Aug-Oct

AUG-OCT 2015

BEHAVIOURAL ECONOMICS SPECIAL

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From the Editor: So, this is a Behavioural Economics Special issue… okay… then what are the sparrows doing on the cover?

Behavioural Economics borrows a great deal from the Behavioural Game theory and Cognitive Neuroscience. While Game Theory assumes that all humans will behave in a rational manner in a given situation, it turns out that this isn’t always true. Infact, in a number of experiments, chimpanzees are far better at playing Game Theory problems than humans. I’d like to quote from one of Punnet Khurana’s earlier articles – Man is not a rational being but a rationalizing one. Often, we take decisions on our instincts and then try to stick a reason onto it. One such instinct that overrules reason finds a place on the cover of this issue.

There was a lot happening in Mensa India during the last three months – AGMs, talks, interactive sessions, treks and what not! The “Mensa Events” article covers these activities.

Do let us know what you would like to read here. Remember – it is your magazine.

~Durva Damle, Editor, Mind

Contents By Page no

About Contributors 2

Cover Story: Behavioural Economics – Final Mile Interview

Raunak Onkar 3

Mensa Events: AGM and Other Activities Durva & Geetanjalee

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World Events: Puzzle and Sudoku Championships

Prasanna Seshadri

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Travelogue: A Spansish Holiday Akshay Purohit 10

Investing: Incentive Bias – Concluding Part

Puneet Khurana 13

Book Review: “What If?” Krishna Vora 14

The Puzzle Page: As Easy as ABC Prasanna Seshadri

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Submissions: Send in your articles and contributions in plain text format and pictures in high resolution .jpg format to:

[email protected]

Disclaimer:

All contents in this magazine are opinions of the individual authors and contributors. Neither Mensa India, the society, its office bearers nor the editors are responsible for any content or views expresses.

Feedback:

Like it, love it or hate it? Tell us how to make the MInd magazine better. Write in to the editor at

[email protected]

Cover Pic Credits: Durva Damle

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Raunak Onkar is part of the equity research team at PPFAS Mutual Fund. When he is not investing, he can be found hiding behind his kindle. He is also an amateur photographer and a productivity enthusiast. He can be reached at [email protected] Krishna Vora is a Psychologist and a Special Educator by profession. She spends all her free time exploring different genres of reading. Link to her blog: https://krishnasvora.wordpress.com/2015/02/03/the-imitation-game/

PrasannaSeshadri is a Puzzler and Puzzle-Master at Grandmaster Puzzles; was the Indian Double Champion in 2013, having won both the Indian Sudoku and Indian Puzzle Championships. As a puzzlemaker, Prasanna has contributed puzzles to the World Puzzle Championship, the 24HPC, and several other national championships; Associated with Logic Masters India.

Blog: https://prasannaseshadri.wordpress.com/ More of his puzzles can be found at: http://www.gmpuzzles.com Puneet Khurana:Puneet Khurana is an equity investor who after his associations with various India focussed hedge funds is now involved in managing money for friends and family. He runs Stoic Advisors, a niche consulting firm involved in Financial and Behavioral strategy consulting. He is also an educator who teaches MBA and CFA students and occasionally gives guest lectures atvarious investing workshops and seminars.

He blogs at www.pragmaticinvesting.wordpress.com

Akshay Purohit is a Director at Neptunus Power Plant Services. Neptunus specializes in engine and mechanical equipment services to the Marine, Offshore and Industrial Sectors. Akshay is an active member of Business Network International, Ascent: Scaling Up Enterprises, National Human Resource Development Network, the United World College Graduate Network and the Columbia University Alumni Association. He enjoys long distance running, swimming, writing and learning more about the world through books and travel.

Blog:purohitakshay.wordpress.com

ABOUT CONTRIBUTORS:

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The Four Seconds Kiss: When Vice President Al Gore accepted his party’s nomination for president in the year 2000, he approached his wife on the stage for a quick celebratory embrace & a kiss. The kiss in fact was not that quick. It lasted for four seconds as the commentators later recounted. What was the impact of just a few seconds? Well, therein lies the difference. Instead of talking about the candidate’s political ambitions & plans after becoming president, the next day all the newspapers carried a front page photo of Mr & Mrs. Gore locked in that kiss. Just 4 seconds! It is unbelievable how our perception of time can change our way of looking at a person or an event. Although we as a species have achieved much in terms of progress, we still carry around these biological processors that were designed for the hunting & gathering days. An awareness of what triggers a particular type of thought / action can lead to remarkable solutions to modify our behaviour. Identifying & triggering these behavioural impulses needs a clinical understanding of how our brain processes information. Over the past four decades the fields of neuroscience & psychology have come a long way with a lot of path breaking discoveries. Cognitive neuroscience has not only been able to map the functional areas of the brain but behavioural psychology has been able to indicate what motivates us to act in a particular way. This has led to breakthrough research in the field of behavioural economics which led to Nobel Prize winning applications. It’s always been a question as to how to use this knowledge for our benefit. If human beings can be so easily influenced to ignore every other aspect about a person in just 4 seconds, then aren’t we really susceptible to other people’s influence over us? We are & we do get motivated all the time. Each time we get approached by a direct marketer asking us to become a “member” of some organization which sells household consumer products, or each time we watch a cleverly written commercial which makes us try a product, we are being influenced to partake in their experiment. I met with Mr. Biju Dominic, Co-Founder & CEO of the consulting firm, Final Mile. Final Mile has chosen to use their learnings from Behavioural Sciences to help them in their path of influencing positive behaviour amongst the users of various products /

services. They’ve been covered extensively by the media for their initiative with Mumbai Sub-urban Central Railways to help reduce fatalities from people crossing railway tracks. You could’ve built a high wall around the tracks & there would promptly be a hole at the bottom of the wall which people would crawl out of to cross the tracks anyway. Or you could make people aware of the pitfalls of crossing the tracks & provide them with a visual marker which will help them figure out how soon will the train reach the spot where they are standing. Some people will still go for it & race to their deaths but majority of the people now wait for the train to pass. Not an ideal solution, but it achieves its purpose of reducing fatalities. Prof. V.S. Ramachandran mentions in his book, Phantoms in the Brain, the same process of a pivotal change. Prof Ramachandran’s work has been instrumental to change the trajectory of cognitive sciences to the direction of neuroscience instead of being languishing as a branch of applied psychology. He says, people always assume that the telescope was invented by Galileo. The reality is that it was invented in 1607 by a Dutch spectacle maker named Hans Lipperhey. His arrangement of lenses made distant objects appear closer & this device was widely popular as a, child’s toy. In 1609, Galileo heard about this fascinating device & in a light bulb moment, he ordered one for himself. He did something with it which no one had ever imagined. He merely tilted the angle of the chamber to look at the sky. If not for these curious & serendipitous inventions & their uses, we may not have the advances in astronomy as we do today. Final Mile’s approach to consulting has been similar. Equipped with the knowledge from Cognitive Neuroscience, Behavioural Economics & Design, these Behaviour Architects are taking the field of Consulting to a new plane. The Mumbai office of Final Mile may look like an average office, but on closer look it’s anything but. From its carefully curated library along with a wall of cognitive biases, this place goes the extra mile to show their love for the profession. A conversation with Mr. Biju Dominic, CEO & Founder of Final Mile Consulting. (With special thanks to Mr. Varun Rajda without whom this interview wouldn’t have happened)

COVER STORY:

Behavioural Economics: ‘Final Mile’

COVER STORY:

Behavioural Economics: ‘Final Mile’ Interview

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THE FIRM & THE PEOPLE: 1. Behavioural Economics is a relatively new branch in

the field of psychology, could you tell us how & when you stumbled upon it?

I was in the advertising industry for the first 18 years of my career. Working with some of the best brands in the country, I knew that the existing understanding of human behaviour was deficient. I also realized that unlike most other fields of study, human behaviour did not have a fundamental theory that could explain all aspects of human behaviour. In my search for that fundamental theory, I stumbled upon Francis Crick’s observation that brain is the organ of behaviour. From the sturdy of the functioning of the human brain (Cognitive Neuroscience), I also chanced upon the short cuts our brain takes while making decisions. This learning took me to the door step of Behavioural Economics. 2002 Nobel Prize reinforced that this is the path to the future.

2. Could you describe how you & the other co-founders

came across the decision to create Final Mile?

Ram (Ram Prasad) one of the co-founders was my colleague for a long time. Ram introduced me to Anurag (Anurag Vaish) &Anand (Anand Parameswaran), his colleagues at Wipro Consumer Care. Ram & I used to discuss these new behavioural sciences for a long time. Anurag &Anand took the

decision to quit their jobs and start Final Mile after listening about the new sciences for just 30 minutes.

3. Behavioural Economics being an odd concept to

explain to someone, how did you find your first client? What was the first project you worked on?

We did not speak to our clients about the science per se. Instead we told our clients what this science can do for them. We told them that interventions using these sciences will deliver measurable, better results than those using traditional sciences. This continues to be our sales pitch. Our first client was RR Kable. The first project was to build the foundations of the B2C business of RR Kable, which until then had a strong B2B unit.

4. How has the response to your work been with clients

at different places across the world? What key differences did you notice between clients in India v/s the ones that you work with abroad?

We have got excellent response to our work across the globe. We have done several projects in the US, Africa, Middle East & Singapore. Clients abroad are far more willing to make large investments into new sciences than in India.

5. Could you explain to us how you find credible

sources of data to base your conclusions on? Since, most behaviour triggers need a lot of observation of the actual behaviour& a reasonable sample size to say that this correlation leads to causation, how do you deal with this?

At Final Mile we have developed a unique research technique called Ethno lab. This technique combines the advantages of ethnography with the control of a lab. Our research is always done by the same team that works on the project. When you step out into actual contexts to interact with real consumers for hours, you cannot be too far from the truth. No wonder our research presentation is something which clients look forward to.

6. What’s your emphasis at the firm? How do you

manage to create a working system that balances growth of the firm with the projects that excite you? In short, how do you pick projects?

Mr. Biju Dominic, CEO - Final Mile

COVER STORY:


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The focus of most of our projects is Behaviour Change. Initially clients who heard about us came to with a variety of behavioural problems. But today although we focus a lot more on Financial Services and Health Care & Developmental Sector, we do work on other areas too. To that extent we are amazed by the imagination of our clients. Recently we finished a project to study the problem of trafficking of girls and how it can be reduced.

7. Could you describe a current project that you find

exciting & what are you trying to achieve in it?

Due to existing practices in the industry & despite strong counter measures by the head office of the organization; illegal acts were the norm with an insurance major. Final Mile was asked to find ways to embed the culture of integrity among the front line sales staff. We are in the process of implementing our interventions within that organization.

8. Could you describe one of your toughest projects

that you’ve ever encountered?

The project we did for The Gates Foundation on Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision could be one of the toughest we have handled. We were trying to understand a behaviour that was truly personal. The fact that the project was done in Zambia & Zimbabwe, alien places with unknown languages added to the complexity. It also proved that our research tool, Ethno lab could handle these complexities very well.

9. As organisations grow older, a work culture grows

into it. What’s the work culture at Final Mile & what learnings from your own profession have to incorporated into it? How do you personally manage / maintain the culture at your firm?

At the core of the work culture at Final Mile is constant acquisition of knowledge. Every employee of Final Mile spends 40-50% of the working time on reading new books & articles. We have regular weekly meetings where Final Milers dial in from where ever they are in the world to share with others what they read in the previous week. The four co-founders set an example by reading maybe more than others.

10. How do you ensure that the people working on projects at your firm, protect themselves from all the behavioural biases that are associated with the use of statistical modelling & personal judgement? (Confirmation Bias, Representative Bias, Anchoring, Base Rate Neglect, Etc)

We all are well aware that awareness of a bias will never protect us from those biases. We are as much a victim of these biases as anybody.

11. Could you describe projects that you took up but

failed? What were the reasons for failure & how did you incorporate lessons from those failures into your work?

We have not failed on any projects so far. THE CONCEPT OF BEHAVIOURAL ECONOMICS 1. Which few key concepts in the in the field of

behavioural economics have been instrumental in shaping your understanding and application in the field? In short how does the concept of modifying actions by finding behavioural triggers, work?

We have taken more learning from Cognitive Neuroscience than from Behavioural Economics. The learning from Cognitive Neuroscience that more than 95% of brain processes happen at a non-conscious level has influenced the research technique we use and the design strategy we use. Since the science teaches that emotions are involved in all decisions and that the context of the decision making matters a lot, on all projects, a deep understanding of the emotions and context involved, are studied in depth. We also study the different cognitive short cuts involved in the behaviour we study.

2. How do we use the knowledge of behavioural triggers to influence our own behaviour while making rational choices (in personal life, professional life, conduct towards others, etc)?

As I mentioned before, the knowledge of the working of the brain doesn’t absolve anyone of its effects.

COVER STORY:


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The Irshalgadh Conundrum

7.7% Ms –lets call him Omkar – can get 100% FMs (female Ms) to pose and never send them the photos.

15.4%Ms left decorations on the peak – Sam has no sense of

beauty and carted the lunch boxes all the way back. (HM – Akshay n Devita- who is not Devika)

7.7% tall dark handsome Ms make cars go week in the knees to

the extent that moral police had to bounce Karan out of the sagging Civic. He got leg injury.

