What is Cognition Training?
Cognition training is a powerful concept that has emerged from recent advances in neuroscience. The main idea behind the technique is that all cognitive activities are a function of underlying fundamental processes. Imagine you had to add some floors to your house – The first thing you’d check is if your foundation can support the extensions. Likewise for the brain, ability to learn and acquire new material is directly related to foundational cognitive processes. Solid underlying processes support learning.
Cognition training focuses on training fundamental cognitive processes that are expected to lead to broader and more general cognitive improvements including increased ability to understand and remember new information.Some examples of fundamental cognitive processes include: Working Memory, Visual Spatial Skills, Abstract Reasoning, Executive Functions and Processing speed
Scientists have tried to ascertain this experimentally. The results are remarkable. Several studies have shown that as little as 15-20 hours of working memory training can result in gains in IQ (Intelligence Quotient) – A metric that was generally thought to be unchangeable in one’s lifetime. Research has also shown that brain exercise can help with a variety of cognitive problems – both clinical and non-clinical.
Research shows that Cognitive Training is most effective when it has a few important characteristics:
Targeted
Training should impact scientifically determined Cognitive processes that act as building blocks for our cognition. Our understanding of these processes has increased significantly with advances in Neuro and Cognitive Science
Customised
One size does not fit all – This may be true in general, but definitely true for Cognition training. Effective training programs are customized based on individual strengths and opportunities
Adaptive
The program needs to continually adapt to the individual’s level. The better a person gets, the harder the training needs to be.
Practical
The training needs to be relevant to real life outcomes – should help us go about our daily lives better, whether it is academic success, personal productivity or emotional self-regulation
Why is Cognitive Training effective?
Let’s start by considering the example of an oft cited process – Working Memory.
Working memory is the cognitive system responsible for the transient holding and processing of new and already-stored information – Somewhat analogous to the computer RAM. It is the kind of system that you’d need to perform a mental multiplication – or for that matter while you are trying to read and understand a complex sentence. The reason why people can handle 2-digit multiplication (e.g. 13 X 48), but fail when they are asked to perform the more difficult feat of 3-digit multiplication (123 X 212) is that working memory is a limited capacity system and cannot accommodate the multiple intermediate results of the latter operation.
Now imagine that you’re able to improve the functioning of this basic process. Not only would this mean that we can do more complicated mental arithmetic, but also that we can speak and understand more complicated sentences, grasp and integrate more complex concepts in our brains – The very traits that define intelligent human behavior
Now imagine training all the building blocks of our Cognition - the possibilities are indeed quite exciting.