Use Your Head
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
':r: USE YOUR HEAD SYNAPSIA "'QB THE I NTERNATIONAL a BRAI N CLU B JOU RNAL ,^/ 'Qt' A \% l.).i144 o: a 1.'u b. OU o o ae o ooa oot> ,: oo D .e 'oooo t) L> a o o o o o o o ozl " 0 " t,) )00 -"o "\-\ USE YOUR HEAD - AUTUMN 1994 USE YOUB HEAD EDITORIAL Food lor fhought The 6u,nness Eook ofRecords is full of re- in 1995. However, a slip up in the penulti The editor welcomes markable achiev€ments and ex€rts a tre- mate round by Dominic O'Brien, winner of contributions to Use m€ndous fascination for many p€opl€. some the pr€vious two events, gave Jonathan the Your Head. Pleaae of whom have gone to extraordinary opportunity to forward his plans by a year, contact him at 23 lengths in an aftempttogain themselves an and he did not need a se.ond ihvit tion Ditchling Fise, entry. ln thisquest,a brave few have en- Jonathan trains his memory regularly, Brighton, Sussex dured lengthy p€riods of time with ferrets and is always on the lookoutfor n€wideas BNI 4OL. down their trousers, while Michel Lotito for mnemoni€sand memory codes.ln com (aka Monsi€ur Mange Tout) ofGrenoble, mon with mostotherment lathletes, he is France chose inst€ad to a€hieve immortality a firm adh€rent of mens sd no in co+ote sono by eatinghis way through ten bic/cles, (healthy body, healthy mind) beinga keen seven ry sets, a supermarket trolley and, swimmerand tennis player. He claims that for the .oup de g.6ce, a Cessna light aircrafr his mental faculties are considerably sharp- Wh€n Jonathan Hanco€kwas 16, healso ened after a session in the poolor on courr d€v€loped the ambition to carv€ his own Th€ n€w \ brld Memory Champion is niche in the bookand so perused itatsom€ currentlyiugglinga number of actavities in- length befor€ lininSup his target activity. cluding rcrking at weekends for Oxford ExpressinSa healthy concern for his physi- Radio- Radio work provides a Sood oppor- calwell-being, asw€llas recognising his own tunity for puttingmemory to thetest, since Sastronomic limitations, Jonathan chos€ to it involves a great d€al thinkinS on one's bypass the above m€thods and concentrate feet. He is also writinga bookon memory instead on thefield of memory. Havinga'- (to be published nextJuly by Hodder and ways b€€n interested in mental sports and Stoughton) and is currently planninga card tricks. a world memory r€cord number of talks on memory techniques seemed a natu ral objective. whi€h willbe used as the basis of lectures The pursuit ofthisgoalled him to €om- to schools and companies.Jonathan s deter- pete in th€ World l4emory Championships mination and clearvision has led to aWorld and in the previou! two erents, held in l99l Championship title and a promising ca.eer. and I 993, Jonathan captured th€ silver Where Monsieur Lotito's d€termination medal. This year he rentone better and and vision will lead him is l€ss clear. clinched the ultimat€ prize, becoming the 1994 OAG \4/orld l'4emory Champion and THE BRAIN CLUB CHARTER defeating Mr l.4emory himself, Dominic The BEin Club Ms incorporaied on I 5 lYay I 989, and became a Etistered O'Bri€n, in the process. Most observers, Xmas Card havinS s€€n Dominic in action in previous charity on 23 NoEmber 1990.1t5 of- Iicial.hafters.ar€i the Cllb'i fdrm?l The Xmas card on the facing events, would have offered short odds on page has been designed for the him retaining the titl€.Jonathan, howerer, Use Your H€od club by NeilMc- upset the form book to reSister a brilliant To promote resarch into the Kee. The blackand white for- victo.y. See our lead article fora fullreport study of thoutht proce$es, and mat makes it an interactive of the dnmatic lonclusion to this y€ar's into the investitation of the me- card, as it can be col- chanics of thinkintas manifest€d Sreeting oured in. The cardsare print€d lonathan is 22 years old and comesorigi- in ,earnin& undeFtandin& com' on a cream backSround and nallyfrom Middlesborough. He is currently m0nication, problem{olvint, .reativity de.irion-makint. areavailable in packs of l0 living in Oxford, ha/in8iust completed his and B, To dissminate the results of (price a3.00 including p&p) English studies forwhich he r€ceived a first such resrch and study. from the Brain Foundation at class honours degree. H€ did norexpectto c To prcmote teneElly edu@tion the Marlow address o'/€rleaf. win the memo.y championship this y€ar, as and triinint in cotnitiE prft- Each pack comes with an A4 his academicstudies had l€ft liftletimefor duplicat€, which can be copied trainin& He was hoping inst€ad to gain sec- D To de!