15.4%Ms left their soles on the now soulful Irshalgadh. (Devils –

Manish n Devita – who is not Devika)

100% Dr FMs balance work and life by working on Sunday treks (I certainly appreciate Doctors who take midnight calls

Pallavi).

Sam said we should fall on butts because they are the strongest muscles – a clear lie. Jaw muscles work 24X7 against

gravity(when not looking at Katrina Kaif), chew unbelievable stuff, talk endlessly. Also Jaw whistles are better controlled. But

0% Ms tried falling on the jaw and 80% tested Sam’s advise.

15.4%Ms had well trained wives who do not keep calling them asking where they were and correctly assuming that the intelligent guys would have just lost their way in Deonar

dumping grounds. (HM – Harsh n Shoorjyo)

7.7% Ms missed CO and had to boost atmospheric levels half a dozen times(HM Tushar). 92.3% Ms did not need the warmth.

7.7% of Ms is very analytical.

~Geetanjalee Naniwadekar

MENSA EVENTS:

Mumbai Irshalgadh Trek and Sudoku

Irshalgadh Trek

Sudoku – ‘Unsolvable!’

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MInd gets lucky! The recently concluded World Puzzle and Sudoku Championships in Bulgaria this year (11th to 18th Oct) have some good news for India. The Indian teams for these events finished 9th (Sudoku) and 10th (Puzzles) in the World. This is also the first time that India finds a place in the World Top 10 in both - Sudoku as well as Puzzles. In the Individual Rankings as well, some new records were set. Prasanna Seshadri finished 7th in the Sudoku World Rankings and 19th in the Puzzles Ranking, bettering the previous best ranks – 8th for Sudoku (Rohan Rao in 2012) and 23rd for Puzzles (Prasanna Seshadri in 2014) MInd brings exclusive coverage of this event from Bulgaria and the report is compiled by none other than the Indian champion – Prasanna. Ergo the ‘lucky’ headline ;) Proceedings:

1. World Sudoku Grand Prix top 10 finals.

Background: The World Puzzle Federation holds the Sudoku GP on gp.worldpuzzle.org from January to July/August. There are 8 online rounds, each round authored by a team from a different country, and all solvers can discard worst two rounds (which means those authoring a round will have to use up one discard for the authored round where they will score 0). The top 10 across the 8 rounds are then invited to compete in a final, held offline close to the World Sudoku Championship of that year.

It was held a day before the Championship this year.

Format: The participants in the final have staggered starts according to their point tallies from the online segment. 1st seed starts, then some seconds later 2nd seed, and so on.

News: India had two solvers in the top 10 this year (which is in itself a first), Rishi Puri starting at 7th place and myself starting at 8th place. The bigger news is that they had a vote this year to determine the best online round of the Sudoku GP, and Team India won this award. We were presented a trophy for our efforts. I was lead author for the Indian round, and was assisted by Ashish Kumar, Rajesh Kumar, Rakesh Rai, RohanRao and Swaroop Guggilam. The link to the round is - http://gp.worldpuzzle.org/content/wpf-sudoku-gp3-0 .

Winners: (1st to 3rd) Kota Morinishi (Japan), Timothy Doyle (France) and TiitVunk (Estonia).

2. The 10th World Sudoku Championship.

Background: Team India was selected through the Indian Sudoku Championship and comprised of (in order of 1st to 4th in ISC) Rishi Puri, myself, RohanRao and debutant Kishore Kumar Sridharan.

Format: The World Championship had 8 Individual rounds and 2 Team rounds over 1 and a half days. The rounds varied from 30-80 minutes. The Individual rounds included just one round for Classic Sudoku (12 Classics to be solved in 30 minutes), 5 variant rounds (about 12-15 variants to be solved in 50-80 minutes), and two special rounds which had just one big grid each with some special rules. The team rounds featured co-operative solving with communication among the 4 team members. After all this, the top 10 Individuals would compete in a set of 3 playoffs.

News: The team rounds didn’t go well at all this year, with mistakes in both of them. This cost us a good team ranking and we finished 9th (3 short of our best finish of 6th last year) in spite of two great individual performances. Rohan Rao finished 14th, Rishi finished 38th and Kishore finished 47th. I made a record for India’s best rank at a WSC(7th), beating Rohan’s 8th place from 2012. Link - http://www.worldpuzzle.org/championships/wsc/2015-sofia-bulgaria/ .

Winners: 1st to 3rd: Kota Morinishi (Japan), Tiit Vunk (Estonia) and Jakub Ondroušek (Czech Republic).

3. The 24th World Puzzle Championship.

Background: Team India was selected through the Indian Puzzle Championship and comprised of (in order of 1st to 3rd in IPC) Rohan Rao, Amit Sowani and Swaroop Guggilam. I was already on the team, as Logic Masters India awards a wildcard to the best Indian performer at the previous World Championship. In 2014, I had finished at 23rd. Going into the WPC, this was the best rank by an Indian.

Format: The format was similar to WSC, but larger, across 2 days + a few hours on the 3rd day, with 11 individual rounds and 3 team rounds varying from 30 to

WORLD EVENTS:

Sudoku and Puzzle Championships

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100 minutes. Barring special rounds (which included a Poker Battle round, based on placing values of playing cards into a grid so that two opponents could win/lose according to given conditions), there were usually about 12—20 puzzles in each round. The playoff system was exactly the same as the WSC.

News: Unlike the WSC, we had some good Team rounds here. Our individual performances were also steady enough that we could total up to set a record for India’s best team ranking. Our previous best was 12th, and this year, we finished 10th!

In the individual rankings, Rohan Rao finished 42nd, Amit Sowani finished 47th, Swaroop Guggilam finished 57th. I managed to set a new record for an Indian individual performance at a WPC, bettering my 23rd from last year by finishing 19th. This wasn’t good enough to make the playoffs of course, but it’s still nice to see the improvement. Link - http://www.worldpuzzle.org/championships/championships/2015-sofia-bulgaria/ .

4. The World Puzzle Grand Prix Top 10 finals.

Winners: There was no Indian in the playoffs and the format was same as the Sudoku GP playoffs. List the winners. 1st to 3rd: Ulrich Voigt (Germany), James McGowan (Great Britain) and Ken Endo (Japan).

5. The 12th World Sudoku Championship and 26th World Puzzle Championship, Bangalore 2017.

Background: Logic Masters India, the Indian affiliate of the World Puzzle Federation, has been making some solid progress recently. Sumit Bothra, Deb Mohanty and myself recently co-authored our first book, Sudoku Mix, we started innovative concepts like Sudoku Mahabharat and Puzzle Ramayan on our site, and successfully ran a Juniors’ national championship, trained the winners, and had our Juniors Team finishing at 2nd place in the World Juniors Sudoku Championship in July. We also have a successful Patron Reward program, and have tied up with different sponsors and partners like Times of India, Dainik Jagran, Sportz Consult, and many others.

The next logical step, and a dream for a lot of us regulars, is to host the World Sudoku & Puzzle Championships. We decided that we will be best equipped to do so in 2017, so at the annual general meeting of the World Puzzle Federation this year, we put forth our bid by way of a presentation to host the World Championships in 2017 in Bangalore.

News: The voting was done the next day and the decision was unanimous and it is now official. I will be a part of the core organizing team for this event and I am very proud of this. We hope to make 2017’s edition a memorable and successful one.

Why Bangalore? Quite simply, most of the core organizing team is in Bangalore.

Conclusion: If any Mensans are interested in chipping in, feel free to contact me. There are many things that go into this, including logistics, contacting potential sponsors, travel partners, etc.

~Prasanna Seshadri

Translating an experience into words can sometimes be difficult. My visit to Spain has left me struggling.

Gorgeous cities. History. Diversity. Stories. Culture. Struggle. Political discontent. Merriment. Weather. Scenic highways. Food. Sangria. Wine. Sangria. And the wine. Spain was spectacular.

Barcelona - Days 1 to 3

Barcelona's beauty strikes you even before you land, as the aircraft glides over the Mediterranean Sea and lands just metres from it.

Endless strolls through its café-laden streets is quintessential Barcelona. On our walking, bicycle and Segway tours, we explored many of Barcelona's 'must-see

WORLD EVENTS:

Sudoku and Puzzle Championships

TRAVELOGUE

A Spanish Holiday

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places,' including the famed Picasso Museum and La Segrada Familia (a grand church whose chief architect, Antoni Gaudi, claimed would take 200 years to build, and is, not surprisingly, still under construction, over 130 years since the start date!). Frequent verbal and symbolic reminders that Barcelona was in Cataluña, and not part of Spain, highlighted the political significance of the city.

Till the 1992 Olympic Games, Barcelona's port was the Gateway of Drugs into Europe. Then, the Olympic Village and Barceloneta Beach were built, transforming the city's façade. Barcelona is rare in that it has financially gained from hosting the Olympic Games, with tourism increasing ever since. Three days there, and it was easy to tell why Barcelona is one of the most visited cities in the world. My fondest memories were a 10k run on my second morning, a cable car ride over the city, posing as an art and Picasso connoisseur and an afternoon spent relishing house wine at a street-side café on La Rambla, the city's main street.

Aptly, we left the city on Day 3 having emptied a bottle of wine in the taxi ride to the airport!

Albaicin and Granada - Days 3 to 4

Littered with narrow alleys, stony streets, small cafes and quaint houses, Albaicin was marvellous. We stayed on a street - Calle Del Agua - that had a medieval water channel running through it downhill. From the Mirador De Sant Nicolas, the sunset over the Alhambra is a marvellous sight. One of Granada's prime attractions was its 'Free Tapas with every drink' convention, one I optimized through our stay.

The Alhambra is a palace fort-city overlooking the city of Granada. Built during the 11th Century by the Moorish Empire (the first Muslim invaders of Spain), it changed

hands to also host the Nasird Dynasty (the last Muslim dynasty of Spain) and the Catholic Monarchs that succeeded them (Carlos and Isabella, in the 16th century). It possesses several elements of both Arab as well as Roman Catholic architecture, showing no signs of vengeance during the transfer of power. The Alhambra's grandeur and historical significance makes it one of Islam's finest architectural masterpieces.

Our stay in Granada was capped by one of the most powerful performances I've ever seen - the Flamenco. A combination of song, dance and guitar, the show conveyed emotion in an exhilarating way that only the performing arts can. It was earth-shattering, mind-blowing and it left me speechless.

Nerja, Fragiliana and Calahonda - Day 5

The drive from Granada to Nerja was phenomenal. We visited the Caves of Nerja, and then halted at the Balcon De Europa, a splendid mirador overlooking the sea, for lunch. Standing at the frontier of Europe and staring into the vast Mediterranean was a humbling feeling. We also drove past Fragiliana, a quaint hilltop town adorned by white buildings, home to Festival de las Tres Culturas. A four day festival in August every year, it celebrates the peaceful coexistence of Islam, Christianity and Judaism in the town.

Malaga and Cordoba - Day 6 and 7

After a morning at the beach and a drive along the gorgeous Costa Del Sol, we reached the city of Picasso's birth, Malaga.

TRAVELOGUE

A Spanish Holiday

12

The Picasso Museum in Malaga has many more of Picasso's works during his prime years than the one in Barcelona does. While strolling around Malaga on a crutch, I ambled into the Alcazaba, a historical military fort. As the sun set, the evening breeze blew airily across Malaga's most beautiful vantage point.

My favourite moment in Malaga was the sunset cruise on our first evening there. As we watched the receding skyline and enjoyed a copa de vino blanco, I felt incredibly privileged, blessed, grateful, and perhaps even a little undeserving, of this experience.

I had wanted to go to Cordoba since I became interested in Islamic History and Culture in college. A central street divides Cordoba into two parts - with two separate parliaments for the Arabs and Catholics. Interestingly, Gothic churches adorn both halves in equal measure.

The Mezquita of Cordoba (a one-time mosque converted into a church) was grand. Established by Abd Al-Rahman a runway from Syria, who became Cordoba's first emir, the mosque underwent a series of successive expansions before being replaced by a church, when the Arabs were defeated. Today, Muslims in Spain continue their struggle for the rights to pray inside this architectural and historical marvel.

Ronda, Sevilla and Triana - Days 8 and 9

Majestic large windmills, rolled down windows, serene mountains, one way highways and silence form my memories of the drive from Malaga to Sevilla.

Exhausted by the demanding travel schedule, we chose to see most of Sevilla and neighbouring Triana from the

comfort of a double decker city tour bus. Sevilla is significant for being the birthplace of the Flamenco, a major bull fighting centre in Spain and giving the Roman Empire three of its emperors. Most of the modern city was built around either the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition, or the 1992 World Fair.

Sevilla is home to the last in the trinity of the most important Arab monuments in Spain, Real Alcazar (the Alhambra in Granada and the Mezquita of Cordoba being the other two). Crepes, cheese platters, cold cuts and wine lent gastronomical delight.

Barcelona, Revisited - Day 10

Our last day in Spain had us all flooded with ambivalence. On the one hand, we had another shot at Barcelona but it also felt like it had all come to an end too quickly. The highlight was undoubtedly watching the Barcelona vs Las Palmas game in a 75,000 strong crowd at Camp Nou. A solo bike ride along the streets and coast of Barcelona allowed me to reflect, and to nostalgize.

