I lost on Jeopardy

[+ purplekow]

Well I did not actually get on the show. I took the contestant test today and I can tell that my mental faculties are slowing down. You have 15 seconds to answer each of 50 question. There were about 35 that I knew immediately. About 5 that had me stumped completely and about 5 I had a good immediate guess (example The Battle of the Thames took place in this American War.) but there were about 5 questions that were disturbing to me as I knew I knew the answer but my mental faculties were just too slow. This is a bit unusual for me. I was wondering if other posters here have seen a change in their mentation as they age.

Examples of questions I knew but did not get the answer out in time"

Category "W"ords This w word means to lie in mud and is frequently associated with self-pity and mud.

Artists This American artist was truly "mobile" living in 5 different places in the USA

Olympics This American held the flag during the opening ceremonies of the 2016 Summer games

 

As you can see these are not true stumpers and the answers did eventually come to me, but after the 15 second answering period. So not likely to get to audition with a score of about 40 out of 50.

 

Perhaps if they do a senior moment Jeopardy, I could qualify. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvUZijEuNDQ

[jackjackjack]

Purple...Totally impressed that even though you didn't make the show, you knew so many answers so fast. I love the show but couldn't even begin to answer 35 questions that fast. Don't know how old you are, but sounds like your brain functions work really well.

[+ Cash4Trash]

Sorry to confirm your suspicions but, yes, the memory has been slipping of late. However, I still remember that Marcie Blaine sang Bobby's Girl so I'm still hanging in there.

[+ sync]

I applaud you PK. If I were told I had 15 seconds to answer 50 questions, I would just leave and save everyone 15 seconds.

[whipped guy]

I would not even try to take the test, but twenty years ago I probably would have had a shot. However, not today... the brain is definitely not what it used to be. If it were a multiple choice quiz I probably would be able to answer in 15 seconds... The other alternative would be to have an unlimited amount of time to get the ol' Evinrude engine in the brain revved up!

 

I watch the show religiously every night and depending where I am... north 7 PM vs. south 7:30 PM... I alter my schedule so as to be able to catch it. My only redeeming Jeopardy factor concerns the fact that I usually know the answer (or really the question) when none of the three contestants have a clue! For example. I was screaming Xerxes at the TV set last night... or was it the night before? See what I mean about the brain!!!!

 

Of course I wish that they would have the dreaded opera category more often...

[nebula]

you did really good!

[+ purplekow]

Good point on the multiple choice. I usually do well on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire which gives 4 choices. However, I was always good at multiple choice questions. I had the ability to get the question down to a reasonable number of choices and had a good intuitive feel for such questions. I think there is just a lot of useless information stored in my brain there is not a great organizational scheme in there. That is why Lochte kept getting in the way of the Michael Phelps answer to the flag question. My cupboard always has the blender either up front when I do not need it and in the back when I do. So my brain is like my cupboard storage. The information is in there but I have to move a bunch of stuff around to find it and sometimes I get distracted when I run across something I was looking for 3 weeks ago.

By the way, my score just went down a notch when I realized it was Hoover not Eisenhower who was born in Iowa, the first president born west of the Mississippi River.

[gallahadesquire]

Good point on the multiple choice. I usually do well on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire which gives 4 choices. However, I was always good at multiple choice questions. I had the ability to get the question down to a reasonable number of choices and had a good intuitive feel for such questions. I think there is just a lot of useless information stored in my brain there is not a great organizational scheme in there. That is why Lochte kept getting in the way of the Michael Phelps answer to the flag question. My cupboard always has the blender either up front when I do not need it and in the back when I do. So my brain is like my cupboard storage. The information is in there but I have to move a bunch of stuff around to find it and sometimes I get distracted when I run across something I was looking for 3 weeks ago.

By the way, my score just went down a notch when I realized it was Hoover not Eisenhower who was born in Iowa, the first president born west of the Mississippi River.

