This reminds me of a recent correlational study discussed on the dual n-back mailing list, about comparing Go experts with non-experts. (Have to scroll down.)
The Go experts had, if anything, lower IQs; the spatial mechanisms that the Go experts seem to be drawing upon for their performance don’t seem to generalize. Like chess, Go may stress WM and IQ early on, but eventually domain-specific stuff comes to dominate.
You however have to know that a lot of go experts also usually spent less time on other task that can improve mental skills.
Korean go professionals for example don’t have a normal school education but instead spend that time of their life with learning go.
Yes, but while schooling gives an IQ boost, it isn’t that much of one. At least, I vaguely remember the one study I’ve heard of which shows causality only showing a few points. That might offset the observed decrease, but given that I naively expected the Go experts to have average IQs 20 points higher or so, is still a deeply counterintuitive result.
This reminds me of a recent correlational study discussed on the dual n-back mailing list, about comparing Go experts with non-experts. (Have to scroll down.)
The Go experts had, if anything, lower IQs; the spatial mechanisms that the Go experts seem to be drawing upon for their performance don’t seem to generalize. Like chess, Go may stress WM and IQ early on, but eventually domain-specific stuff comes to dominate.
You however have to know that a lot of go experts also usually spent less time on other task that can improve mental skills. Korean go professionals for example don’t have a normal school education but instead spend that time of their life with learning go.
Yes, but while schooling gives an IQ boost, it isn’t that much of one. At least, I vaguely remember the one study I’ve heard of which shows causality only showing a few points. That might offset the observed decrease, but given that I naively expected the Go experts to have average IQs 20 points higher or so, is still a deeply counterintuitive result.