It was a fantastic 10 days, as if it were in a dream. The insights into culture and history were enriching. The mix of quaintness, grandeur, buzz and beauty had left a deep, indelible imprint on me. Spain was a trip of a lifetime.

~Akshay Purohit

TRAVELOGUE

A Spanish Holiday

13

….Continuing with the discussion between Curious Manager (CM), who is an HR professional and PK – The Guide – Puneet Khurana… from the previous issue…

PK: It is better to miss rewarding a desirable behaviour than to produce an incentive system which promotes cheating, because bad behaviour once rewarded is habit forming. And human beings have the tendency to game the system for their benefit.Munger says, “Anti-gaming features constitute a huge and necessary part of system design. Also needed in the system design is an admonition: dread.”

Andrew Grove (effective leader for Intel) once said, ”For every goal you put in front of someone, you should also put in place a counter-goal to restrict gaming of the first goal.” (Out of context here, but I think you should read his book, “Only the Paranoid Survives”)

CM: So what are these ‘anti-gaming’ features or antidotes one should have?

PK: Cash registers which were developed by Pattersonis an example. Similarly, while discussing the antidotes for ‘rationalization of immoral behaviour by employees’, Munger discusses the importance of having a sound accounting theory and practice.

We have numerous examples where corporations have used ambiguous accounting rules to create false picture of their operating businesses and the management made money but stockholders lost everything. The book, ‘Smartest Guys in The Room’, based on the Enron scandal, is a wonderful account of immoral behaviour, perverse incentives, operant conditioning and all other biases like social proof, commitment and consistency coming together to create what we know as one of the biggest and quickest corporate bankruptcy in the history of capitalism.

If I have to give few general guidelines to save ourselves from the Incentive bias, these will be following:

1. Be skeptical about what you hear from others and what you are told. You never know what incentives are driving that viewpoint. It is especially true when you are watching news. To take everything on face value can be dangerous. Even if you find it to be objective enough, you should always seek views from other sources.

2. When you seek advice from someone, always ask what the incentives are for that person. If the advice is specifically beneficial for the advisor,take it with a pinch of salt. As Buffett says, “Never ask a barber, whether you need a haircut.”

3. While investing in a particular company, always give importance to the incentive structures of the top management. Some of the more significant mistakes I have avoided are by looking at the compensation structures of the top management.

CM: Wow, that’s really interesting! I am actually surprised that we had such a long chat on a topic I never thought to be that crucial. I am wondering how other professions are affected by this bias.

PK: Almost every profession gets affected by this. Let me give you some examples and some articles to refer to, so that you can appreciate the extent of this bias existing in various professions.Here are few of the examples:

1. Medical profession: This article talks about a man in medical profession who came out to expose the bias caused by incentives in profession.We should appreciate the courage of this professional because often one is subjected to Serpico treatment for such a behaviour.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/magazine/25memoir-t.html?pagewanted=all

2. Accounts auditioning: There have been numerous cases in the past like that of Enron andWorldCom, where the auditors have been blamed (rightly so) for overlooking various irregularities in financial statements.

3. Sales: We all have some kind of experience with the sales people who push products on the basis of commissions, whether these are beneficial for the user or not. And they do it brilliantly. One of my favorite examples of salesman at work is very well captured in a scene from the movie Boiler Room.

4. Banking: We have seen what happened in the mortgage crisis in the West. The banks are in the business of selling products and when the incentives are skewed, it eventually ends up bad for the customers.

We all are aware of the mis-selling activities in India and all the media hype about that.In case you are unaware of that, you can read a recent article by Moneylife (http://www.moneylife.in/article/mis-selling-how-savers-are-misled/24331.html).

CM: That’s really scary! Well, it’s certainly some knowledge that can save us a lot of money and unpleasant experiences. Anyways, it was nice to have this conversation.

~Puneet Khurana

INVESTING

INCENTIVE BIAS – Concluding Part

14

Book: What if? Author: Randall Munroe What If? Do you know that awkward moment when you pose a question to your teacher and she has no clue what the hell are you talking about? And that awkward moment is further aggravated by the realisation of the possibility of her being humiliated in front of the class by someone half her age? Of course is doesn’t help that she will be grading you and she knows your name. Sigh!

Fortunately not all teachers are so easily humiliated. We have those rare species that take a weird, out of syllabus question in their stride….admit that they do not know and hence would be unable to answer the question, would nudge us to pursue the question on our own and if we are lucky, would join us in our journey.

Randall Munroe is one such gift to all the curious students out there. I admit I hadn’t browsed his website or read his previous book earlier. I bought the book primarily because of heavy discounts and the tagline ‘serious scientific answers to absurd hypothetical questions’ where the absurd part was a dinosaur being lifted by crane. But man! Who could imagine the brilliance of this book.

Patiently and steadfastly he chooses to answer questions posed by strangers across the globe. He is a teacher I wish everyone had. Not only does he take the time and effort to research the answer to a question, he also tells you his source, how he went about the answer. And if at all there were more hypothesis, more scenarios, he would address them nonetheless. Pursuing your own curiosity is one thing, but chasing someone else’s with the same amount of gusto is something beyond my imagination. Though now it’s more real than ever.

Have you ever wondered how many calories you could gain if you consumed a book with its cover? That’s the first thing you learn, without even having to start the book. Other awesome questions he answers include- What would happen if Earth and all terrestrial objects suddenly stopped spinning but the atmosphere retained its velocity? If everyone on the planet stayed away from each other for a couple of weeks, would the common cold be wiped out? How much physical space does the internet take up? If every human somehow simply disappeared from the face of the Earth, how long before the last artificial source would go out? With each of these questions and others, he openly judges them on the practicality of the query posed and classifies some of them as weird and worrying. What he does unlike others is, acknowledge them even if he doesn’t answer them.

If I compare him to a teacher, most of them would be dumbfounded, not know how to respond or worse just think that the child is trying to cause distraction. If the kid is smart, it is more likely to be taken as an act of arrogance.

Randall Munroe on the other hand, patiently hears them out if he is not already turning the world upside down to look for answers. Don’t get me wrong here; I am not judging teachers for their response. I do tend to be taken aback by questions beyond my range. I am just beginning to aspire to be like Randall Munroe in my class and hoping others would do so too. For all you know I would pose their questions to him if I fail to answer them. Oh, did I mention his doodles? And his sense of humour? And he gives credits to my favourite hero Goku? That’s simply icing on the cake.

~Krishna Vora

BOOK REVIEW

What if?

15

The ‘As Easy As ABC’ Puzzle statement: Place the letters from the given range once in every row and every column.Letters on the outside indicate that this letter is seen first in that row or column when looking from that side. There will be some blank spaces in every row and column. Theme::There are two puzzles this time. The smaller one – Mind.The bigger one – Mensa. The top row makes these words. I tried to make meaningful words in other parts too but it is more difficult to control it throughout .

~Prasanna Seshadri 1. Puzzle – MIND

Range – {D,I,M,N}

2. Puzzle – MENSA Range – {A,E,M,N,S}

Solved Example with helpful notes:

Example: Range – {A,B}

Notes:

1. Notice that blank cells are irrelevant as long as the first letter in the direction satisfies the outside clue.

2. The example has two blank cells because the range is two letters and there are four cells in the rows and columns. In the puzzles below the range is just one less than the number of cells in rows and columns, so there will be just one blank cell.

Solution to the previous issue’s puzzle: Extra Region Sudoku

Note: The solutions to the puzzles will be published in the next issue. For more puzzles and Sudokus like this and to know more about the Indian National Championships, you can visit the Indian website for all puzzle matters, Logic Masters India – logicmastersindia.com

THE PUZZLE PAGE:

As Easy As ABC

augu

st 2

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031

mensa world journal

New Executive Committee p2 international SIGHT : Australia p5

Alex Sindjelic (at right) with his host, Rick Smith, at Mt Lofty, South Australia

mensa world journal august 2015

mensa wor ld journal

from the editor,

Congratulations to the new ExComm team! I know that Mensa is in good hands and will flourish over the next two years under your stewardship. On page 3, Chris Leek tells us of the advantages of volunteering, while International SIGHT focusses on Australia (p5). From pages 8 and 9, what do the love hormone and alcohol have in common? And did you know that infections can affect your IQ? At the time of writing, I’m looking forward to EMAG in Berlin and I’m hoping to meet many of you there. Don’t forget to come and say hello; I’d like to have a page of photos of DIMs to put in the next issue of the MWJ!!The year seems to moving along at an alarming rate - the IBD meeting in Novi Sad is not so far away! Octo-ber 1-4 is the date, so do more than put it in your calendar as a possible; make it a definite and book in! It will be a fantastic weekend! See you there!

With warm regards,Kate

[email protected]

02

Executive Committee Election Results

The Chairman of the International Elec-tion Committee has announced the fol-lowing results of the recent elections for the period July 1, 2015 - June 30, 2017:

Chair: Bibiana Balanyi (Hungary)Director of Administration: Therese Moodie-Bloom (Australia) elected unchallengedDirector of Development: Björn Liljeqvist (Sweden)Treasurer: Rudolf Challupner (Switzerland)

Also elected to the Executive Committee by the Election Committee – Smaller National Mensas:Tomas Blumenstein (Czech Republic)

Congratulations to all!

Log into the

International website

at

www.mensa.org

for the calendar of

national events

International Scholarship Awards 2015

Congratulations to the following members!

Ed Vincent ScholarshipMarcelin Da Cruz Mensa France

Mensa International ScholarshipsAndrea Luppi Mensa ItalyKatherine Vrantsidis Mensa CanadaMatej Kianicka Mensa SlovakiaSteven Walden British Mensa



03

from the executive committee...

Chris Leek

Volunteerism in Mensa

The Mensa Constitution mandates three purposes for the Society. These are met in various ways and to greater or lesser extents by Mensa groups around the world. Every national Mensa group strives to provide a stimulating intel-lectual and social environment for its members. The Mensa Foundation in the United States provides an excellent example of how to encourage research into the nature, characteristics and uses of intelligence, as does British Mensa’s involvement with research into Alzheimer’s disease. Fulfilling the imperative to identify and foster human intelligence for the benefit of humanity, many Mensa groups have programmes to identify and mentor gifted children, with initiatives ranging from the annual Logical Olympics run so successfully by Czech Mensa to the school for gifted children championed by Mensa Slovakia. As with virtually all other aspects of Mensa, the work in these areas is car-ried out almost exclusively by or with volunteers. Mensa’s connection with its volunteers is a vital element of its success and bears closer examination. It may be a truism that an individual gets as much out of an activity, a relation-ship or any other aspect of life as he or she is prepared to put into it, and this is certainly the case with Mensa. Throughout the world Mensa has an army of volunteers, serving on Boards, organising meetings, administering test sessions, producing newsletters, and do-ing the thousand-and-one tasks needed to keep our society running smoothly and providing such a welcoming and

stimulating environment for the mem-bership. The benefits this brings to the Society are clear - it could not func-tion without those willing to take on responsibility. Mensa is run for and by those who belong to it. The larger Mensa groups employ salaried staff, who work hand in hand with Mensa officers, but the majority of national Mensas are entirely volunteer-led. I am regularly impressed by the quality and breadth of activities undertaken by Mensa groups large and small - ranging from individual lectures to major collaborative efforts such as the European and Asian Mensa Annual Gatherings - all of which are triumphs of volunteerism. What, however, is the quid pro quo for those who give so freely of their time and expertise for the sake of Mensa? There is the glow of satisfaction from a job well done, of course, and from being part of a greater whole. Volunteers gain confidence and can increase their range of skills and op-portunities. In line with one of Mensa’s aims, it gives additional opportunities to meet new people and to further existing bonds. More generally, volun-teering has been shown to boost self-confidence and life satisfaction. There can also be more concrete benefits. We strive to give our volunteers the tools they need to do the job they have signed up for. For example, British Mensa’s professional Mensa Magazine editor runs well-received development workshops for the editors of Regional and SIGs magazines, giving advice on all aspects of the editorial process. There are also annual conferences

and workshops for regional officers in various countries. The Leader-ship Exchange Ambassador Program (LEAP), run by Mensa International, gives a number of Mensans each year the chance to visit other Mensa groups, travelling to the American and European or Asian Mensa Annual Gatherings, experiencing how differ-ent Mensa groups operate and sharing their knowledge and experience with other members. The benefits of volunteerism extend to all our members. My own National Mensa, for instance, operates a Shadow Board comprising a selection of 13 to 17 year old Mensans. This group of under-18s liaise directly with the Board of Directors, so have the opportunity to influence the society first-hand, whilst learning useful skills along the way. Shadow Board mem-bers have run and edited Teen SIG, a Mensa magazine for Young Mensans, acquiring and honing editorial skills. We have had a member transi-tion to the British Board of Direc-tors, gaining valuable experience at a young age – whilst giving the Board a



04

International SIGHT: Australia

younger person’s perspective. An-other member of the Shadow Board hosted successful events at Oxford and Cambridge Universities and, assisted by the Mensa Office, brought on board a range of high-profile speakers. Such activities give our young members a unique opportunity to showcase and stretch their talents. Being a volunteer also has prag-matic advantages. Acting as a society treasurer, newsletter editor, or other volunteer role, can be a useful addi-tion to a CV. We have members of all ages and interests, which gives us an incredibly varied range of volunteers. Members offer their services for a wealth of reasons, but they all help the society grow, and they all gain something in return. Why do volunteers volunteer, and why for Mensa? Every volunteer started out as something else: a mem-ber. Most will, I imagine, have valued the benefits they found in the society and wanted to replicate them for oth-ers. Wanted – dare I say it? - to “give something back”. Volunteering lets members engage on a more fulfilling level, and gives them the chance to stretch themselves - to try something new, to grow and develop - all whilst improving the lot of their fellow Mensans. Volunteers find new skills, new experiences, and new friends. If volunteering sounds right for you, please contact your local group, and discover some of the benefits first hand. Finally, my thanks to all our vol-unteers - thank you for helping make Mensa a more enriching society for us all.

