Intellectual Enhancement - Andrea Kuszewski - H+ Summit @ Harvard
Andrea Kuszewski Intellectual Enhancement: Maximizing Your Cognitive Potential Is it possible to raise your level of intelligence merely by changing your manner of thinking? Increasing neural plasticity, or establishing new neural connections, by forcing your brain to engage in novel activities and adapt to environments outside of its comfort zone, may be the key to proving false the old assumption that intelligence is fixed at birth. If the complete construct of intelligence has a metamorphic quality, and we have the ability to enhance both neural plasticity and synaptic plasticity, the question then becomes: How can we engage our brain in order to maximize our cognitive growth? Andrea Kuszewski is a Behavior Therapist and Consultant for children on the autism spectrum in Boston, MA; her expertise is in Asperger’s Syndrome, or high-functioning autism. She teaches social skills, communication, and behavior intervention in home and community settings, training both children as well as parents on methods of therapy. She has conducted workshops for parents, teachers, and therapists on topics such as reinforcement, play, behavior intervention strategies, and generalization. Andrea works as a researcher with METODO Social Sciences Institute, the US branch of METODO Transdisciplinary Research Group on Social Sciences, based in Bogotá, Colombia, investigating the neuro-cognitive factors behind human behavior- this includes topic such as creativity, intelligence, illegal behavior, and disorders on the convergent-divergent thinking spectrum of schizophrenia and autism. She has published papers on the neuroscience of creativity, intelligence, and the analysis of illegal behavior and the creative rule-breaking process. As well as being a researcher of creativity, she is also herself a fine artist and has been trained in various visual communication medium, ranging from traditional drawing to digital painting, graphic design, and 3D modeling and animation for the medical and behavioral sciences. She has done numerous freelance illustration and creative projects in a variety of scientific fields, including designing and installing a temporary exhibit for CMNH on the Triceratops Horridus. Andrea is also a science writer and a science communication activist. Her blog, The Rogue Neuron, addresses a variety of current science topics, but is mainly focused on cognitive neuroscience, psychology, and autism. She is a featured writer on Scientific Blogging, and a contributor to IEET.
