Does Thinking Out Loud Boost IQ and EQ?

When working on a difficult problem or puzzle people will sometimes begin to mutter or even talk out loud. When trying to resist a tempting piece of chocolate cake or deal with an emotional issue we can coach ourselves with positive self talk that sometimes happens aloud.

Can talking to yourself out loud make you a better problems solver or more emotionally intelligent?

Common practice says yes. Unfortunately, it is not very clear on when the technique might work. Plus there is no scientific evidence to back the idea up, until now.

Came across a unique study, How to Gain Eleven IQ Points in Ten Minutes, that found talking aloud can help in some circumstances.  The key finding:

“… older adults performed significantly better only on the Raven’s Matrices while thinking aloud. Performance gains on this task were substantial (d = 0.73 and 0.92 in Experiments 1 and 2, respectively), corresponding to a fluid intelligence increase of nearly one standard deviation.”

Raven’s Matrices are used as a test for general or fluid intelligence.  An example question is shown to the above.

Also of interest are the negative findings:

• No improvements were shown by younger adults
• Older adults did not show improvement on other cognitive tasks such as memory tests, perceptual tests, solving puzzles and so on.

More research is needed but the positive finding is so strong it is worth considering as part of your Next Brain development efforts.

Interested to hear from readers that use talk aloud strategies to improve brain function and cognitive performance.

Source of Image: Wikipedia