Study links intelligence and chess skill
Intelligence – and not just relentless practice – plays a significant role in determining chess skill, indicates a comprehensive new study led by Michigan State University researchers.
The research provides some of the most conclusive evidence to date that cognitive ability is linked to skilled performance – a hotly debated issue in psychology for decades – and refutes theories that expertise is based solely on intensive training.
Chess is probably the single most studied domain in research on expertise, yet the evidence for the relationship between chess skill and cognitive ability is mixed,” said MSU’s Alexander Burgoyne, lead author on the study. “We analyzed a half-century worth of research on intelligence and chess skill and found that cognitive ability contributes meaningfully to individual differences in chess skill.”
The findings, reported online in the journal Intelligence, come out of Zach Hambrick’s Expertise Lab at MSU, which examines the origins of skill in domains such as chess, music and sports.
PR:
http://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2016/study-links-intelligence-and-chess-skill/
Journal article:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289616301593
Image:
Chess prodigy Samuel Reshevsky, aged 8, defeating several chess masters in France.
#neuroscience #chess #intelligence #IQ #research
" We analyze a half-century worth of research...."
ReplyDeleteIf an 8 year old can 'defeat' several old guy chess masters (of varying cognitive abilities), then perhaps Chess isn't a good domain in research on expertise.
The word 'intelligence' means different things, to different people at different times.
What ever 'intelligence' actually is, most want to be regarded as such.
The cool cognitive elite.
After fleeing from Russia, a wiley Jewish female tapped into this old but reliable vanity and gave Americans John Galt.
It is OK if you suck at chess stephen carter , I'm not that good either. I find the game boring ;)
ReplyDeleteAnd there's a difference between playing chess intelligently and playing chess blindly. That's why the old chess masters were defeated. We get the wrong impression that if we practice hard something we will master that "something".
People believe practice makes perfect, but it doesn't. If you're making a tremendous amount of mistakes, all you're doing is deeply ingraining the same mistakes.
As for what intelligence really is...well, that is debatable, which is fun, after all we just use our neural networks involved in intelligence to figure out what intelligence "is" or "means".
I hate chess, I hate strategy games. But I can think my way around some pretty complicated things. Chess may be one measure of one type of intellect but it's no panacea.
ReplyDeleteJay Gerlach How are you? Defining a metric for intelligence isn't yet defined, that's all the difficulty of measuring the intelligence...
ReplyDeleteJay Gerlach I have a beautiful chess game board made of wood in my living room but I don't play since a too long time... I stay warm, don't worry, the weather is sunny in Paris but polluted (fine particles, last week we had 4 days in a row of alternate driving in Paris, even number plates the even days, odd number plates the odd days, first time we have this in France) because of the anti-cyclonic conditions. I'm currently studying online the HTML and CSS to prepare an interview next Friday, to enter a 13 months long professionalization contract (part time formation, part time working) to get a Certificate (like a degree, another one for me LoL) of web developer... I hope I'll integrate the course :-)
ReplyDeleteIf we're going to be honest about it, then unless you get to the very highest levels, modern chess is less about strategy and prediction, and more about memorizing the optimal sequences in the early game.
ReplyDeleteI was never very good, but if you don't enjoy chess because it's too complex try playing some of the practice varients. Games where both players only get the king and pawns. Or a king a bishop and two knights. It's more fun when you have less to worry about
Jay Gerlach I agree with Bryce Etheridge too... At least it's true for advanced players. About HTML and CSS, i'm not a novice, in 2008 I followed a formation in Java JEE, engineer level... It was not really on HTML but I know the basics...I have to follow the online courses now because it's mandatory for the formation, I earn badges and the formation team looks at the number of badges you earn to measure your motivation... The site is:
ReplyDeletecodecademy.com - Learn to code
Jay Gerlach I prefered the Borland C++ builder and mostly Delphi, but it was for the development of scientific softwares... More RAD efficient (rapid application development)... I use also w3schools.com - W3Schools Online Web Tutorials as a reference.
ReplyDeleteCorina Marinescu Madam, whatcha mean "either" ?
ReplyDeleteAll I know, is that if I were a master at chess, the last place you'd find me is at a circus lined up with other so-called competitive chess masters, just to get 'defeated' by a 8 year old.
The photo reminds me of the scene in 'Kill Bill' where the Bride, beat down a 1001 chinamen.
It's cute, but it's not reality. There is an angle in this narrative.
The thing is, there really is no such thing as "perfect". So you can't practice to perfection, but you can evolve.
Evolution is nothing without mistakes.
"intelligence" is a word invented by people who were jealous to have no significant other talents
ReplyDeleteChristopher Compagnon In your remark, intelligence is used in a pejorative sense. Is it not rather a word invented by intelligent people to mark their superiority compared to those less skilled?
ReplyDeleteBertrand Nelson
ReplyDeleteNot used in pejorative sense, but simple sense.
Intelligence means some are more than some others.
But all depends of who defined and what is behind "intelligence".
Fear commonly is not intelligence. Just an animal reflexe.
The common definition is based on what is mindful. Many mind processus are unconscious and cannot be explained, neither by scientists, neither by people.
But, if we look very carefully : fear is intelligence, worry is intelligence.
Everything that keeps us alive is intelligence.
There is more intelligence in many uneducated people than educated people because uneducated people think simple and quickly. I prefer the simple but honest, than the complicated (but dishonest) thought.
The wonld is dying ofcomplicated throught.
Keep It as Simple, Stupid.
Christopher Compagnon I perfectly understand your point of view and I think that the word intelligence is used in a pejorative way when like you emphasize, simple people despises the educated and complicated people who have created our too much sophisticated world. Like in school, when pupils despise the nerds...
ReplyDeleteWell, beside that I can say you're wrong when you say that scientists can't understand the inner functions of the mind. On the contrary, a lot of studies are giving clues on that point, I can say this because I worked in a research lab of the French Public Research (at the CNRS = National Center for Scientific Research) working on the brain, the organ, the senses, the functions, the development (how 'intelligence' grows from the baby to the adult)... Have a good night, it's 11 PM in Paris and I'm outside in the streets.