
14. Disclaimer Thursday, March 7, 13
15. Thalamus Router for your senses Thursday, March 7, 13
16. Hippocampus H.M. and the Limbic System Thursday, March 7, 13
17. Noses skip the router and go straight for the Amygdala. Thursday, March 7, 13
18. How do we learn? Neuroplasticity Thursday, March 7, 13
19. The Persistence of Long- Term Memory: A Molecular Approach to Self- Sustaining Changes in Learning- Induced Synaptic Growth Thursday, March 7, 13
20. Eric Kandel Shocks California Sea Slugs Thursday, March 7, 13
21. Neurons physically change Synaptic varicosities grow and engage Thursday, March 7, 13
22. Primacy & Recency Memory.first, Memory.last Thursday, March 7, 13
23. Memory Consolidation Epinephrine and Cortisol Thursday, March 7, 13
24. Want to make it memorable? Add bears Thursday, March 7, 13
25. Learned Helplessness Chronic Clinical Depression Thursday, March 7, 13
26. Signal more often to affect change Thursday, March 7, 13
27. Spaced repetition Learn just as you forget Flashcards ankiweb.net Thursday, March 7, 13
28. Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer Thursday, March 7, 13
29. Synesthesia Manipulate your medium Thursday, March 7, 13
30. Memory Training Person-Action-Object (PAO) Thursday, March 7, 13
31. 02 Ozzie biting the head off Kermit Thursday, March 7, 13
32. 05 Linus Torvalds giving Nvidia the finger Thursday, March 7, 13
33. 06 Ice-T playing pinball in a kangaroo costume Thursday, March 7, 13
34. 060502 Thursday, March 7, 13
35. 060502 Ice-T flipping off Kermit Thursday, March 7, 13
36. Alternatives to Kermit TDCS Thursday, March 7, 13
37. Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Brain Zapping Thursday, March 7, 13
38. Electrodes Excite, Suppress Thursday, March 7, 13
39. DLPFC Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Thursday, March 7, 13
40. Executive functions of the brain Working memory, problem solving and attention. Thursday, March 7, 13
41. Anodal stimulation Neuronal Excitability Thursday, March 7, 13
42. DIY TDCS THIS IS A TERRIBLE IDEA DO NOT DO THIS, EVER Thursday, March 7, 13
43. Seriously, Don’t Do This No no no no no Thursday, March 7, 13
44. Thursday, March 7, 13
45. Thursday, March 7, 13
46. Thursday, March 7, 13
47. TDCS causes Crazy-Eye Thursday, March 7, 13
48. Ice-T flipping off Kermit Thursday, March 7, 13
49. 060502 Ice-T flipping off Kermit Thursday, March 7, 13
50. Jonan @1337807 Thursday, March 7, 13