Talking to Yourself Makes You Smarter

"I'm not crazy, I'm making myself smarter", sounds like a good comeback to me, and now we have proof it's not just a comeback.

Talking to yourself is the preserve of mad men, right? Not according to a new study, which reveals that the seemingly irrational act of chatting to oneself actually improves cognitive function. The research, carried out by Gary Lupyan and Daniel Swingley, was inspired the pair's experiences of seeing people audibly muttering to themselves when trying to find items on supermarket shelves. To test whether speaking to oneself was actually beneficial, Lupyan and Swingley devised a set of experiments. In one experiment, volunteers were shown 20 pictures of everyday objects of the same kind and asked to search out a specific one. Initially participants were shown a piece of text telling them which object to find and left to complete the task in silence. Then, in subsequent tests involving different objects, the participants were asked to repeatedly say the name of the object they were searching for. Across the board, the objects were found more quickly when participants were speaking to themselves.

Source

So what do people think, is this just turning the data to fulfill someone theory, or do you think the study brings up some legitimate research and theory?

I don't know but according to this I should be in full GENIUS mode by now.

Not sure it would make one smarter but I think it
works great for memorizing.

My husband should be a genius, he talks
to himself all the time, of course he thinks
I am listening

I must be above genius because I sometimes answer myself.

Who else knows all the answers to my questions but myself?

Originally posted by TheLieWeLive
I must be above genius because I sometimes answer myself.

Who else knows all the answers to my questions but myself?

I'm in the same boat as you, I quit often answer myself. I just tell people that I'm holding a conversation with myself, because there is no one else around smart enough to hold a conversation with me.

I think it is stretching the results of the study a tad.

Repeatedly reinforcing the idea you are looking for a specific object is, likely, going to reduce the impact of distractions to that task - which would be a possible explanation for why objects are found more rapidly.... which is an event I'm not so sure is greatly impacted by one's intelligence.

On the other hand - when I "talk to myself" - I will often attempt to carry on a discussion as though others are present, and attempt to think in much more broad terms than my own typical though process. That has the potential to "make someone smarter" in the sense that it might help them to regularly consider more factors when analyzing a situation than others (pick up on details that others simply can't process all at one time).

Which is why I'm damn near magical at troubleshooting systems - I take the function of nearly every component in it and run them against the gripe both individually and as a sub-group. Though whether or not talking to myself as though speaking to any random individual (or group of individuals) in my memories reinforces this capability, or not, would be an interesting subject of research.

" If you cant talk to yourself how do you expect to talk to others? " - Shadowherder 2012

Originally posted by Aim64C
I think it is stretching the results of the study a tad.

Repeatedly reinforcing the idea you are looking for a specific object is, likely, going to reduce the impact of distractions to that task - which would be a possible explanation for why objects are found more rapidly.... which is an event I'm not so sure is greatly impacted by one's intelligence.

On the other hand - when I "talk to myself" - I will often attempt to carry on a discussion as though others are present, and attempt to think in much more broad terms than my own typical though process. That has the potential to "make someone smarter" in the sense that it might help them to regularly consider more factors when analyzing a situation than others (pick up on details that others simply can't process all at one time).

Which is why I'm damn near magical at troubleshooting systems - I take the function of nearly every component in it and run them against the gripe both individually and as a sub-group. Though whether or not talking to myself as though speaking to any random individual (or group of individuals) in my memories reinforces this capability, or not, would be an interesting subject of research.

I know what you mean about system troubleshooting, this type of viewing the system almost makes it intuitive seeming (That's how some describe my abilities, Intuitive). And your right about the limit of this study. If your equate the finding an object quicker with being smarter, then the points made are valid, But does the condition last or is it transitory? If transitory, then how long does it continue to enhance intelligence?

Those are just a few points I found while reading it. But with one study in this vein it opens the door to more and better, scientists in general learn or expand on other studies and I for one am hoping some Grad Student will see this and think of the problems we have and design a new test that takes the problems found and corrects for them.

While my first post after the original wasn't serious, this is the type of discussion I was hoping for, part of the reason I didn't point out the faults I found with the study in the original post, because I wanted others to think on it and not take my word for it. thank you for adding a few good points to the discussion.

I hold conversations with myself all the time, I thought all people did.

I automatically argue with myself over issues, and I always win, so it's all good lol.

There it is, finaly PROOF of being smart!!!!
I knew my friends were onto something when they kept calling me SMARTA$$!!

Thanks for making me feel better once again!


Joking aside, if this is true may I add something that might actually work in conjunction with this new finding?
Especially if you have something to study for, talk to yourself BUT do it mostly right before going to bed! It works wonders, the amount of information you will remember the next day is unreal!