 

On medical boards, or at least in anesthesia, they used to have "K"-type questions.

You're given a statement and four subsequent statements, numbered 1 through 4.

You then answer:

(A) if 1,2, and 3 are correct;

(B) if 1 and 3 are correct;

© if 2 and 4 are correct;

(D) if only 4 is correct; and

(E) if all 4 are correct

 

Multiple-multiple guess. But you look at 4:

• If it is True, you're down to (D) or (E)
  
• If it is False, you're down to (A), (B), or ©
  

You then look at answer 2:

• If it is correct, the answer is (E)
  
• If it is incorrect, the answer is (D)
  

Needless to say, these questions suck.

[Kenny]

I definitely think that when a question...wait, what were we talking about?

[+ Robster]

Examples of questions I knew but did not get the answer out in time"

Category "W"ords This w word means to lie in mud and is frequently associated with self-pity and mud.

Artists This American artist was truly "mobile" living in 5 different places in the USA

Olympics This American held the flag during the opening ceremonies of the 2016 Summer games

The only one I know, and got right away, is the first one: "wallow".

 

I wouldn't have gotten the other two whether I had 15 seconds, or 15 minutes!

 

Sounds like you did pretty damn well. Sorry to hear you didn't make it on the show.

 

Rob

[whipped guy]

Years ago Jeopardy categories were straight forward such as The American Revolution, English Monarchs, French History, US State Capitals, the always popular Potent Potables, etc. Therefore one could get their mind into a certain groove and focus on a narrow and specific bit of what was hopefully stored in your brain. Now they tend to throw in some categories that are a bit bizarre so it is impossible to focus on anything as the answers can come from out in left field or even be totally out of the ballpark. I find those silly categories to be the most difficult... Example: Unexpected Occurrences, Creepy Events, Hometown Howdies, etc.

[+ purplekow]

The only one I know, and got right away, is the first one: "wallow".

 

I wouldn't have gotten the other two whether I had 15 seconds, or 15 minutes!

 

Sounds like you did pretty damn well. Sorry to hear you didn't make it on the show.

 

Rob

Well in your defense, you were in a coma for a part of the year. You probably had better things than these to concentrate on after that

[+ Charlie]

I know the feeling all too well. I used to have an extremely large vocabulary, in more than one language, and I'm sure it is still stored somewhere in my brain, but I have misplaced the combination to the locks. I know what I want to say, but I struggle to find exactly the right word to fit the sentence. I often have hesitations in my speech, as I search for the next word or phrase, and sometimes I have to substitute something generic for the precise word I want to utilize. When confronted with questions like those that you presented, I usually know the answers, but I can't get them out immediately. It is extremely frustrating, but it has given me newfound sympathy and patience when speaking on the phone with my brother-in-law, who had a stroke a few years ago, and often has long pauses in a sentence as he tries to produce the word he wants next, because I know we are coping with different magnitudes of the same kind of brain disturbance.

[+ sync]

On the lighter side of Jeopardy, years ago after work I used to stop at bar in NYC, and every day after watching Jeopardy this particular customer would come into the bar and pompously try to stump the bar manager with the final Jeopardy question. The bar manager always answered correctly. One afternoon I mentioned to another customer how impressed I was with the bar manager's ability to always answer the final Jeopardy question correctly. The other customer chuckled and told me the bar manager would go into the office to watch the final Jeopardy answer and then come out and wait for the other customer to ask for it. Going forward, watching their routine made my day for a long time. I had to turn away to conceal my laughter.

[whipped guy]

On the lighter side of Jeopardy, years ago after work I used to stop at bar in NYC, and every day after watching Jeopardy this particular customer would come into the bar and pompously try to stump the bar manager with the final Jeopardy question. The bar manager always answered correctly. One afternoon I mentioned to another customer how impressed I was with the bar manager's ability to always answer the final Jeopardy question correctly. The other customer chuckled and told me the bar manager would go into the office to watch the final Jeopardy answer and then come out and wait for the other customer to ask for it. Going forward, watching their routine made my day for a long time. I had to turn away to conceal my laughter.

