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Patricia Marx has made a career out of being quick-witted — always ready with the right thing to say. She writes for The New Yorker and is a former writer for Saturday Night Live.

Naturally, she started to worry when basic words eluded her.

"What's the word for that thing that goes in the thing?" she found herself saying.

At one point, she even forgot her brother-in-law's name — while he was wearing a nametag. Friends and co-workers told her it was just a normal sign of aging, but Marx decided to take action.

"My brain is not nearly as quick on the draw as it used to be," Marx said. "So I set about to do everything I could for four months." Tests, quizzes, math exercises, brain scans — Marx signed up for anything and everything that promised to counteract the mental aging process.

She chronicles her four-month quest to make herself smarter in her book "Let's Be Less Stupid," and she joined MPR News' Kerri Miller to discuss her IQ adventures. 

For anyone who has ever walked into a room and then forgotten why, Marx had a comforting piece of research to share: Doorways essentially reset memory, for better or worse. 

"When you pass through a doorway, your brain says: 'This is a new environment. I don't need to know what happened in a past environment, let's clear the deck and start again,'' Marx said.

Her book lists dozens of brain exercises she came across in her quest to get smarter. To keep readers on their toes, she presents them as a quiz. Can you guess which of these is actually recommended to keep your brain sharp, and which is bunk? (Answers are below.)

Quiz: What exercises make your brain sharper?


2) Take a slow day in which you do everything at half speed.

In "Let's Be Less Stupid," Marx pulls out all the stops to test the pop science surrounding brain power. She tries to learn Cherokee, she pops pills, she even agrees to let technicians zap with her brain with electricity. Does it work? 

(Answers: Trick question. 1 through 5 are all techniques recommended to keep your brain sharp, according to Marx.)

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"What's the word for that thing that goes in the thing?" Patricia Marx found herself asking. Forgetting basic words made her wonder: Is it possible to make yourself smarter?

When writer Patricia Marx felt basic words slipping away, she wondered: Can I retrain my brain to be smarter?

'Let's Be Less Stupid': Is it possible to train your brain to be smarter?

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