Weekly Roundup: Thinking in your job is good for your brain, decision-making, and metacognition is environmentally dependent not genetically
My weekly round up of latest research in all things the brain and mind
This week I focus on some new research on using your brain and healthy brain sin age, a bunch on decision making and new research showing that metacognition and emotional intelligence seemed linked to upbringing not genetics.
Use it or lose it
Well, it may seem obvious but this is another piece of research to show the case of “use it, or lose it”. Specifically with brain usage at work. If your job requires more brain power, your chances of brain degenerative disorders later in life are lower.
This is according to another study that has shown this by Edwin Trine et al. of the American Academy of Neurology. The study analysed data from 7’000 individuals in 305 professions in a Norwegian dataset. They found that the higher the cognitive load in your job, the lower your chances of cognitive impairment after 70.
They do stress that this is only a correlational study - correlation is not causation (it could be that those in jobs that require more brain power have a genetic advantage). But this is not the first - and we do know that the brain has plasticity processes and this would tie in to what we know of the brain’s processes.
So, get a job that requires intensive thinking - or make sure you engage in intensive thinking regularly.
From brain power in jobs to decision making which is normally related to this brain power.
Inhibition enables quick decisions
That may sound a bit counter-intuitive. Quick decisions would logically be defined by taking action quickly not by suppressing other processes in the brain or body - that takes time.
However, this research into footballers may be insightful - I know it’s not business but decision making in sports needs to be especially quick - much quicker than in business or many other life contexts.
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