Have you ever felt like the dullest（最迟钝的） person in the room? As a low test score made you doubt your intelligence? Many people think their IQ is set in stone. They assume that one bad grade is a recipe for lifelong stupidity. But your intelligence isn’t predetermined. The portions of your brain responsible for learning, memory and other forms of cognition can change over time. As you mature, these regions develop at different rates. Some people will nurture them, helping these regions grow dense（密度大的） and complex. Other people will neglect（忽视）them, leaving their brains immature and slow.
My point here is, your intelligence depends on you. While nature certainly plays a role, very few people are doomed（注定） from the get-go（开端）. But that doesn’t mean increasing your IQ is quick and easy. No. While some shortcuts can earn you a few extra points, developing lasting intelligence taks time and a lot of hard work. These four techniques each offer you a powerful way to develop your brain and boost your intelligence. Oh in the very best part is every single one of these techniques is right at your fingertips（指尖，唾手可得）. So if you want to increase your IQ, incorporate（融入，合并） these four powerful techniques into your daily routine, it may take a bit of hard work, but the reward is a gift that lasts a lifetime.
No.1 Independent Studies
While advanced degrees offer an array of educational opportunities, you can increase your IQ without spending thousands on an expensive program. In this day and age, informations everywhere. If you don’t believe me, open a web, type in any question you can imagine, some one, somewhere in the world will have an answer. You’ll find research studies conducted on the subject, books written by leading experts in the field, classes taught by experienced professionals. The modern world offers a limitless supply of educational resources. All you have to do is use them.
Many of the world’s most intelligent people found success outside of traditional academia. They checked out dozens if not hundreds of books from the library. They attended conferences, listened to seminars and network with others in their field. They took advantage of online courses where they not only learn from the best but also honed new and unique skills. The information is out there, the resources are waiting to be read, absorbed and put into practice.
There’s only one hurdle standing in your way – it’s the same reason that most people struggle to educate themselves without traditional schooling – when you study on your own, there’s no one telling you what to do, there’s no one keeping you in line, there’s no one forcing you to read book after book. Outside of the classroom, learning is a game against yourself. If you want to increase your IQ, you’re responsible for your own education. If you falter, you won’t learn much. But if you can stay self-disciplined, you’ll discover an incredible habit which will carry with you for the rest of your life. Why is that? Well, because independent study teaches you to love learning. You begin to crave new knowledge and synthesize that knowledge in ways that most people just don’t understand. Have you ever noticed that most intelligent people aren’t just good at one thing? Their encyclopedic brains excel in specific fields. But they draw from a wide bank of information. When you understand a myriad of subjects, your brain processes information in more innovative ways. You discover new solutions, connections and perspectives which you never would have seen otherwise. So if you’re interested in something, anything, just pick up a book, read an article, enroll in an online course. Each and every time you discover something new, your cognitive abilities will grow a little bit more. You don’t need teachers, lectures and classrooms to build your intelligence. With millions of educational resources at your disposal, you can increase your IQ all on your own.
No.2 Music Training
Did you learn piano as a kid? Most people played some kind of instrument growing up. Maybe you played in a school band or just learned a couple of songs on the guiter. These days you may only remember a few chords, but childhood hobby had a lasting impact on your brain. A study from 1998 in the journal scientific correspondence discovered something incredible about musical training. It turns out adults who play an instrument were better learners than almost anyone else. Imagine you’re sitting in class, listenning to a lecture on American history or cell biology. Some students will retain more information than others. Their memories are geared towards certain kinds of stimuli. Either verbal or visual. If you have a strong verbal memory, you learn the best from lectures, speeches and conversations. You retain and process spoken language quickly and efficiently. But if you’re a visual learner. lectures aren’t your strong suit. Instead you prefer diagrams and displays which show information in a visual way. So how do these two types of learning relate to music you may ask? After reading and memorizing music, adults with musical training demonstrated fantastic verbal memories. In fact their verbal skills significantly outperformed everyone else in the study. But they’re not bad visual learners either. Their visual scores remained on par with the average visual learning. In other words, musicians have a knack for both types of learning. So what are these results mean for you? If you learn an instrument you may become a capable learner across the board, absorbing both verbal and visual stimuli. If you can learn in more diverse way, your brain can process more information than the average person and understand subjects from a variety of angles. Oh but thats’s not all musical training does for your brain. A second study from 2009 in the Journal of Neuroscience found that music actually reconstructs the brain. Scientists call this brain plasticity. Brain plasticity means the structure of your brain can change in response to your environment. If your environment is more musical, those changes become more dramatic. Your brain is the most susceptible to change during major periods of development like adolescence and young adulthood. During this periods of significant growth, musical training strengthens the regions of your brain associated with learning, memory, motor skills and auditory skills. Not to mention it is also emotionally and creatively stimulating. So pick up the piano,fetch your old guitar out of the garage, learning a song or two, or just fiddle the strings. You don’t have to be a world-class musician, a little practice goes a long way.