Years ago my cable company carried a TV station from out of state that aired Jeopardy a half hour earlier. Since not everyone had the same cable company and I watched it at the earlier time frame, I often played a similar trick on others... I recall one particular situation where I was with someone who remarked that the final Jeopardy question was a real tough one. That was a split second before I gave what was ultimately the correct answer.

[+ Truereview]

I'm still stuck on the opening statement. Is decreased response time really a sign of decreasing mental faculty? Or is it just a sign that there is a lot more junk in our brain to sift thru to get at answer to something trivial?

[whipped guy]

One more Jeopardy anecdote.

 

An acquaintance was a Jeopardy contestant a number of years ago. He came in second which was a feat because he was up against a guy who was a multi time champion. Consequently he was pleased with his performance. He also told me that prior to taping the staff does everything to make you feel at home and comfortable. However, after you loose you are left on your own. He recalled turning to the person who came in third and said, " How the hell do we get out of this place!" Neither had a clue and were wandering aimlessly through the studio trying to figure out how to get the heck out.

 

Of course he said that the best part of the experience occurred when something went wrong and they had to pause the taping during which time a frustrated Alex said "THE magic word". Priceless and more than worth the price of admission!

[+ purplekow]

I'm still stuck on the opening statement. Is decreased response time really a sign of decreasing mental faculty? Or is it just a sign that there is a lot more junk in our brain to sift thru to get at answer to something trivial?

Well True, I mentioned the mental clutter being a factor, but I think that the synapses are just not firing as they once did. I watched the show today and I am fairly sure I would have done terribly on the show, as the answers came to me only after someone had rung in and started to answer. Those that no one knew, I usually knew but only after the time had run out to ring in.

Anyway, if my mental highway is filled with potholes or filled with traffic, I am just not speeding along and that seems inevitable but just a bit scary.

[+ Truereview]

Well True, I mentioned the mental clutter being a factor, but I think that the synapses are just not firing as they once did. I watched the show today and I am fairly sure I would have done terribly on the show, as the answers came to me only after someone had rung in and started to answer. Those that no one knew, I usually knew but only after the time had run out to ring in. Anyway, if my mental highway is filled with potholes or filled with traffic, I am just not speeding along and that seems inevitable but just a bit scary.

Good points! Thank you. I did wonder if a hint of fear was at the root of your post. Thank you for naming it. We all experience it, and once we identify it, we can move beyond it or dwell on it. From reading other posts here, it also sounds like your decrease in speed is normal, and I would even dare to say that it sounds like your mental speed is faster than above-average -considering your test performance & the non-scientific poll here. Getting peer perspectives is one of the things I like most about the forum. I should also admit that your playing along on jeopardy episodes, instead of just wallowing on mental speed woes, es muy sexy. To me, it means you are turning your woe into a motivation. And we all know that a motivated man can be so damn enticing ...

http://31.media.tumblr.com/236fe95c92e501e96840b4668595fd40/tumblr_mq5vhnefH31resykuo1_500.gif

[+ purplekow]

He does seem to be beckoning my tongue.

[happyguy2]

you may have lost at jeopardy, but you will always be a winner on this M4M message center, I am a longtime admirer of the show .....

and of yours!

[Brian Kevin]

I applaud you PK. If I were told I had 15 seconds to answer 50 questions, I would just leave and save everyone 15 seconds.

 

There's a bonus round, if you can make the host cum in 15 seconds you win!

[+ purplekow]

Thanks Happyguy that was a very nice thing to say. "Nice to be nice to the nice." Frank Burns MASH

[happyguy2]

Thanks Happyguy that was a very nice thing to say. "Nice to be nice to the nice." Frank Burns MASH

simply always loved frank burns