What's the tone of your conversations? Surprisingly it makes a difference on whether or not it will provide you with mental benefits. A study finds, friendly discussions with other people can help solve common live challenges but conversations that are competitive in tone are not helpful. Researchers from the University of Michigan found that engaging in a short ten minute conversation, in which participants got to know another person, helped boost their performance on a variety of cognitive tasks involving memory, self-monitoring, and their ability to suppress distractions. But when the conversation had a competitive tone the participants showed no improvement on those tasks. The researchers believe that performance boosts come about because these social interactions induce people to try to reach each others minds and take their perspectives on things. Bottom line, the findings suggest having a friendly talk with a colleague before a big test or a presentation may prove beneficial.