No.3 Strengthening Your Hearts
Physical and intellectual performance go hand-in-hand. A study from 2009 published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of the sciences of the United State of America discoverd a close relationship between intelligence and athleticism. We often think of brains and brawn as natural enemies. But physical fitness is a great way to increase your IQ. But not in the way most people think. Lifting weights and building muscles isn’t going to strengthen your brain but conditioning your heart might. In this 2009 study participants with strong cardiovascular systems were some of the most intelligent. Well why? Because the heart supplies the brain with oxygenated blood. Your brain needs that blood to think, process and retain information. Oh and that’s not all. The heart also communicates with the brain in several different ways. Neurologically the two organs transmit nerve impulses back and forth, controlling integral bodily functions. Your heartbeat for example stems from signals in the brain. The heart and brain also exchange information through hormones, pressure waves and neurotransmitters. So even if your heart can’t think, it plays an important role in all kinds of cognitive and psychological functions. So physical fitness isn’t just for athletes, intelligent people need to challenge their bodies too. And that way your brain gets everything it needs to perform at its peak.
No.4 Mastering A New Language
In our society, language is everything. We use language to express ideas, concepts and philosophies. We use it to tell stories and document our history to communicate and build relationships. Without language, humankind would never have evolved into the global force that we are today. That’s why understanding language is such a key component of our intellectual abilities. People who understand language excel, socially and professionally in our society. So what’s the best way to improve your understanding of language? Learning a new language is a great place to start. In a 2012 study from the journal neural image, researchers found that bilingual adults have a huge neurological advantage over adults who speak only one language. You see learning a new language is a lot like musical training. It challenges specific regions of the brain on a regular basis, forcing those regions to expand. The two most important regions are the hippocampus which controls learning and memory and the frontal lobe which moderates problems-solving and language comprehension. Adopting a new language leads to a higher concentration of gray matter in both the hippocampus and the frontal lobe. More gray matter allows for more complex cognitive developments. And more development means a higher IQ. On the best part of this powerful technique like all the others on this list is that you can start at any time. There are dozens of classes, tutors and books that can teach you a second language in no time. You can even use interactive apps on your phone which turn language comprehension into an educational game. By taking advantage of these resources, you won’t just learn a few new tricks. You’ll expand your brain and you’ll increase your IQ for years to come.
shortcut n.捷径；快捷方式 routine n.常规，惯例 degree n.学位；角度；（温度）度数 imagine n.设想，想象 academia n.学术界 seminar n.研讨会 hone v.磨练 falter v.犹豫，踌躇 synthesize v.（通过化学或生物反应）合成；综合，结合 encyclopedic adj.渊博的；知识广博的 excel v.精通，擅长；超过，胜过 draw v.获取 bank n.仓库 myriad adj.无数的，大量的 disposal n.处理；安排 at your disposal 供你使用 geared toward面向 across the board 全面的 garage n.车库；加油站 plasticity n.塑性，可塑性；适应性；柔软性 susceptible adj.易受影响的 adulthood n.成年，成人时期 motor skills 运动技能 auditory adj.听觉的，听力的 fiddle v.拨弄 go a long way 大有帮助；走了一段路 brawn n.发达的肌肉；腌制好的野猪肉 neurologically adv.与神经方面有关地 nerve n.神经 impulse n.冲动；脉冲 stem v.起源于 neurotransmitter n.神经传导物质 hippocampus n.海马体 lobe n.（脑、肺等的）叶 moderate v.减轻；变温和 for years to come 在未来的岁月里
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