Chris LeekProxy, Chair of Mensa UK

online journalsCheck out the mensa.org website to read and download the full, colour, 12-page version of the Mensa World Journal and many

other national journals.You must be a member in good standing in your national Men-sa. Register at www.mensa.org if you haven’t already done so.

Direct International Members contact [email protected] with any queries.

A larger brain brings better cognitive performance. And so it seems only logical that a larger brain would offer a higher survival potential. In the course of evolution, large brains should therefore win out over smaller ones. Previous tests of this hypothesis had relied on comparison studies looking at the intelligence and survival poten-tial of species with large brains versus species with smaller brains. And species with larger brains do ap-pear to have an advan-tage. But such studies are unable to show a causal relationship. Alexander Kotrschal, Sarah Zala, Séverine Büchel and Dustin Penn from the Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology at the Vetmeduni Vienna studied fish to answer why investing in a larger brain might provide an evolutionary advantage to compensate for the fact that brain mass is very expensive to develop and maintain. Guppies are a species of freshwater aquarium fish whose natural range is in the Caribbean region. Kotrschal and

his colleagues previously conducted an artificial selection experiment and successfully generated large- and small-brained guppies. In this study, they aimed to test whether brain size influ-ences survival. Therefore, they released 4,800 guppies from these selection lines into large semi-natural streams, which also contained a natural preda-tor, the pike cichlid. About half a year later, significantly more guppies with large brains had survived. The research-ers suggest that large-brained fish have an advantage that allows them to better

evade predation. “We have provided the first experimental proof that a large brain offers an evolutionary advantage,” explains

first author Kotrschal, who has since moved on to Stockholm University. Large-brained females, whose brains were about 12 percent larger than that of the small-brained females, evaded their predators more often and so had a higher rate of survival. Larger brains did not provide any survival benefit for males. Ethologist Sarah Zala explains: “Male guppies are more

the brain size advantage

“large brains an advantage for females”

continued on p11



05

Australian Mensa has had for many years now, a friendly, approachable and dedicated SIGHT Coordinator, John Barrett. Recently, John sent out a general enquiry to Mensans who had contacted him recently re visiting Australia and received many replies. Aloys Dillar, pictured at right on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, wrote, “I visited Australia; it was awesome!! And I plan on coming back as soon as possible! I had contact with lots of Melbourne members and went to a bowling even-ing among other cool events. “I also went to Sydney and the Blue Mountains with members who gener-ously hosted me and showed me around. “SIGHT gave me the opportunity to go to Australia and live part of my dream; this wouldn’t have been possible for me other-wise. It also gave me the chance to meet awesome people and gave me an insight into Australia as seen by Australians. Aloys, from Mensa France, also appreciated “the possibility to travel to the other side of the planet without the stress caused by not knowing anybody there.”

In both Melbourne and Adelaide, US member Cathy Roha enjoyed the hospitality of Australian members. An Italian dinner accompanied by a “lovely, wide-ranging conversation” , and “a fascinating all-day walking tour of the central area and the interiors of every important building in the city” with a fellow architect and Mensan, Ray, were

two of the highlights of Cathy’s month-long guided tour of New Zealand and Australia. Cathy also joined Laura for an evening at the Fringe Festival in Adelaide and says, “SIGHT is an excellent program for giving visitors from other places more personal glimpses

into other lifestyles, priorities, attitudes and insights.” Alexander Sindjelic (cover photo)comes from Serbia, has lived in many other countries, and after always being attracted to Australia, finally got the

chance to move ‘downunder’. His wife and family are due to join him shortly, but his first point of call was SIGHT and he’s currently staying with an Ad-elaide Mensan, Rick Smith.

His contact with lo-cal Mensans extended to contributing to the Mensa team at Pub Trivia and helping out with the organization of a recent testing session in Adelaide. “My host, Rick, has been great,” he says, “showing me the city and surroundings, and teaching me about local

habits and traditions.” Alexander is a Marketing profes-sional with some background in Tour-ism, and speaks four languages. He’s currently looking for work in Australia.

Many thanks to John Barrett and to all the Australian members who give so generously of their time and hospitality. For International SIGHT enquiries, contact [email protected].


“SIGHT gave me the opportunity to go to Australia and live part of my dream; this wouldn’t have been possible for me otherwise.”

SIGHT Etiquette

SIGHT is not a money-making venture and any monetary recom-pense should be agreed between the host and the visitor well in advance of the visit. The visitor should try to minimise extra costs for the host, and should expect to pay their own way at dinners and on evenings out, perhaps paying for their host’s meal if he/she has provided meals in his home during the visit. A gesture of appreciation, such as a small gift is a gentle courtesy common in most countries in the world.for more info: www.mensa.org/SIGHT



06

A team of biologists at Vanderbilt Uni-versity, headed by Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Donna Webb, studies how these connections are formed at the molecular and cellular level. The filaments that make these new connections are called dendritic spines and, in a series of experiments de-scribed in the April 17 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the researchers report that a specific signal-ing protein, Asef2, a member of a family of proteins that regulate cell migration and adhesion, plays a critical role in spine formation. This is significant because Asef2 has been linked to autism and the co-occurrence of alcohol dependency and depression. “Alterations in dendritic spines are associated with many neurological and developmental disorders, such as autism, Alzheimer’s disease and Down Syndrome,” said Webb. “However, the formation and maintenance of spines is a very complex process that we are just beginning to understand.” Neuron cell bodies produce two kinds of long fibers that weave through the brain: dendrites and axons. Axons transmit electrochemical signals from the cell body of one neuron to the dendrites of another neuron. Dendrites

receive the incoming signals and carry them to the cell body. This is the way that neurons communicate with each other.

As they wait for incoming signals, dendrites continually produce tiny flexible filaments called filopodia. These poke out from the surface of the dendrite and wave about in the region between the cells searching for axons. At the same time, biologists think that the axons secrete chemicals of an un-known nature that attract the filopodia. When one of the dendritic filaments makes contact with one of the axons, it begins to adhere and to develop into a spine. The axon and spine form the two halves of a synaptic junction. New connections like this form the basis for memory formation and storage.

Autism has been associated with immature spines, which do not connect properly with axons to form new syn-aptic junctions. However, a reduction

in spines is characteristic of the early stages of Alzheimer’s dis-ease. This may help explain why individuals with Alzheimer’s have trouble forming new mem-ories. The formation of spines is driven by actin, a protein that produces microfilaments and is part of the cytoskeleton. Webb and her colleagues showed that Asef2 promotes spine and synapse formation by activat-ing another protein called Rac, which is known to regulate actin activity. They also discovered that yet another protein, spino-philin, recruits Asef2 and guides

it to specific spines. “Once we figure out the mecha-nisms involved, then we may be able to find drugs that can restore spine formation in people who have lost it, which could give them back their abil-ity to remember,” said Webb.

Co-authors of the study are graduate students J. Co-rey Evans and Cristina Robinson and postdoctoral scholar Mingjian Shi from the Department of Bio-logical Sciences and the Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development.The research was supported by National Instutes of Health grants GM092914, GM008554, MH071674 and National Center for Research Resources grant S10RR025524.http://www.sciencedaily.com/releas-es/2015/04/150424105012.htm?utm_source=feedburner

New insight into how brain makes memoriesEvery time you make a memory, somewhere in your brain a tiny fila-ment reaches out from one neuron and forms an electrochemical con-nection to a neighbouring neuron.



07

Deadline for submissions to

November2015 issue is

September, 2015mwjeditor@mensa.

org

The constant movement of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be distracting - but the fidgeting also may improve their cogni-tive performance, a study by researchers with the UC Davis MIND Institute has found. The study of pre-teens and teenag-ers with ADHD examined how move-ment -- its intensity and frequency -- correlated with accuracy on cogni-tively demanding tasks requiring good attention. It found that participants who moved more intensely exhibited substantially better cognitive perfor-mance. The study, “A trial-by-trial analysis reveals more intense physical activity is associated with better cognitive control performance in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder,” is published on-line today in Child Neuropsychology. It is the first to assess the relationship between activity and task performance on a trial-by-trial basis in ADHD, the authors said. “It turns out that physical move-ment during cognitive tasks may be a good thing for them,” said Julie Sch-weitzer, professor of psychiatry, director of the UC Davis ADHD Program and study senior author. “Parents and teachers shouldn’t try to keep them still. Let them move while they are doing their work or other challenging cognitive tasks, Schweitzer said. “It may be that the hyperactivity we see in ADHD may actually be beneficial at times. Perhaps the movement increases their arousal

level, which leads to better attention.” For the study, the authors recruited 26 children with validated ADHD diagnoses and 18 who were developing typically and served as controls. The research was conducted at the MIND Institute in Sacramento, Calif. The participants were between the ages of 10 years and 17 years. The participants’ movements were measured by affixing a device to their ankles that measured their level of activity while completing a “flanker test” that requires good attention and the ability to inhibit paying attention to distractions. In the test, the child is asked to focus on the direction in which the middle arrow in a series of arrows is pointing, inhibiting their attendance at other arrows flanking the arrow in question. On some of the trials the middle arrow is pointing in the same direction as the flankers; in others it is pointing in the opposite direction. Ar-rows pointing in the opposite direction cause more errors in performance. The accuracy of the participants with ADHD was significantly im-proved when they were moving, the study found. In other words, correct answers were associated with more mo-tion than incorrect answers. “This finding suggests that accuracy in ADHD may be enhanced by more intense activity or that when a child with ADHD is using more cognitive resources they are more likely to be engaging in physical activity,” the study says.

“Maybe teachers shouldn’t punish kids for movement, and should allow them to fidget as long as it doesn’t disturb the rest of the class,” said Arthur Hartanto, a study coordinator with the ADHD Program and the study’s first author. “Instead, they should seek activities that are not disruptive that allow their students with ADHD to use movement, because it assists them with thinking.”

University of California - Davis Health System. “Movement in ADHD may help children think, perform better in school.” ScienceDaily. Science-Daily, 11 June 2015. <www.sciencedaily.com/

releases/2015/06/150611082116.htm>.

Movement may help children with ADHD think and perform better in school



08

Research, published in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, draws on existing studies into the two com-pounds and details the similarities between the effects of alcohol and the ‘love hormone’, oxytocin, on our actions. The team warn that the oft-used nickname hides the darker side of oxytocin, and claim that it bears more semblances with the effects of alcohol than previously thought. Oxytocin is a neuropeptide hor-mone produced in the hypothalamus and secreted by the posterior pitui-tary gland. It has long been estab-lished as playing a significant role in childbirth and maternal bonding. More recently it has been identified as a brain chemical with a key role in determining our social interac-tions and our reactions to romantic partners -- hence its nickname of ‘the love hormone’. Oxytocin increases prosocial be-haviours such as altruism, generosity and empathy; while making us more willing to trust others. The socio-cognitive effects come about by sup-pressing the action of prefrontal and limbic cortical circuits -- removing the brakes on social inhibitors such as fear, anxiety and stress. Dr Ian Mitchell, from the School of Psychology at the University of Birmingham, explained, “We thought it was an area worth exploring, so we pooled existing research into the effects of both oxytocin and alcohol and were struck by the incredible similarities between the two com-

pounds.” “They appear to target different receptors within the brain, but cause common actions on GABA transmis-sion in the prefrontal cortex and the limbic structures. These neural cir-cuits control how we perceive stress or anxiety, especially in social situa-tions such as interviews, or perhaps

even plucking up the courage to ask somebody on a date. Taking com-pounds such as oxytocin and alcohol can make these situations seem less daunting.” The team acknowledge that the ability to inhibit anxieties could explain the temptation to summon a little ‘Dutch courage’ -- particularly in the context of social situations such a first date. Dr Steven Gillespie said, “The idea of ‘Dutch courage’ -- having a drink to overcome nerves -- is used to battle those immediate obstacles of fear and anxiety. Oxy-tocin appears to mirror these effects in the lab.” When administered nasally, oxytocin appears to closely mirror the well-established effects of alcohol consumption. However the research-ers warn against self-medicating with either the hormone or a swift drink to provide a little more confidence in difficult moments.

