Dr. James Husen, Licensed Psychologist, Licensed Attorney, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist

Ever wonder why your kids are smarter than you were at their age. I have and I think the Flynn Effect offers something of an explanation. According to Flynn, if people took IQ tests standardized to today's children, they would receive a score of about 70 (which would result in their being categorized as intellectually disabled (2 standard deviations below the mean). On the other hand, children on average today would be considered geniuses with a score of 130. Flynn (2014) att ributed this phenomena to a growing ability to take hypotheticals seriously--an ability which he points out enable moral development https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vpqilhW9uI Others have explained the Flynn effect as a symbiotic effect upon brain structure and function in the interactive interface between brain and artifacts/technology such as books, internet, computers and so forth (Forsythe, Liao, Trumbo & Cardona-Rivera (2014, pp. 140-142)--"the google effect". References Flynn, ...

Stress, Cognitive Reserve, and Dementia I've been studying the importance of taking time to engage in leisure activities that improve or contribute to your cognitive reserve (CR, Scarmeas, Levy, Tang, Many & Stern, 2001, p. 2240). These include "reading, visiting friends or relatives, going to movies or restaurants, walking, and going on excursions" all contribute to cognitive reserve (Ibid). CR represents the brain's capacity to cope with stress and injury ensuring on going functionality especially as we age (Stern, 2006). This psychophysiological ability of the brain and mind to cope and work around the wear and tear of stress becomes increasingly important as we get older and the prevalence of dementia and cognitive decline dramatically increases. I'm disappointed though. I hoped binge watching television and lying sedentary while eating ice cream, chips, and drinking beer might be healthy. They're not on the list. However, watching televi...