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Why would I consider your response pessimistic? It seems to be a totally valid remark to me. No, there is no evidence at all. However, the medication I have be
by winfred 12y ago
Why would I consider your response pessimistic? It seems to be a totally valid remark to me.
No, there is no evidence at all. However, the medication I have been taking, is known to improve the ability to focus in people with a certain DNA marker. And I have that DNA marker and I take this medication. The same goes with tDCS, over and over it is proven to improve certain brain functions, I have been using this device for the last 3 years now, the device has built in checks that show me that the current is actually going through my skull, I've seen the studies that show the flow of the electrons and I know where the electrodes are placed. I think we can make some assertions on the effects this has had on my brain?
Regarding the minor issues, I sometimes have small bouts of depression, nothing too bad really, I never contemplate suicide for example, but still, it is nice that after a tDCS session these depressions tend to disappear. It could be coincidence, but there are research papers http://www.tmslab.org/publications/165.pdf http://www.tmslab.org/publications/165.pdf that also seem to imply that tDCS helps with depressions.
The mental exercise consisted mainly of no longer using my episodic memory (I have very limited time related memory storage, it's really pathetic in some sense) and reading hundreds of audiobooks on the following topics:
Psychology, Early Roman Civilization, Early Christian Religion, General History, Battle Tactics, Modern Warfare, Late Christian Religions, Philosophy, Story Telling, Programming (well, I just learned that on the computer, not with an audio book).
As a result of doing that for a long time (over 10 years), 5 hours per day, I am now a theoretical subject matter expert on a wide range of topics.
- redmaverick 12y ago> DNA marker Can you expand on this? What is the medication you have been taking? With Dual N Back, do you think it improves WM on a temporary basis or is the increase permanent?
- winfred 12y agoThe drug in question is the widely known Modafinil, which I get in generic form from India. The gene is CYP2D6 [1], which I had checked by 23andme [2]. If you have the gene, when taken during the day, Modafinil allows you to focus for up to 12 hours straight, on the subject of your choosing (but you should choose something, or your attention span is wasted). With that focus, it is much easier to learn new things. [1] http://youscript.com/healthcare-professionals/why-youscript/fda-labeled-drugs/modafinil http://youscript.com/healthcare-professionals/why-youscript/... [2] https://www.23andme.com/ https://www.23andme.com/
- ericthewino 12y agoWhat's the % of humans with CYP2D6? I couldn't find any stats online. Is this something that not all humans have?
- winfred 12y agoFrom memory, there are two gene markers associated with it and 70% of the population has one of the two.
- uncoder0 12y agoWhich SNP should I be looking at on the CYP2D6 gene in my 23andme?
- winfred 12y agoRs4680: http://www.snpedia.com/index.php/Rs4680 http://www.snpedia.com/index.php/Rs4680
- delluminatus 12y agoOver 10 years! I am extremely impressed with your dedication. You must've spent maybe 20,000 hours listening to audiobooks, which is kind of astonishing. I would almost be more impressed if you emerged from such a regimen without being a subject matter expert. In my experience, trying to assess the effects of a medication or technique on yourself is an exercise in frustration. Although you can do legitimate double-blind experiments on yourself, it's usually impossible to properly control the variables which can affect the outcome (diet, exercise, sleep, work, stress, relationships, etc. all have an impact). So, I'm a big fan of the "assume it works because the studies say it should" approach that you describe. It's not clean or certain but it's eminently practical, and it has the fringe benefit of giving you a lot of opportunities to benefit from placebo :)
- winfred 12y agoThanks, you're one of the few that gets the implications of what I am doing and why I am doing it in this way. One of the problems I ran into while studying is the decay of the information. It takes quite some time to store all this information (and even more if you try to do some hypothesizing or brain storming with multiple aspects of the information), that by the time I had a decent amount of knowledge, I started noticing that parts of it had already gone bad (proven partly or completely false after I read it) and needed maintenance. From my perspective it didn't require much dedication. I like reading, all I had to do is make sure I read almost only non-fiction and that the knowledge maps of the subject fields overlap enough so I can get maximal understanding on the first reading. It's just an entertaining puzzle that doesn't have a predetermined outcome.
- TrevorJ 12y agoRegarding information decay, have you looked into spaced repetition? If not, I strongly suggest it, it's an effective approach to this very problem. Also, the memory palace can be very useful.