Alongside the health concerns that accompany frequent alcohol con-sumption, there are less desirable socio-cognitive effects that both alcohol and oxytocin can facilitate. People can become more aggressive, more boastful, envious of those they consider to be their competitors, and favour their in-group at the expense

of others. The com-pounds can affect our sense of fear which normally acts to protect us from getting into trouble and we often hear of people taking

risks that they otherwise wouldn’t. A dose of either compound can further influence how we deal with others by enhancing our perception of trustworthiness, which would further increase the danger of taking unnecessary risks. Dr Gillespie added, “I don’t think we’ll see a time when oxytocin is used socially as an alternative to alcohol. But it is a fascinating neurochemical and, away from matters of the heart, has a possible use in treatment of psychological and psychiatric condi-tions. Understanding exactly how it suppresses certain modes of action and alters our behaviour could pro-vide real benefits for a lot of people. Hopefully this research might shed some new light on it and open up avenues we hadn’t yet considered.”

the ‘love hormone’ and alcohol...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releas-es/2015/05/150519210251.htm#.VVzKTC-ZLKBs.mailto



09

Anyone can suffer from an infection, for example in their stomach, urinary tract or skin. However, a new Danish study shows that a patient’s distress does not necessarily end once the in-fection has been treated. In fact, ensu-ing infections can affect your cognitive ability measured by an IQ test: “Our research shows a correlation between hospitalisation due to infec-tion and impaired cognition corre-sponding to an IQ score of 1.76 lower than the average. People with five or more hospital contacts with infections had an IQ score of 9.44 lower than the average. The study thus shows a clear dose-response relationship between the number of infections, and the effect on cognitive ability increased with the temporal proximity of the last infection and with the severity of the infection. Infections in the brain affected the cognitive ability the most, but many other types of infections severe enough to require hospitalisation can also im-pair a patient’s cognitive ability. “Moreover, it seems that the im-mune system itself can affect the brain to such an extent that the person’s cog-nitive ability measured by an IQ test will also be impaired many years after the infection has been cured,” explains MD and PhD Michael Eriksen Ben-rós, who is affiliated with the National Centre for Register-Based Research at Aarhus BSS and the Mental Health Centre Copenhagen, University of

Copenhagen. He has conducted the research in collaboration with research-ers from the University of Copenhagen and Aarhus University. 190,000 Danes participated in the study The study is a nationwide register study track-ing 190,000 Danes born between 1974 and 1994, who have had their IQ assessed between 2006 and 2012. 35% of these individuals had a hospital contact with infections before the IQ testing was conducted. According to Senior Researcher Michael Eriksen Benrós, part of the explanation of the increased risk of im-paired cognition following an infection may be as follows: “Infections can affect the brain directly, but also through peripheral inflammation, which affects the brain and our mental capacity. Infections have previously been associated with both depression and schizophrenia, and it has also been proven to affect the cognitive ability of patients suffering from dementia. This is the first major

study to suggest that infections can also affect the brain and the cognitive abil-ity in healthy individuals.” “We can see that the brain is affect-ed by all types of infections. Therefore, it is important that more research is conducted into the mechanisms which

lie behind the connec-tion between a person’s immune system and mental health,” says Michael Eriksen Benrós. He hopes that learning more about this connection will help to prevent the impairment of people’s mental health and im-prove future treatment. Experiments on animals have previ-

ously shown that the immune system can affect cognitive capabilities, and more recent minor studies in humans have also pointed in that direction. Normally, the brain is protected from the immune system, but with infec-tions and inflammation the brain may be affected. Michael Eriksen Benrós’ research suggests that it may be the immune system that causes the cogni-tive impairment, not just the infection, because many different types of infec-tions were associated with a decrease in cognitive abilities. This is the first study to examine these correlations

infections can affect your IQNew research shows that infections can impair your cognitive ability measured on an IQ scale. The study is the largest of its kind to date, and it shows a clear correlation between infection levels and impaired cognition.

“This is the first major study to sug-gest that infections can also affect the brain and the cogni-tive ability in healthy individuals.”

Therese’s Brain Teasers

MEN

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Therese Moodie-Bloom 2007

september 2015 issue #032

mensa world journal

inside ...

p2 new sleep genes found

p3 meet our new Chair

p4 new ISIG

p5 Penang puz-zle challenge

p7 men get ahead by chat-ting

p8 Old World monkey with tiny, complex brain

p9 science news

p10 new laws needed?

p12 therese’s puzzles

Mensan teenager sets Australian speed record p6

mensa world journal september 2015


from the editor,

By the time you read this, I will be home from the EMAG in Berlin and be (re)pack-ing my bags for the Interna-tional Board of Directors (IBD)meeting in Novi Sad, Serbia. This meeting is the one time of the year that national chair-men or their representatives meet face-to-face to discuss policy, problems, and possibili-ties. The meeting is scheduled to take two and a half days and is a wonderful opportunity for members to put faces to names as observers are welcomed for the duration of the weekend. There is also a programme for non-delegates to take part in - speaker-meetings, sight-seeing and partying - and a Gala Dinner on the Saturday night. It’s not too late to register at [email protected]

I hope to see you there!

[email protected]

02

Log into the

International website

at

www.mensa.org

for the calendar of

national events

New sleep genes foundMost of us need seven to eight hours of sleep a night to function well, but some people seem to need a lot less sleep. The difference is largely due to genetic variability. In research pub-lished online June 18th in Current Biol-ogy, researchers report that two genes, origi-nally known for their regulation of cell division, are required for normal slumber in fly models of sleep: taranis and Cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (Cdk1). “There’s a lot we don’t understand about sleep, especially when it comes to the protein machinery that initi-ates the process on the cellular level,” says Kyunghee Koh, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Neuroscience at the Farber Institute for Neurosciences at Thomas Jefferson University and sen-ior author on the study. “Our research elucidates a new molecular pathway and a novel brain area that play a role in controlling how long we sleep.” The researchers examined thou-sands of mutant fly lines and found a mutant, called taranis, that slept a lot less than normal flies. Using a series of genetic and biochemical experiments, the researchers tracked how Taranis interacted with other proteins and saw that Taranis bound to a known sleep regulator protein

called Cyclin A. Their data suggest that Taranis and Cyclin A create a molecular machine that inactivates Cdk1, whose normal function is to

suppress sleep and promote wakefulness.Previous research has shown that Cyclin A is expressed in a small number

of neurons including a cluster of seven neurons on each side of the brain. Dr. Koh and colleagues showed that these neurons are located in an area of the fly brain that corresponds with the human hypothalamus -- one of the sleep centers of the human brain. They saw a reduction of overall sleep when Taranis was knocked down only in these 14 neurons and when these same neurons are activat-ed. “We think this may be an arousal center in the fly brain that Taranis helps inhibit during sleep,” says Dr. Koh. Although the Taranis protein has a human cousin, called the Trip-Br family of transcriptional regulators, it is yet unclear whether a similar sys-tem is at play in humans. However, Dr. Koh and her team first plan to investigate the cues that turn Tara-nis on and which proteins the Cdk1 kinase acts on to prevent sleep.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releas-

es/2015/06/150618121648.htm#.VYfi_SZrkVI.



03

from the chair...Dear Mensa Friends,

This is the first article from me in my capacity as International Chair. I can-not tell you how happy I am to be the recipient of your valuable trust! I was surprised when declared winner as I came in first in a tough contest, and it was my honour and pleasure to com-pete with excellent and great person-alities! Mensa could only win by this situation with so many good candidates willing to serve. I am very grateful that I could take part in this competition – and be successful! Most importantly, thank you very much for all your valu-able votes, support, nice words, sympa-thy, positive energy! I truly and utterly appreciate it! I really feel honoured by your trust. I hope to be able to measure up to the task and serve for the maximum benefit of our organisation – and of each and every member in it. I am looking forward to working with the excel-lent group of officers on the Executive Committee (ExComm). We have five ‘old’ members on ExComm and three new. This is an excellent combination because the ‘old’ people represent continuity while the ‘new’ ones can bring in new and fresh ideas. Together we can create an excel-lent synergy. Let me use this occasion to intro-duce you to the new ExComm. We have the five elected international officers – Rudi Challupner (Aus-tria) continuing as Treasurer, Therese Moodie-Bloom (Australia) continuing as Director of Administration, Björn Liljeqvist (Sweden) continuing as

Director of Development, Tomas Blumenstein (Czech Republic) taking over from Lars Endre Kjolstad in the role of Director Smaller National Mensas and me (Hungary) taking over from Elissa Rudolph as Chair. The elected officers are accompanied by the chairs and/or proxies of the larger Mensa groups (above 10,000 members); Deb Stone (USA), Chris Leek (UK) and Jens Wiechers (Germany) are also part of ExComm. Let me express our thanks for the outgoing officers for their excellent job! As you see from the countries above, we have a colourful team, embracing several continents, countries, languages – and, of course, time zones. The fact that there is 15 hours difference in total among the places where ExComm members live is tangible evidence of the truly ’global’ character of our society. All of us are determined to work hard and make all efforts for the benefit of our society. I hope my motto will come true: less talk, more action!

What to expect?Being most probably the youngest International Chair ever – and only the third chairwoman in Mensa’s history – I am committed to work with an inter-national society that is attractive for young people as well. In my opinion, being a Mensa member is cool, trendy and most of all great fun! My aim is to

help prove to younger generations that it is exciting to be a member! I would like to develop greater vis-ibility of international Mensa. Excel-lent ways to achieve this would be to completely refurbish the international website and have a greater presence on social media. Leveraging on the findings of various web committees and from my own experiences, my objective is to fully re-structure the website so that it becomes an active, up-to-date and advanced place of exchange. My aim is to work on a renewed international website with enhanced content and extensive pool of infor-mation, functioning as a knowledge centre that is worthy of the organi-sation constituting some of the most

(continued on p04)



04


(continued from previous page)

intelligent people in the world. After all, increased cohesion and co-opera-tion among the countries, understand-ing and respecting differences, better exchange and sharing of knowledge, experiences, documents, and ideas with a view for development, are all essential for the growth of Mensa. As far as the field of technology is concerned, the introduction of the e-voting system is another top priority. I hope be able to best represent our colourful society embracing so many nations and cultures. I promise better understanding for locality – countries, culture, people – while keeping the global character in mind as well as a better understanding of cultural differ-ences. At meetings, I will do my best to maintain and further develop a positive and encouraging atmosphere where all opinions are heard. I hope to be able to achieve all that; that is, to be the face of Mensa to the outside world and be a good ‘mother’ internally. My ultimate aim is a multi-faceted international Mensa embracing every-one. A colourful international Mensa that is not an abstract concept for the members and the countries but a living and active construct, with everybody feeling part of it, being involved and having ownership of it.

Be part of this joint work, be part of the fun! Be part of the international community!

Floreat Mensa!

Bibiana BalanyiInternational Chair

[email protected]

International SIGsMensa Language Exchange

The new International SIG to connect language learners

Studying a foreign language and need someone bright to practise on?

Find a Mensan who speaks that language and studies yours, then teach

one another on Skype – it works!

Here’s how:

i Register and browse through the profiles through a simple yet powerful search engine:http://languagexchange.club/

ii Join and share our Facebook group to keep in touch and discuss language-related topics: https://www.face-book.com/groups/mlanguagexchange/

Mensa Language Exchange is an official Mensa Interna-tional Special Interest Group (ISIG) open to members worldwide. And it’s free!

