Braingle's Mentalrobics

Vocabulary : Word of the Day : Obloquy

Sat, 17 May 2008 00:00:01 GMT

ob-lo-quy

noun :: Abusively detractive language or utterance.

"He earned a bunch of obloquy by enacting a big tax increase."

Creativity : Icebreaker: True or False

Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Icebreakers are little exercises that help relax tension and loosen up a formal atmosphere in a meeting where you want to have creative ideas and group participation.

This is an example of an easy icebreaker to try with a small group:

Going around a group, each person should say one true statement about themselves and one that is false. After each person has said their two statements, the group takes a vote to determine which is which. People should be encouraged to make the false statement sound plausible to make it more fun. You can learn a lot about people with this exercise, and it's fun too.

Memory : Effective Associations : Interaction

Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Many mnemonics rely on making visual associations in your mind. The way you create these visualizations will have a lot to do with how well you will remember the information.

The items that you are associating together should be visualized as interacting in some way. If you are trying to associate a stapler with a dog, it is not going to do you much good to picture a dog standing next to a stapler. A much better association would be to have the dog eating the stapler, or picture a dog with a stapler mouth. Not only does this interaction make the image more interesting, but by grouping both objects into one association, you are effectively chunking the material.