What if your an idiot to begin with. Talking to another idiot can't make you smarter...can it???

reply to post by ANOK

I automatically argue with myself over issues, and I always win, so it's all good lol

You should be worried if you did not win-you know voices in your head and all that

I hold conversations with myself all the time, I thought all people did

I don't
What kind of conversations maybe something along the lines of
Wheres the milk...
Oh you forgot it at the supermarket

Though i can see the merit for it being a learning tool if you were talking to yourself whilst dismantling an object wanted to say toaster

Cran

Originally posted by cranspace

You should be worried if you did not win-you know voices in your head and all that

LOL if I heard someone elses voice in my head, then I'd be worried.

So... "Talking to Yourself Makes You Smarter" ???

I KNOW for a FACT this is incorrect!!

And I know this because if this were true, then the religious folks whom I see from time to time, whom pray constantly (IE: talking to themselves), wouldnt be among the most stupid, unintelligent folks whom I have ever known. They remain just as significantly less intelligence than average as was the first day I met them.

I am honestly speaking in all seriousness here.

I dont buy this one in the least.

reply to post by HangTheTraitors


As I said before, I think the study is taken a little out of context. Talking to one's self can help reinforce the point at hand. It helps preserve task direction and stave off confusion. It's partly why, in squad based communication, there is a lot of redundancy and pointing out of the obvious. Not only is it to keep the squad on-task and moving through a confusing and stressful environment - it is also to keep one's own self on track and 'in the game.'

To that end, I think it really depends upon what you are talking to yourself about, and what you intend to gain from doing so. In religious contexts - as with all individuals - people tend to be very simplistic in their approach and expectations. Despite scripture and experience to the contrary - people will pray as though they are sitting on Santa's lap in the hopes that God will humor their laundry list of wants... because they believe he exists (and that it somehow allows them to call in support from a causality-manipulating entity).

A wise person would pray for understanding, endurance, self-improvement, and integrity. Whether God gets involved in your prayer, or not - it helps to reinforce your goals and open your mind to finding the 'answers between the lines' (that you may or may not interpret as God's doing). It can help you to step back from an inherently self-centered perspective to see the bigger picture.

Example - I lost both of my parents at a fairly young age. I will never know what it is like to invite my parents over for Christmas, to allow my children to be spoiled by them, etc. I can only imagine what it would be like to call Mom and ask her how she got some meal to taste the way she did. It was on one day, for whatever reason, I was thinking on that point... and I fixated on the word "imagine." ... It's true. I can only imagine. Which means that anything I think I am missing out on is all in my imagination; getting upset over it or depressed is only a distraction from the opportunities I do have.

Was I praying, necessarily? No. But, there again, I carry on conversations with my concept of God on an hourly basis. I'm not really one for formalities, and if the being responsible for creating me has a problem with it... said being can only blame itself. Which is why I don't think God gives two #s about formalities and the structure of religious institutions; probably finds the entire ordeal comical, if God could be said to have a singular intelligence resembling a human's.

In either case, I do take exception to your post. I can, basically, guarantee you that I'm rated as a vastly superior intelligence to your own via most (if not all) available metrics. I'm not exactly what you'd call "religious" - but I feel your comment is intentionally designed to induce collateral damage. I don't hold contempt for people simply because of their intelligence... but I do develop quite the pointed tone when dealing with people who justify their sense of intelligence too heavily on the shortcomings of others.

There's a difference between confident pride taken to boasting versus justifying one's own thoughts based on the errors of others.

reply to post by Wolfie0827

thank you for adding a few good points to the discussion.

You're welcome.

I've been saying this to myself for years!

Haven't noticed any improvement though!

Talking to yourself by speaking the word of the item you are looking for is not the same thing as having full blown converstations with yourself about how good you look wearing the coat you made out of dead trapped squirrells and roadkill, with a face full of red lipstick, standing in front of a mirror. Pucker up georgious...you know you got it.....

If you do the first thing you are just focussing.

If you do the second thing.......you are completely insane.

Everybody knows that squirrelcoats are worn with pink lipstick. What were you thinking.

No seriously, I sometimes talk to myself, mainly to comment on something stupid I see or when I do something dumb or clumsy.

Jeah I always do.

I do don´t I?

Yes, lol!

Lol!

Why are you making so much noise, I´m trying to sleep here.

Sorry, my bad.

Jeah sorry bro....




....So....how bout them cab drivers huh ...

I know tell me about it.

Right?

Jeah....it´s been rainy too



I feel smarter already.

Originally posted by HangTheTraitors
So... "Talking to Yourself Makes You Smarter" ???

I KNOW for a FACT this is incorrect!!

And I know this because if this were true, then the religious folks whom I see from time to time, whom pray constantly (IE: talking to themselves), wouldnt be among the most stupid, unintelligent folks whom I have ever known. They remain just as significantly less intelligence than average as was the first day I met them.

I am honestly speaking in all seriousness here.

I dont buy this one in the least.

edit on 21-4-2012 by HangTheTraitors because: (no reason given)

But they are not talking (holding a conversation) with themselves, their talking is one way. So it doesn't qualify as talking to your self.

Thats what I keep telling me but I disagree all the time.