For International SIG enquiries, contact the Coordinator, Barbara Kryvko, at [email protected]



05

In April, the Penang branch of Malaysian Mensa con-ducted the Puzzler’s Chal-lenge for Penang schools. This initiative was originally mooted about eight years ago.The first competi-tion was open to the public and not specifically for upper secondary school students. During the next three or four years it became apparent that the puzzles could be honed to exploit the ‘gap’ in maths and science. At the back of my mind was a niggling thought as to how best Mensa could be involved in educational endeavours. How could we actively contribute to make Mensa a byword in being a provider of activi-ties that engaged students? Here was an opportunity to provide an activity that overlapped education and enter-tainment. The puzzles had to involve aspects of math and science that the students were actually studying about. Without that overlap, it would not be relevant to students to participate and earn co-curricular points. Yet the event should not appear to be overtly ‘exam-like’. Play and fun had to be an essential part of it. Schools would not be able to provide that aspect in almost every subject. Hopefully, the Puzzler’s Challenge could fill the gap and give students insight as well. The intended insight was to link the real world phe-nomena with the abstruse aspects of science and maths! Many students (more than before) tend to drop out of math and science

after Form 5. The lure of technical degrees or diplomas is not as strong as before – most probably due to more options than in previous years. Nowadays the variety of qualifications that students can avail of themselves is broad. In my opinion, we still need to have a finger (in fact, quite a few fingers) in the techni-cal pie. As such, students need to stay engaged in maths and science longer to perceive their power and influence in all matters of technology and innova-tion. No better way is there for society to keep improving and prospering. In the Puzzler’s Challenge (this year 80 teams of two entered), it is heart-ening to see female students in large numbers. We hope to have the re-sources to expand the event to make it a premier event on the school calendar. In the process, we must not lose sight of the fun aspect. Mensa has the expe-rience after these few years to develop the Challenge further. The Penang branch continues to marshal its resources to meet and over-come many difficulties in organizing the Challenge – contacting the schools, finding suitable venues, and gathering and training a large number of volun-

teers. It is hoped that the Challenge continues in the coming years and further cements the perception that schools have regarding the

event. It should give Mensa a presence in the public’s mind that it is contribut-ing to students’ activities in a direct and tangible way. Another initiative is the co-curricular course being offered to a private school in Penang. It is a pilot project which now has run its course for the academic year 2014-2015. The purpose of the course is to engage students (for 80 minutes every week) in problem-solving using puzzles and games that are open-ended. BL Yeoh and I conducted these classes (about 38 each) for both primary and sec-ondary school students. This “field”

Penang Puzzle Challenge

2015 First Place Winners, Lim Zhi Wen & Khaw Kar Wei with the Chairman of Malay-sian Mensa, Jay Menon

continued on p11



06

Seventeen-year-old Mensan Bronwyn Kealy recently re-turned from setting a speed record on the dry salt surface of Lake Gairdner in outback South Australia.The annual Speed Week is run by the Dry Lakes Racers of Australia. Cars and motorcycles are timed at maximum speed on straight-line courses laid out

on the absolutely flat surface. As the rules are adapted from a similar event held at the Bonneville Salt Flats in the USA, distances and speeds are recorded in miles per hour;

the short course is 3 miles (4.6 km) and the long course is nine miles (14.4 km) long. Bronnie, a Year 12 Student at Eltham College in Victoria, Australia, rode her standard Honda 125 in the Production class to a top speed of 84.115 mph (134.584 km/h). The bike needed some modifications to comply with safety regulations. A tailwind meant that this speed wasn’t recognised, but a later run at 74.99 mph was recorded. She knows she can go faster, but track closures, timing equipment failures and the need to get back to school limited the num-ber of runs she could achieve. However,

for that size of motorcycle, she has set the Australian Land Speed Record. Asked why she chose this very unusual type of motorsport, she replied ‘It’s about the only type of racing that either my mum or dad haven’t done—so now I can say I’ve competed in a class of racing that they haven’t!’ Bronnie has been riding off-road bikes since she was four years old and

has taught several classmates how to ride. After she wondered what it was like to ride on asphalt, the Honda was a 15th birthday present and she’s rid-den it at several Motorcycling Victoria Junior Development Days at the State Motorcycle Sports Complex at Broad-ford, Victoria. She has a taste for speed and would like to return to ‘The Salt’ to go over 100 mph (161 km/h) - but on a bigger, faster bike. Before that, there’s the small matter of the Victorian Certificate of Educa-tion to complete. Then, she’d like to become the youngest woman to ride a motorcycle around the world. She’s already registered the record attempt with Guinness World Records along with the first mother and daughter pairing to make the journey - her mother Liz (also a Mensan) will be going along too.

(Reprinted from TableAus, July-August 2015, editor,

Peter Gibson)

Mensan teenager sets Australian speed record

Bronnie is also a qualified Country Fire Au-

thority volunteer bush firefighter, recipient of the

Australian Scouting Medallion and reached the

State Finals of the 2015 Lions Club Australia

Youth of the Year Quest, winning the Public

Speaking Award.



07

Whether sealed with a handshake, a million-dol-lar contract, or a string of curses, every business deal is a reflection of trust. Both parties trust that the other will hold up their end of the bargain. Good nego-tiators have a store of social capital before bargaining begins; built up through interac-tions outside the negotia-tions that establish trust.

Working with a team of researchers from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität and Technische Universität in Mu-nich, Germany, American University’s Kogod School of Business professor of management Alexandra Mislin researched how small talk before a negotiation impacted perceptions and outcomes. The study, titled “Should He Chitchat? The Benefits of Small Talk for Male Versus Female Negotiators,” published in the Basic and Applied Social Psychology reveals that small talk can be another tool in the arsenal for men, one that builds social capital and increases their likelihood of benefi-cial gains from negotiation. “We saw a boost in positive negotiation outcomes for men when they engaged in small talk before the negotiation,” Mislin

said. “Even a little small talk contrib-uted to getting a better deal.” However, the same is not true for women. For example in a salary negotiation with one’s employer, “based on our

findings, we suggest that people nego-tiating employment contracts, particu-larly men, think twice before skipping the small talk,” said Mislin. “While both men and women may experience benefits from small talk when negotiat-ing salary, men might walk away with a better deal.” According to the researchers, it comes down to expected gender behaviors and stereotypes. Because women are expected to be more com-municative, they are anticipated to make small talk and thus earn no extra social capital for engaging in “chit chat” before a negotiation. “It’s not as notable a behavior when a woman makes small talk,” Mislin said. “So she is not as likely to experience a social boost from the effort.” But the same communal behavior from men is unexpected, and thus contributes to more posi-tive perception of men as well as more favorable final offers. The researchers discovered that

the benefits to men who small talk are more pronounced in negotiation situations that are characterized by more ambiguity and where small talk is not necessarily expected. In situations

where expectations are clearly defined, including an expectations of small talk (e.g. an employment contract interview), both men and women who small talk are perceived more favorably. But this positive perception only translates into better deals for men who small talk.

“Our findings reinforce the notion that men and women in the same situ-ation, engaging in the same behavior, can experience different reactions because of different behavioral expec-tations associated with their gender,” Mislin said. “But our research also suggests that there may be areas where violating stereotypes is beneficial, as we see here for the men who engage in small talk.”

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releas-es/2015/06/150617125737.htm#.VYfh5OYKRYA.email


December 2015 issue is

October 1, 2015mwjeditor@mensa.

org

Men get ahead by chatting before negotiations



08

DURHAM, N.C. -- The brain hidden inside the oldest known Old World monkey skull has been visualized for the first time. The creature’s tiny but remarkably wrinkled brain supports the idea that brain complexity can evolve before brain size in the primate family tree. The ancient monkey, known scien-tifically as Victoriapithecus, first made headlines in 1997 when its fossilized skull was discovered on an island in Kenya’s Lake Victoria, where it lived 15 million years ago. Now, thanks to high-resolution X-ray imaging, researchers have peered inside its cranial cavity and created a three-dimensional computer model of what the animal’s brain likely looked like. Micro-CT scans of the creature’s skull show that Victoriapithecus had a tiny brain relative to its body. Co-authors Fred Spoor of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and Lauren Gonzales of Duke University calculated its brain volume to be about 36 cubic centim-eters, which is less than half the volume of monkeys of the same body size living today. If similar-sized monkeys have brains the size of oranges, the brain of this particular male was more akin to a plum. “When Lauren finished analyz-ing the scans she called me and said, ‘You won’t believe what the brain looks like,’” said co-author Brenda Benefit of New Mexico State University, who

first discovered the skull with NMSU co-author Monte McCrossin. Despite its puny pro-portions, the animal’s brain was surprisingly complex. The CT scans revealed numerous distinctive wrinkles and folds, and the olfactory bulb -- the part of the brain used to perceive and analyze smells -- was three times larger than expected. “It probably had a better sense of smell than many monkeys and apes living today,” Gonzales said. “In living higher primates you find the opposite: the brain is very big, and the olfactory bulb is very small, presumably because as their vision got better their sense of smell got worse.” “But instead of a tradeoff between smell and sight, Victoriapithecus might have retained both capabilities,” Gon-zales said. The findings, published in the July 3 issue of Nature Communications, are important because they offer new clues to how primate brains changed over time, and during a period from which there are very few fossils. “This is the oldest skull researchers have found for Old World monkeys, so it’s one of the only clues we have to their early brain evolution,” Benefit said. In the absence of fossil evidence,

previous researchers have disa-greed over whether pri-mate brains got bigger first, and then more folded and complex, or vice versa.

“In the part of the primate family tree that includes apes and humans, the thinking is that brains got bigger and then they get more folded and com-plex,” Gonzales said. “But this study is some of the hardest proof that in mon-keys, the order of events was reversed -- complexity came first and bigger brains came later.” The findings also lend support to claims that the small brain of the hu-man ancestor Homo floresiensis, whose 18,000-year-old skull was discovered on a remote Indonesian island in 2003, isn’t as remarkable as it might seem. In spite of their pint-sized brains, Homo floresiensis was able to make fire and use stone tools to kill and butcher large animals. “Brain size and brain complexity can evolve independently; they don’t have to evolve together at the same time,” Benefit said.

http://phys.org/news/2015-07-world-monkey-tiny-complex-brain.html

PHOTO:FRED SPOOR OF THE MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE

FOR EVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY.

Old World monkey had a tiny, complex brain

mensa world journal june 201512

Therese’s Brain Teasers

1. Read forwards, I can mean PULL. Read backwards, I am a HOSPITAL ROOM. What word am I?

----------------------------------------------------------------------

2. The surname of which Australian sportsman is depicted in the box?

GP T

----------------------------------------------------------------------

3. Change one letter in each word to find a common phrase:

MY BOOK ON MY CHOOK!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

4. Find a word for each pair of words below, which can be added to the end of the first word, and also to the beginning of the second word, to make two new words.

CLOT AT

CO AGES

UNCLE ABASES

REF EN

CHECK RIAL

Then read down the middle column of words to find what Bob did today.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

5. Which number comes next?

17 21 24 22 26 29 27 31 ?

6. Moving UP, DOWN, LEFT or RIGHT along the yellow tiles, how many different ways can you spell ‘MENSA’?

M E N S

E N S A

S S A N

N A S E

----------------------------------------------------------------------

7. For each pair of words below, find a word which can mean the first. If you have the word, adding a P to the end will produce a word which can replace the second of each pair.

A) ADD / OIL

B) EDGE / PLANT

C) LIKE / SNAKE

D) RUN / LIGHT

E) VEHICLE / FISH

----------------------------------------------------------------------

8. The number on each stone represents the difference between the numbers in the two stones on which it sits. Can you work out the five two-digit numbers on the bottom stones? Each of the digits 0-9 is used once only in the bottom row.

13

22

8 39

42 93

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9. Unscramble the following to find the odd one out.

a) PAIRS

b) SOLO

c) LERBNI

d) PANIS

e) DONLNO

10. Which number produces the same result when either added to 4, or multiplied by 4?

----------------------------------------------------------------------

11. Complete the following words or phrases by inserting a different boy’s name inserted into the spaces provided.A) ____________DING ROOM ONLYB) ____________INCENSEC) ____________ AND COO D) ___________DELION

E) ___________AROO

----------------------------------------------------------------------

12. Given that most lecturers are dull and Jim is a lecturer, what can you conclude?

a) That Jim is mostly dull

b) That Jim is always dull

c) That Jim is never dulld) Nothing.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

13. To which letter do all three words or phrases refer? FIRST NAME SECOND INITIAL FINAL SOLUTION

----------------------------------------------------------------------

14. All of the letters of the alphabet are in the grid below, except for Q. What is the longest word you can spell by moving from square to touching square, either up, down, sideways or diagonally? Each square may be entered once only.

J P R O M

A F N D Z

K Y X U G

L W H C B

E V I T S

MENSA MINI IQ CHALLENGE

13 – 14 Genius material

10 – 12 Excellent lateral thinker

7 – 9 Very good 4 – 6 Good 0 – 3 Bad hair day

YOUR SCORE

SCORECARD: SCORE 1 POINT FOR EACH CORRECT ANSWER

1. Draw (ward). 2. Ricky P-on-t-in-g. 3. By hook or by crook! 4. He met an old mate. 5. 34 (31+3). 6. 10. 7. a) SUM SUMP b) HEM HEMP c) AS ASP d) LAM LAMP e) CAR CARP. 8. 50 76 42 93 81. 9. D (Spain. Others are cities: Paris, Oslo, Berlin and London). 10. One and a third (4/3). 11. A) Stan B) Frank C) Bill D) Dan E) Jack. 12. D. 13. N. 14. Parsimony (9 letters)

copyright Therese Moodie-Bloom

october 2015 issue #033

mensa world journal

LEAP-ers in Louisville, USA p4

Also in this issue From the Director of Administration p3 Mensa in Africa Needs your Help p6-7 An Autistic Advocate Goes to the Capitol p5 Does Practice Make Perfect? p2 Fine Tuning in the Brain p10 Thinking Skills Gene Identified p8 St John’s Wort Can Make You Sick p9 No Further Need for Passwords? p10 Therese’s Puzzles p12

mensa world journal october 2015


from the editor,

News of the 2015 Leadership Exchange Ambassadors Program (LEAP) participants comes from former International Chair, Elissa Rudolph on p4. The LEAP Program aims to organize leadership development in a trans-national structure characterized by the sharing of experiences, ideas and existing leadership programs. Each year, the program allows selected members from all over the world to present their ideas for building Mensa at two of the three major conferences in the US, Europe or Asia. For more infor-mation and how to apply, log into the www.mensa.org website and select LEAP from the menu on the left of the screen. You may remember the article in the January MWJ telling of Alain Seris’ endeavours to increase awareness of and garner new Mensans in Africa. There’s more from Alain on p6 - he needs your help! Included in this issue, Does Practice Make Perfect?, Fine Tun-ing in the Brain, Thinking Skills Gene Identified in a new study, and a contribution from US mem-ber Jeffery A Ford, An Autistic Advocate Goes to the Capitol. And, of course, Therese’s Puzzles on the back page!