€lop and exploit n* tech- ,nd used as t ftx h€a.ler or ond place and to use this as a springboard niqles in cogniti€ processes. greeting. for a concert€d effort at winning the ev€nt USE YOUR HEAD Vol 5 l99S No 3 Autumn I 994 2l st APril Se€ us€Your Head Club News Editor-in-Chief CONTENTS Editorial Boa?d FEATURES Ray Keene OBE Sir Brian T@y KCMG 1994 OAG WORLD ISE]TORY cHAfPlollsHlP For once Dominic O'Brien did not h ve everything his own way We report on the dramatic €onclusion to this yeart event' The BEin Folndation KEENE Oil GENIUS The Harlelord l4anor Estate Raymond Keen€ was Tony Buzan's co-author on the Book of Genius' t2 insights has he gin€d trom his researchesl What Buckinthamshire SL7 2DX Tel; (0628) 482755 THE ]NilEilOilS ARE COililG (insideUK) grouP P€nelope Dablin r€Ports on the inaugural me€ting of a new of +44 62a 48276s 22 (outride UK) The edito. rcFl€ the riSht to NEURAL I{ETWORKS or .han€e an/ shorEn, amend Computer desiSners are increasingly turning their att€ntion to the cont ibution accePted for Publiadon 28 Matt Nicholson rePorts on their human brain. ProSress' lf you rculd like articl* .eturned, d6* include an aPproPriate SAE RUNMilG YOUR OWN BUSIIIESS The termand concept Mind MaP Neil McK€e intervielYsJoan Bland to discover what ProPell€d her from 6is publkatton h a r.ferr€d to in in Business'award 32 I I -plus 'failure' to winner of th€ DHL'Women P€cub, rhe rcrld's ldtest bdin artoonisr is haPP/ b Pdide ertoonr based on Your ideas and REGULARS D6ign,a.two* d rypsetting bY 3 Editorial 5 Synaptic Flashes l9 Amazing ltcrnoly Storie$ 20 Animal Intclligence East Sus*r TN37 6AE 2t Book Fcviews Geniur photot: Hu,ton D.!tsd' 25 lntelligence about lntelligence Jm Bland llind M.p: Nc rV<X.e 26 Poetry Corner Sp<iol thdtlJ b C6,drd ,Cnsd,n for 27 Your Letters ga Food for Thought 37 U3e Youl Head CIub l{€ws USE YOUR HEAD - AUTUMN ]994 SYI{APTIC FLASHES Brain News GEl{lUS Beats Genius tempt to reclaim rheworld title for human- llst issue we report€d the success ofthe ity. Lafferty, a6l ye-a. old (ormerphysics F.iE3 computer programme in an interna- teacher, is Dr Tinsley's naturalsuc€essor. tionalblitz ch€ss eventin Muni€h, where it He is the onlyother player in the world to finished runn€r-up to Garry Kasparov.ln b€ r€garded as in the same class as both London early in Septemberth€ Genius pro- Chinookand Tinsleyand studied for 30 8ram, runninSon the same P€ntium proces- y€ars under the 67-year-old former human sor as Fritz, w€nt one better, sensationally champion. The new€hallenge lasted for 20 d€featinS theworld lhampion in a two' Ssmesand resulted in onewin each to the Same rapidplay mini-match at the lntel human and the computerwith l8 draws. sponsored Grand Prix event. Although the Although Lafferty fought Chinook to a computer's run was eEntually brouSht to standstill he failed to win a majoraty of an end in the semi finals by the lndian points, so Chinook retains the champion- Grandmaster Visanathan Anand, its per- ship title. formance clearly represents another major br€akth rough in computerchess. what llorart's I{usical'Thett' price a computer'world champion' by the A remarkable piece of musical det€€tion y€ar 2000t was recentlycarried out byAlison Robert son, an l8-year-old Yorkshire schoolgirl. In ind Sport Firat her A level d issertation she reveals that the ln the r€lated m€ntal spon of draughts, centraltheme to l4ozan's famous unfin- howewr, a computer program has, forthe ished Requiem was borrow€d from Per- firsttime in the history ofany mind sport, Solesis Stabat Mater- AhhouSh there are won the rcrld championship itself. Chi- hundreds of Mozart €xperts around the nook, a prosram devised by Professor world, none had made this connection, jonathan S€haeffer ofthe University of AI- which Alison cameacro$ while preparing bena in Edmonton, Canada, has been de- to sinS in a schoolconcert. While recognis- clar€d world draughts champion.ln the ing that this is an important discovery, championship match at Boston, IJSA, in Au scholars have been quick to rush to gust, Chinook's opponent, the world Mozart's defence, pointing out that this is a draughts champion Dr Marion Tinsl€yof rare case of plaSiarism by Mozan,and Ali- Atlanta, withdrew f rcm the contest after son herselfbeliews that it may hare b€€n six hard fought draws, citing ill health.