If fluid intelligence doesn’t help me learn stuff faster, is it really worth having?
Yes, you have to understand stuff before your can learn it. And be able to tell the difference between nonsense and things actually worth learning.
Doesn’t it seem likely that learning things makes you better at learning things?
Yes, it does make you better at learning things. There has been considerable research done on the subject.
If this is true, could an increase in fluid intelligence be the mechanism for it?
Basically, no. It’s not that it couldn’t be, just that it isn’t. People’s fluid intelligence is extremely hard to change. Very few things improve fluid intelligence and (unfortunately) learning stuff isn’t one of them. Dual-n-back training does give a modest effect, as does exercise (and particularly cerebellar targetted exercise).
Fortunately, learning stuff will improve your performance at all sorts of activities, even if your fluid intelligence isn’t much altered. Fluid intelligence is overrated.
Dual-n-back training does give a modest effect, as does exercise (and particularly cerebellar targetted exercise).
Could you expand on that? I had not heard that exercise actually affected Gf or that there was such a thing on cerebellar-targeted exercise. I know of occasional results like the prefrontal cortex’s cells enlarging after aerobic exercise, but that’s not an increase in Gf.
Yes, you have to understand stuff before your can learn it. And be able to tell the difference between nonsense and things actually worth learning.
Yes, it does make you better at learning things. There has been considerable research done on the subject.
Basically, no. It’s not that it couldn’t be, just that it isn’t. People’s fluid intelligence is extremely hard to change. Very few things improve fluid intelligence and (unfortunately) learning stuff isn’t one of them. Dual-n-back training does give a modest effect, as does exercise (and particularly cerebellar targetted exercise).
Fortunately, learning stuff will improve your performance at all sorts of activities, even if your fluid intelligence isn’t much altered. Fluid intelligence is overrated.
Could you expand on that? I had not heard that exercise actually affected Gf or that there was such a thing on cerebellar-targeted exercise. I know of occasional results like the prefrontal cortex’s cells enlarging after aerobic exercise, but that’s not an increase in Gf.