Happy reading and warm regards,

[email protected]

02

Log into the

International website at

www.mensa.org

for the calendar of

national events

does practice make perfect?How do you get to Carnegie Hall? New research on the brain’s capac-ity to learn suggests there’s more to it than the adage that “practice makes perfect.” A music-training study by scientists at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital -The Neuro, at McGill University and colleagues in Germany found evidence to distinguish the parts of the brain that account for individual talent from the parts that are activated through training. The research involved brain imaging studies of 15 young adults with little or no musical background who were scanned before and after they under-went six weeks of musical training. Par-ticipants were required to learn simple piano pieces. Brain activity in certain areas changed after learning, indicating the effect of training. But the activity in a different set of brain structures, meas-ured before the training session had started, predicted which test subjects would learn quickly or slowly. “Predisposition plays an important role for auditory-motor learning that can be clearly distinguished from train-ing-induced plasticity,” says Dr. Robert Zatorre, a cognitive neuroscientist at The Neuro who co-directs Montreal’s

International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS)

and is lead author of the study in Cer-ebral Cortex. “Our findings pertain to the debate about the relative influence of ‘nature or nur-ture,’ but also have potential practical relevance for medi-cine and education,” he says. The research could help to cre-

ate custom-made interventions for students and for neurological patients based on their predisposition and needs. Future cognitive neuroscience stud-ies will explore the extent to which individual differences in predisposition are a result of brain plasticity due to previous experiences and to people’s genetics.



03

from the executive committee...The MIL site is MIL’s major interface with both members and the public; its welfare should be paramount and its development should be in the forefront of the IBD’s priorities. Yet the world has changed enormously in the eight-odd years since the current website was installed and members of the IBD have different ideas of what it ‘should be doing’, and the members at large certainly have wildly-varying expecta-tions. Is it realistic to aim at its being ‘all things to all men’? Should we let the established social media take over parts and concentrate our skills and budget on what only Mensa can provide? And what exactly is that?

We need your ideas!Last month, I asked whether there was anything you would like, or expect to see on the website that was not there; whether there was anything that would make the site more interesting and encourage you to visit more often, or to hang out there - because we want this to be your website, designed to satisfy your wants and needs! The immediate aim is to broadly re-define the concept of what the ideal site would provide, and to identify which of those aims Mensa can realistically fulfil within the next few years - and which can be better fulfilled elsewhere or off-site. Let me or your IBD representative (your chairman or his/her proxy) know this month (September), and we can discuss an overhaul at the IBD meeting in Novi Sad, Serbia, in early October.

We need your expertise!This month, I am asking for volunteers.

Do you think you can be of practi-cal assistance anywhere? Are you a graphic designer, for example? Did you design your own website? Do you make your own amendments, content changes, uploads etc? If so, would you volunteer to take over a part of the international website to make it a happier and friendlier place? As an example, the members’ only section has an area for the MIL Photographer of the Year Competition. In this section we have the rules, and the finalists and winners for some (but not all) years. This basic information is updated twice a year – with the win-ners of the current competition - and a few months later with the rules for the following year. Let your imagination run amok for a moment. What infor-mation should be there in this section, and most importantly, how should it be presented? Could we add interviews with photographs of the winners; a Hall of Fame, a history section, a list of themes? Should we include infor-mation about the judges, information about the organising committee? Bor-ing? Or perhaps not, depending on its presentation! If this sort of thing interests you, browse through www.mensa.org and let me have your ideas on what you would do to enhance one or more areas, and whether you would volunteer to be actively involved on an ongoing basis. Speed up log-ins!If you would like to speed up logins for members on the International Web-site, offer your services as a ‘country

approver’ (CA) to your chairman and membership secretary. Data held by national Mensas is not automatically transferred to Mensa International. Each country has one or more CAs who, by a variety of methods, confirm that member x, who is attempting to login on the international site, is actu-ally a current member of the relevant national Mensa.

We can help you advertise events!Is there a big Mensa event in your country coming up that might be inter-esting for Mensans in other countries too? Let the world know about it and publish it on the international event calendar on mensa.org! Just send the name of your event, the date, the loca-tion, and the URL of a web page that contains further information to Mark Dettinger [email protected].

Therese Moodie-BloomDirector of Administration

[email protected]

Therese Moodie-Bloom, Director of Administration



04


LEAP visits Louisville, USA a special report by Elissa Rudolph

After I met the five LEAP par-ticipants for 2015, I thought of them as the Wanderer, the Street Performer, the Innovator, the Actor, and the Educator. Diverse in experience, culture, language, and personality, they added global colour to American Mensa’s recent Annual Gathering.

The Wanderer. Stefano Lodola from Italy invited his audience to “See the World with Mensa” and shared his wandering experiences utilizing “couch-surfing” as well as Mensa’s SIGHT pro-gram. A tenor and translator, Stefano is working on his seventh language so he feels comfortable anywhere in the world, sharing and learning as he goes. Stefano stated that he had no plans past the AG having purchased a one-way ticket to Louisville – where are you now, Wanderer? Connect with Stefano at [email protected] or visit www.stefanolodola.com.

The Performer. Interpretive displays are Roberta (Bobbie) Kehler’s special talent, the art and psychology of how the passersby decide to stop and look … or not. Bobbie’s keen observations as a street performer and magician led this Canadian to design displays that engage people and compel them to consider the message and perhaps make a purchase. Find out if Bobbie can help you with your outreach attempts – contact her at light_traveler@telus.

net. Ask her about her experiences as a museum interpreter and blacksmith. The Innovator. Gifted Education Specialist Charlotte Hoyng designed a quiz involving sixth graders throughout The Netherlands. The SlimmerIQuiz is a competition based on higher levels of reasoning for both students and teachers. During her presentation, Charlotte displayed a number of quiz examples that were sufficiently intriguing for her Mensa audience and left them wanting more. Charlotte is a consultant for a televi-sion series about gifted children and adults, designer of learning materials, and a coach for gifted children. Con-tact Charlotte at [email protected] or visit www.slimmeriquiz.nl.

The Actor. Teekay Kreissig was instru-mental in developing an interdiscipli-nary reach-out in his native Germany that provides professional networking opportunities for Mensa members and diverse leaders in civil society. He has enjoyed multiple careers as dancer, actor, singer, choreographer, storyteller, and more, which gives him the ability to connect with just about anyone about anything. It was Teekay who had the brilliant idea of producing all five

LEAP presentations as “Speed LEAP” (15-minute condensations) for those who could not attend the hour-long regular sessions. Contact Teekay at [email protected] or www.kreissig.net.

The Educator. Phenomenal growth in the Czech Republic happened because, as Hana Kalusova demon-strated, the group employed novel methods and approaches. In six years this Mensa group added more than a thousand members! Hana’s experience in monitoring media and data analysis helped in finding ideas that worked for the Czech Republic. Contact Hana at [email protected] or visit www.mensa.cz.

Interested in LEAP for 2016? Go to www.mensa.org and click on “LEAP” in the sidebar.

from l-r, Bobbie, Stefano, Hana, Charlotte, and TeeKay



05

I’m on the Autism Spec-trum and I remember the frustration and hopeless-ness I once felt being un-able to land even minimum wage jobs. So, when I re-cently learned that 90% of young autistic adults in the United States are either unemployed or underem-ployed, I immediately took action.

I arranged four thirty minute meetings with two Michigan State Senators and two State Representatives. My first meeting was with Senator Curtis Hertel, Jr.. I spoke with Sena-tor Hertel about the many obstacles autistic adults face while seeking employment and the need for programs to educate employers on the unique qualities those with autism possess. Senator Hertel shared with me that he has Attention Deficit Disorder and how it helps him to understand people with special needs. Senator Hertel was quite knowl-edgeable and eager to assist. I, however, had let myself down by being far less than perfect. Many autistic individu-als have Social Anxiety Disorder and mine was in full force. It took several minutes before I calmed down and was able to present my message in a more confident manner. My second meeting was with the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Com-mittee State Senator Rick Jones who

currently serves on the State Board of Directors of the Michigan Special Olympics. Senator Jones said, “Society should embrace all members of the population, especially persons who are characteristically highly intelligent. I hope that all people have an equal shot to live the quality of life they wish to live.” Senator Jones was insightful and well-informed. But once again I felt let down by my performance and decided to start the next two meetings with a presentation style of an approach. It worked like magic! My next meeting was with the Chair of the House Appropriations Committee State Representative, Al Pscholka (pictured above on the left). Representative Pscholka views this as a systemic issue. He said, “The earlier we get involved the better.... It takes research and perspective to understand how best to apply the skills of autistic individuals or those with differing styles of intelligence.” My last meeting was with the Dem-ocratic House Floor Leader State Rep-

resentative, Sam Singh. Representative Singh demonstrated a true understand-ing of the social implications when he stated, “Employers aren’t aware of how to work with people with autism so there is a training component that needs to be worked with the employer. ... We also have to deal with people who have prejudices and discriminate against people with autism.” All of the meetings with the Sena-tors and Representatives were highly productive, but I’ll admit that at first I felt ashamed because being autistic can sometimes make it nearly impossible to present myself exactly as I would like. I wanted to be smooth, polished and exuding confidence – but I was just me. It was never really about me though. It was about the message that motivat-ed autistic individuals can make a dif-ference and get the job done. Nobody needs to be perfect – but we all need an opportunity to succeed.

Jeffery Alan Ford is an autism advocate, freelance writer and member of American Mensa.

An Autistic Advocate Goes to the Capitol by jeffery alan ford



06

When I first arrived in Africa, I felt embraced by the warm and friendly atmosphere. African culture is warm – it’s not just the heat of the sun, it’s more the warmth of human friendship. But after a few weeks, you get to see the suffering underneath, the suffering of too many Africans. The causes are countless – poverty, malnutrition and lack of healthcare being the foremost. Many of the world’s least devel-oped countries are today experiencing unprecedented change and growth, but one continent – Africa – is missing out. And, paradoxically, one of the reasons for this is that it is so rich. Often, the most developed countries are interested in Africa only for its natural resources, both above ground and underground. At the same time, many associations have set up in the ‘charity business’ – unfortunately more often business than charity. What I find unacceptable is the frequent failure to show any in-terest in Africans’ own qualities. Mensa, concerned as it is with intelligence, is by definition interested in human beings. In order to change the way Africa is viewed and to enable Africans to seize their opportunities, Mensa must move ahead rapidly. With the exception of South Africa, there are no national Mensas on the continent. The role delegated to me involves action throughout the whole area, including Madagascar and Mauritius. The initial phase involves developing Mensa in as many countries as possible

in Africa. A good way of doing this is to arrange test sessions in universi-ties, with the prior approval of the relevant authorities. Then, in order to offer these young people future pros-pects, it is essential to have a pool of university bodies in Europe, North America and Asia open to the idea of both welcoming African students and promoting exchanges with their own students.

There are many non-government organisations (NGOs) providing hu-manitarian aid. Sometimes they bring relief, but I haven’t always liked what I’ve seen. The first time I went to Dakar, I stayed with Stéphane, a young member of Mensa France who was there with his family. He was manager of a factory with 500 employees. In 2011, the rent for his apartment was €2000, while Africans were earning no more than €80 or €100 a month. He had an SUV. The eight-apart-ment block he lived in with his family

had seven other SUVs outside. I asked Stéphane if there were that many man-agement jobs in the neighbourhood. ‘No,’ he said. ‘The others are all in hu-manitarian work - English, German, Japanese. You can have a great career in a humanitarian NGO, you know.’ Humanities university education is primarily chosen by the students of Zi-guinchor because “there are jobs in this field, in humanitarian organizations.” Once, in Casamance, at night out in the country near Ziguinchor, I was coming back from a dinner with some African students who had newly joined Mensa. Coming the other way was a girl holding a boy of about five by the hand. I said hello, and added that she seemed to be looking after her little brother very well. She told me that little Juan was her son, not her brother. She was 20 years old, and the father was Spanish and worked for an NGO. ‘He’s very nice,’ she said. ‘He gave me a lot of help the first two years, but then he was trans-ferred, and I don’t see him anymore.’ When I was helping to fund water-

Mensa in Africa needs your help, writes alain seris

“So, if you can help, please hear what I say and get in

touch with me.This is an appeal for help.”



07

ing Aby Traore, who really has the makings of a future president. Africa will only be able to relieve its suffering when Africans themselves take charge of development. I’ve paid for all my trips to set up Mensa in Africa out of my own pocket. I haven’t taken any funding from Mensa France, even though I was president of it for ten years, because I don’t want to see any sort of colonial Mensa in Africa. This is a great challenge for Mensa. That’s why I’m so happy that the Mensa Educational Research Fund (MERF) should recognise this project for student exchanges between young Mensans from our industrialised coun-tries and those throughout Africa.But this project needs YOU!

So, if you can help, please hear what I say:Get in touch with me;This is an appeal for help.

Alain SerisFormer Chairman, Mensa [email protected] France

Besançon is great, but Mensa can do much better!

