Answer: Practice explaining the meaning of proverbs.
There is no scientific research that proves that practicing articulating the meaning of proverbs will help your abstract reasoning or articulation skills–but it sounds plausible. Surely doing something so difficult must be good for our brain.
Stating the meaning of proverbs is a lot harder than it seems. In fact, getting people to explain the meaning of proverbs is used a measure of abstract reasoning on the Weschler Intelligence Test for adults (WAIS) and children (WISC).
It’s a challenging task because you have to:
- work out the general meaning from the figurative expression (e.g. A stitch in time saves nine.)
- articulate the proverb’s meaning in just a few words.
Practicing stating the meaning of common proverbs will give you excellent practice in abstract thinking and articulation.
Have a go at stating the meaning of these 10 proverbs. They were used in this study to test the abstract reasoning skills in subjects with early Alzheimer’s or amnesic cognitive decline. When you’re happy with your answer, ask Google to see if it agrees with you!
1 While the cat’s away, the mice will play. 2 There’s honor among thieves. 3 Harm set, harm get. 4 Even a blind hen sometimes finds a grain of corn. 5 Strike while the iron is hot. 6 If the child has drowned, one covers the well. 7 Too many cooks spoil the broth. 8 A burned child dreads the fire. 9 No rose is so beautiful that it does not finally wilt. 10 If the fox wants to catch geese, he wags his tail.
For lots and lots of practice, go to:
This webpage lists a huge number of German proverbs, along with their English translations and meanings. Look at the English version and try to state its meaning as concisely and accurately as possible. Then check their answer.
You’ll probably disagree with some of the answers–I did! But that’s good. It makes the exercise more interesting!
And for even more proverbs, go to:
Unfortunately no meanings are given, and the site’s idea of what a proverb is is pretty generous. But the site gives you lots more practice opportunities!
———–
Maybe I’m wrong about what it means to be good at correctly articulating what a proverb means. I know it must be a good thing to be able to do so, but I am not sure what this skill is telling us about brain function:
What proverb understanding reveals about how people think.
Abstract
The ability to understand proverbial sayings, such as a rolling stone gathers no moss, has been of great interest to researchers in many areas of psychology. Most psychologists assume that understanding the figurative meanings of proverbs requires various kinds of higher order cognitive abilities. The authors review the findings on proverb interpretation to examine the question of what proverb use and understanding reveals about the ways normal and dysfunctional individuals think. The widely held idea that failure to provide a figurative interpretation of a proverb necessarily reflects a deficit in specialized abstract thinking is rejected. Moreover, the ability to correctly explain what a proverb means does not necessarily imply that an individual can think abstractly. Various empirical evidence, nonetheless, suggests that the ability to understand many proverbs reveals the presence of metaphorical schemes that are ubiquitous in everyday thought.
