BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — What advice do you hear to help you avoid making mistakes? Slow down. Take it easy. Double-check your work.
How about — Go for a jog?
An Illinois Wesleyan University faculty member has been gaining attention for his studies connecting higher levels of fitness to improvements in correcting mistakes.
Assistant Professor of Psychology Jason Themanson has been studying the idea that fitness levels can affect the area of the brain that detects mistakes.
His study, which was originally published last year in Neuroscience, caught the attention of Men’s Health magazine. In a June 2009 Men’s Health article titled “Win the Mind Games,” Themanson is quoted as saying study subjects with higher levels of cardiorespiratory fitness could better identify and correct more mistakes than those in the study who were less fit. “Fitter people can absorb more oxygen into their blood,” said Themanson, noting fitness was related to the improved function of the part of the brain that detects errors, known as the anterior cingulate cortex. “When you make a mistake, the cingulate cortex sends a signal, letting you know,” he said.