In the 1980s, I spent some time in Mada-gascar arranging administrative and political details for a major building project. I was the guest of a former official of the French administration, by then head of the President’s brother’s official team. The first university he attended had been in the eastern French town of Besançon, and he had married a local girl. Twenty years later, I found myself in the West African country of Togo, at village opening ceremonies for various wells, and I discovered that he director of the port authority in the capital Lomé – one of the most influential men in the country – had himself studied in Besancon and married a local girl. Then, a few years later, in my attempts to open Africa up to Mensa, I found myself faced with a problem – getting the Senegalese authorities to agree to my administering IQ tests for hundreds of stu-dents. I finally managed to meet President Wade, who told me he knew eastern France well – having studied in Besançon and having married a local girl! He explained that he was just one of three Presidents of French-speaking African countries to have married a wife from Besançon. After some digging, I found that this lit-tle provincial town, with its population of scarcely 100 000, had attracted many brilliant students from Africa as from the late 1940s. Decades later, a number of them were in key posts throughout Africa. What was sad was that nobody in Besançon had been able to build on these precious links.In every developed country, Mensa has members in key positions, in universities, large corporations and important public authorities. We have the means of becoming a major force in development through our capacity to further African Mensans’ own capacities. Alain Seris


December 2015 issue is

October 1, 2015mwjeditor@mensa.

org

wells in Togo with an association in Lorraine, the amount we had to pay was five times the amount that went to the well-digger. Our ‘partners’ in the local bourgeoisie took 80% commis-sion. The basement disco in our hotel was full all night, with ‘humanitarian’ workers in the company of very young-looking African women. I could keep on with the examples, but I’d like to tell you something of what came of my thoughts. The fledgling Mensa I’ve set up in sub-Saharan Africa is very fragile. Over the course of five visits, I’ve used preliminary tests to select candidates for the tests provided for me by inter-national Mensa. But these supposedly ‘culture-free’ tests are clearly not suited for Africa or for Africans. I must have given preliminary tests to hundreds of students, but finally only 13 succeeded:Aladji Amath BA, Marie GUEYE, Khady NDIAYE, Mame Khoudia SENE, Aby TRAORE, Bernard GBETOME, Banady SAMBOU, Moussa SANE, Oumar SANKHANE, Abdoul Aziz SY, Néné Aminata THIAM and Mariama WANE. What I proposed was that if they got into Mensa and were accepted by a university in France, then French Mensans would help to find accommo-dation, internships and so on, if needed. Once they graduated, it would be up to them whether they stayed on in France or returned to Africa – they were in charge of their own lives and their own future. Of the 13 I’ve mentioned, four (three women, one man) are now in France. Two of them haven’t asked for help, but we give whatever help we can to two students from Senegal, includ-



08

The study, published online and ex-pected to come out this fall in a print edition of the journal Molecular Psy-chiatry, is one of the the largest genetics study to date to link a specific genetic mutation and information processing speed. “It is well known that genetic variation plays an important role in explaining individual differences in thinking skills such as memory and information processing speed,” said Dr. Tom Mosley, director of the Memory Impairment and Neurodegenerative Dementia (MIND) Center at UMMC and senior scientist on the study. “However, the genes that underlie thinking skills remain largely unknown. Our team has identified a genetic mutation that may help unravel this puzzle.” The effort was conducted through the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) consortium, in which re-searchers from around the world work together to search for genetic causes of disease in the general aging population. Previous studies in families and in twins have shown genetics play an important role in cognitive functioning, but finding the specific genes or genetic regions has proved difficult, requiring a combination of large sample sizes and

detailed genetic measurements. But in this case, researchers ana-lyzed data from more than 30,000 people who were 45 or older, bringing together genetic and cognitive functioning data from participants in several studies in 12 different countries. In ad-dition, they examined genetic vari-ations across 2.5 million sites along each individual’s DNA, looking for as-sociations between genetic variants and performance on several different tests of cognitive function. Of the different cognitive skills examined, the strongest genetic asso-ciation was related to performance on a test of information processing speed. The most associated variants were lo-cated in the CADM2 gene, also known as Syncam2. “It seems like, through this genetic analysis, we have identified a genetic

variant which partly explains the dif-ferences in information processing speed between people,” said Dr. Carla Ibrahim-Verbaas, a resident in neurol-

ogy at Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and lead author on the study. “It confirms the likely role of CADM2 in between-cell communication, and therefore cognitive per-formance. It is of interest that the gene has

also been suggested in other studies to be involved in autism and personality traits.” She cautions that the results remain to be replicated by additional studies.Researchers said a protein product from CADM2 is involved in the short-term and long-term chemically medi-ated communication between brain cells and is specifically abundant in the frontal and cingulate cortex, which are areas of the brain known to be involved in processing speed as well as in the

thinking skills gene identifiedAn international team of researchers, including investigators from the Uni-versity of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC), has identified a gene that underlies healthy information processing - a first step on a complicated road to understanding cognitive aging and age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease.

“...researchers analyzed data from more than 30,000 people who were 45 or older, bringing to-gether genetic and cogni-tive functioning data from participants in several studies in 12 different countries.”



09

developing brain. “We are finding that for complex traits, like cognitive function, not a single gene, but several genes or ge-netic regions come into play, with each making a relatively small contribu-tion,” Mosley said. “We now have the technology to measure across the entire genome in a much more fine-grained manner compared to a few years ago, in this case 2.5 million sites, and are able to combine that genetic mapping with large sample sizes. The collaboration of leading scientists from around the world, who have agreed to pool their data and analytic resources, is signifi-cantly enhancing our ability to identify genes related to complex brain func-tions and disease.” The core CHARGE cohorts include five population-based studies, including the Atherosclerosis Risk in Commu-nities study, AGES-Reykjavik Study, Framingham Heart Study, Cardiovas-cular Health Study, and the Rotterdam study. Funding for the cohorts was provided by the National Institutes of Health. Mosley said the study comple-ments two other discoveries by the CHARGE team that identified genetic variants associated with both memory performance and general cognitive functioning in older adults.

Science Daily

St John’s Wort can produce the same adverse reactions as antidepressants, and serious side effects can occur when the two are taken together, according to new University of Adelaide research. In a study pub-lished this month in the journal, Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology, researchers compared the pat-tern of spontaneous reported adverse drug reactions to St John’s Wort, a herbal treat-ment for depression, and fluoxetine, a commonly prescribed antidepressant. They found the adverse reactions were the same for people who took St John’s Wort as for those who took fluoxetine. University of Adelaide pharmacol-ogy PhD student Claire Hoban says St John’s Wort, like all herbal medicines, is a drug. Importantly, it is a drug that can cause serious side effects such as dangerous increases in body tempera-ture and blood pressure. “There is a common belief that because something is natural and can be purchased from a health food shop without a prescription, it’s safe. However, people need to start think-ing of St John’s Wort, and other herbal medicines, as drugs and seek advice from a qualified healthcare practitioner to be sure they use it safely,” says Mrs Hoban. “It’s concerning to see such severe adverse reactions in our popu-lation, when people believe they are

doing something proactive for their health with little risk. “During 2000-2013, we found 84 reports of adverse reactions to St

John’s Wort and 447 to fluoxetine. While there were fewer confirmed cases of side effects for St John’s Wort, we know that fewer people use St John’s Wort and adverse reactions for herbal medicines largely go unreported because they are not considered drugs. “Furthermore, we

found that the reported reactions for St John’s Wort were very similar to fluox-etine, which included anxiety, panic attacks, dizziness, vomiting, amnesia and aggression,” she says. Dr Ian Musgrave says the real dan-ger is that people can access St John’s Wort without a prescription so there is no control over the dosage or what drugs people are using it with. “It’s important that doctors and pharmacists know about all the drugs their patients take, not just prescription drugs, because herbal medicines like St John’s Wort can have serious reactions with some pharmacy medicines, like antidepressants, the contraceptive pill and some blood thinners. “Based on this research, I’d also like to see bottles of St John’s Wort containing improved warnings of the potential adverse reactions,” he says.

St John’s Wort can make you sick...

Science Daily

Mensa Spain Annual Gathering (RAM, Reunión

Anual de Mensa)December 4th to 8th, 2015

Sevilla, Hotel Vertice Aljarafe, Bormujos, Sevilla.

Contact: [email protected] Facebook group:

https://goo.gl/YmmRwW



10

When newborn babies open their eyes for the first time, they already possess nerve cells specialized in particular stimuli in the visual cortex of their brains - but these nerve cells are not systematically linked with each other. How do neural networks that react in a particular way to particular features of a stimulus develop over the course of time? In order to better understand the steps of this development and explain the complicated processes of reorgani-zation they involve, an international team of researchers has now devel-oped a computer model that precisely simulates the biological processes. The results of the study by Prof. Dr. Stefan Rotter, Bernstein Center Freiburg (BCF) and Cluster of Excellence BrainLinks-BrainTools of the Univer-sity of Freiburg, conducted in coopera-tion with Dr. Claudia Clopath from the Imperial College London, England, have now been published in the jour-nals PLOS Computational Biology and PLOS ONE. “Our model enabled us to achieve a meaningful combination of typical features of biological neural networks in animals and humans in a computer simulation for the first time ever,” reports the neuroscientist Dr. Sadra Sadeh from the BCF. “The networks harness the principle of feedback to make nerve cells in the visual system into efficient detectors of features. In addition, they can precisely coordinate the points of contact between the cells - the synapses - in learning processes.” It is difficult to combine these two properties in computer models, because it can easily lead to an explosion of

activity in the network - similar to an epileptic fit. To keep the activity in the network stable, the researchers integrated inhibitory synapses into the learning process, which control the excitation in the network. Researchers can now use the computer model to simulate various developmental processes in the brain’s visual cortex. Among other things, it will allow them to determine how connections between the nerve cells change the first time they receive stimuli from both eyes after birth. Such processes play a role in early-childhood visual disorders like congenital strabis-mus (squinting). “In the long term, the model could even enable us to develop better strategies for treating such ill-nesses,” says Rotter. But why do the neural networks change their structures in the course of visual experience if nerve cells are already specialized in particular stimuli at the moment the eyes first open? The team found an answer to this question in a parallel study. “In a simulation directly comparing inexperienced and fully developed nerve cell networks, we were able to demonstrate that fully developed networks further strengthen components of a stimulus that carry more information by preferring con-nections of neurons with the same function,” explains Rotter. Therefore, while newborns do indeed have the ca-pacity to process all stimuli when they first open their eyes, their perception is greatly improved through the fine tun-ing of the nerve cell connections.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-07/bcs-fti070115.php#.VZnsMgBo9m0.email

fine tuning in the brainNo further need for passwords?You might not need to re-member those complicated e-mail and bank account passwords for much longer. According to a new study, the way your brain responds to certain words could be used to replace passwords.

In “Brainprint,” a newly published study in academic journal Neurocom-puting, researchers from Binghamton University observed the brain signals of 45 volunteers as they read a list of 75 acronyms, such as FBI and DVD. They recorded the brain’s reaction to each group of letters, focusing on the part of the brain associated with reading and recognizing words, and found that participants’ brains reacted differently to each acronym, enough that a computer system was able to identify each volunteer with 94 per-cent accuracy. The results suggest that brainwaves could be used by security systems to verify a person’s identity. According to Sarah Laszlo, as-sistant professor of psychology and linguistics at Binghamton University and co-author of “Brainprint,” brain biometrics are appealing because they are cancelable and cannot be stolen by malicious means the way a finger or retina can. “If someone’s fingerprint is stolen, that person can’t just grow a new finger to replace the compromised fingerprint -- the fingerprint for that person is compromised forever.

continued on next page



11

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Editorial StaffEditor: Ms Kate Nacard, 407/23 Corunna Rd, Stanmore NSW 2048 Australia [email protected] T: +61 2 9516 1024Science: Mr John Blinke [email protected]: Position Vacant

officer directory

The Mensa World Journal (MWJ) is produced under the auspices of the Mensa International Board of Directors. Mandatory con-tent as identified by the MWJ editor must be published in every national Mensa magazine. Publication of other content is rec-ommended but optional. Opinions expressed in the MWJ are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of any other individual or any official Mensa body. Submission Guidelines: Language: English only. Text: MS Word (Windows), .rtf (Word/Mac), plain text, PageMaker (Windows), InDesign (Windows) Length: 500 word limit. Send by e-mail, fax, snail mail to the Editor. The Editor reserves the right to include or edit submissions for space and content considerations. All uno-riginal submissions must be accompanied by written permission for publication from the original author.Permission is granted for MWJ articles to be reprinted in any Mensa publication provided that the author, MWJ and MWJ’s editor are acknowl-edged. Permission must be sought from the MWJ editor for reprinting of any part of the MWJ in non-Mensa publications.

Looking ahead...Australian Mensa Annual Gathering, SydneyAustralia 13 November - 15 November 2015

Mensa Spain Annual Gathering (RAM, Reunión Anual de Mensa) 4 December - 8 December 2015

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from previous page

Fingerprints are ‘non-cancellable.’ Brainprints, on the other hand, are potentially cancelable. So, in the un-likely event that attackers were actually able to steal a brainprint from an authorized user, the authorized user could then ‘reset’ their brainprint,” Laszlo said. Zhanpeng Jin, assistant professor at Binghamton University’s departments of Electrical and Computer Engineer-ing, and Biomedical Engineering, doesn’t see brainprint as the kind of system that would be mass-produced for low security applications (at least in the near future) but it could have im-portant security applications.

Science Daily

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