# Mental Stimulation



## dagnytaggart (Jun 6, 2010)

What do you consider "mental stimulation"?

Reading the Wall Street Journal? Playing chess? Debating? Talking to someone over coffee about philosophy? Reading Cosmopolitan magazine? Learning a new language? Picking up a guitar and teaching yourself how to play?

When NTs say they like mental stimulation, what exactly do they mean? For myself, I'd say all the activities above are mentally stimulating, but save for live, in-person debate, none of those activities are strenuous enough for me to consider it stimulation. To me, they're just default activities. If I'm doing less than those things, I feel like my brain is dying while awake, like I'm turning into a corpse. Make sense? lol

* and YES, reading Cosmo magazine is essential...for sex/human behaviour studies.


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## Lucretius (Sep 10, 2009)

Debating, talking about philosophy over coffee, learning other languages, and simply studying an interesting topic are on the top of my list.
So, my hat is off to you for naming three out of the four. 

I do enjoy chess and music, but I don't think they really do the same thing for me.


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## Immemorial (May 16, 2010)

Debating. (Devil's Advocating is pretty fun to engage in).
Problem solving.
Verbal duels.
Exploring interesting topics.
Bouncing ideas all over the place.


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## Siggy (May 25, 2009)

Debating, in a rational manner of course. 

Newspapers, nope, they are too biased for me.

exploring or testing a new idea or new theory I thought of. 

reading general science and medical books.


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## dagnytaggart (Jun 6, 2010)

^ Actually I tend to enjoy purposely going through newspapers and picking out the biases.


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## Magnificent Bastard (Sep 22, 2010)

That's interesting because I tend to read newspapers to soak up some facts to bolster my lateral thinking concept bank. I'll notice biases but I'll just gloss over them to extract the juices. Different aims I guess. 

I think now I'll dedicate some time to consciously look for biases just for practice.


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## L'Empereur (Jun 7, 2010)

Psychological thrillers


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## sonicdrink (Aug 11, 2010)

God said:


> What do you consider "mental stimulation"?
> 
> Reading the Wall Street Journal? Playing chess? *Debating? Talking to someone over coffee about philosophy?* Reading Cosmopolitan magazine? * Learning a new language? Picking up a guitar and teaching yourself how to play?*


I consider the ones in bold mentally stimulating. As well as discovering music and writing. If there isn't enough external stimulation from my area, then I do research on my own about whatever I want. that's usually what I default to.


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## Kilgore Trout (Jun 25, 2010)

Debating, reading, writing, researching, playing strategical games, watching documentaries, discussing philosophical subjects, thinking, learning new and difficult subjects, finding better solutions for old problems, developing knowledge on previous theories, painting, drawing, playing instruments, making mistakes, thinking about what you observe, intensely exercising, conquering fears, brainstorming, drinking coffee, meditating, having sex, meeting strangers, learning new languages, dreaming, filming, acting, creating scientific experiments, dancing, filling out puzzles, playing individual sports, watching people, cooking, listening to music, forming association webs, setting goals for myself...


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## Apollo Celestio (Mar 10, 2010)

Discovery, discussion, and imparting knowledge give me the most stimulation.


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## Diphenhydramine (Apr 9, 2010)

Azrael said:


> Debating, talking about philosophy over coffee, learning other languages, and simply studying an interesting topic are on the top of my list.
> So, my hat is off to you for naming three out of the four.
> 
> I do enjoy chess and music, but I don't think they really do the same thing for me.


 ^ precisely what this man said.


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## ZeRo (Jul 25, 2010)

Psychological Thrillers,
Cryptic Crosswords,
Novels,
Casual Debates With Friends,
Reading Some of the Threads On PC. :tongue: haha


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## toe tag (Dec 1, 2010)

I would think that everything is a mental stimulation. From the obnoxious party music next door to a calming breeze from a nearby window.


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## Whimsy (Dec 2, 2010)

All of the above, except chess. Chess is evil.


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