Human cognitive capabilities. What are cognitive abilities

Have you thought about what intelligence is and how the level of development of a person’s mind is determined? Agree that a large number of knowledge does not give the right to talk about high intelligence.

It is more likely to be well-read and possess a large amount of information. How can I not remember famous phrase Bayard Taylor: “A well-read fool is the most annoying kind of fool.”

Therefore, when asserting that this or that person is really smart, by this we correctly mean his developed cognitive abilities.

What are cognitive abilities

Cognitive abilities are mental processes in human body, which are aimed at receiving and processing information, as well as solving problems and generating new ideas. Modern science attaches great importance to strengthening these processes.

Cognitive psychology(Latin cognitio “knowledge”) is a section that studies cognitive, that is, cognitive processes of the human psyche.

It should be noted that scientists still do not have a clear opinion about what cognitive abilities are.

After all, for example, the ability to manage one’s emotions does not belong to cognitive abilities. This skill can be called emotional intelligence, and it must be developed separately.

Cognitive abilities include:

Memory
Attention
Feelings
Imagination
Logical thinking
Decision making ability

Can a person be called smart if he has well-developed all cognitive abilities? Undoubtedly. After all, such a person is capable of making the right decisions.

When thinking, he manages to simultaneously use a creative approach to things. He easily remembers large amounts of information and compares the available data according to the degree of significance.

He can concentrate on things with ease, and also masterfully perceive and read information from the external environment or simply by looking at a person's behavior.

It is for this reason that cognitive abilities are very important for people. They represent the basis that makes the whole possible.

Almost any person can develop all of these cognitive abilities. On this moment There are many techniques and exercises available to help improve any of these skills.

Mastery of at least one of them has positive influence to others. For example, concentration is closely related to improved memory.

Improving memory, in turn, has a positive effect on development, as it allows you to form many associations regarding any incoming information.

If a person fully develops cognitive abilities, he will be able to easily enter into the so-called flow.

The flow state (English flow, Latin influunt) is a mental state in which a person is completely involved in what he is doing, which is characterized by active concentration, full involvement in the process of activity. It must be said that this condition is well known to most scientists, researchers and inventors.

There are people who manage to stay in a state of flow 24 hours a day. For example, British billionaire Richard Branson has an incredibly high level of perception.

Of course, knowledge and erudition are also of great importance when we determine the degree of “smartness” of a person. After all, they make people interesting conversationalists and often extraordinary thinkers.

Therefore, it is important to understand that in addition to developing cognitive abilities and skills, an intelligent person needs to constantly acquire new knowledge. Thanks to this, you will be able to use your knowledge in a variety of areas, achieving something new and original.

Books for the development of cognitive abilities

If you want to develop your cognitive abilities, you will find it helpful to read the following literature.

Frans Johansson "The Medici Effect"
Dmitry Gusev " Short course logic: the art of correct thinking"
Harry Lorraine "Development of memory and ability to concentrate"
Peter Bregman "18 Minutes"
Eberhard Heul “The Art of Concentration: How to Improve Your Memory in 10 Days”
Dmitry Chernyshev “How people think”
Michael Mikalko "Rice Storm and 21 More Ways to Think Outside the Box"

We hope that now you not only understand what cognitive abilities are, but also understand the importance of their development. By the way, do you have any habits or methods with which you train your brain? Write about it in the comments.

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A person gets to know the world, learns new things, accumulates experience, thanks to cognitive abilities. Preschoolers need them to expand their knowledge about the objects of the world around them, teenage children need them for successful studies, and adults need them to increase productivity. It is important to know that these cognitive skills can be developed at any age.

What are cognitive abilities

Cognitive abilities are the sum of all cognitive abilities mental processes individuals responsible for receiving, processing, sorting, remembering, storing and reproducing information.

Additional Information. It is believed that cognitive skills in mature age are decreasing. However, if a person regularly trains his attention, reads a lot, studies foreign languages, then even in old age he will successfully process, remember and reproduce information.

The most significant cognitive functions

Psychologists consider the most important cognitive functions to be:

Attention – the ability to concentrate on information, ignoring external stimuli;
Gnosis – the ability to perceive information;
Thinking – the ability to process information, analyze, compare, summarize facts and formulate conclusions, carry out formal logical operations;
Memory – remembering, storing and reproducing information;
Speech is the ability of people to exchange information;
Praxis is the ability to apply theoretical knowledge in practice.

The influence of cognitive abilities on success, its components

If a person has well-developed cognitive abilities, it is easier for him to process information received from all senses. Psychologists have proven that the success of learning and professional activity determined by a person's cognitive skills. The higher the level of their development, the higher labor productivity.

Attention! There are types of professions where the main requirement for a candidate to fill a particular vacancy is a high level of development of cognitive abilities. At the same time, work in this position, execution production functions develop these skills even further in the specialist.

Professional success comes to those employees who have well-developed executive function. Those who dream of career growth and strive to “grow” in the eyes of their superiors need to develop certain types cognition.

Attention! Knowing how developed certain cognitive abilities are in a person allows him to predict how successful he will be in a particular field of work. Based on his cognitive potential, a person can choose the most suitable profession for himself and successfully move up the career ladder.

Planning

Planning ability is a professionally important cognitive indicator. It is expressed in a person’s ability to predict the consequences of a particular marketing move and choose the most rational way to achieve production goals.

Inhibition

Inhibition is a cognitive skill that involves controlling impulsive reactions and the ability to maintain sanity in any unexpected situation. Inhibition combines the ability to set a goal, plan and predict.

Monitoring

Monitoring is the cognitive skill of controlling behavior. Through this ability, a person checks whether his actions are really aimed at achieving his goal, whether he has chosen the right ways to solve cognitive problems. If a deviation from the plan is detected, a person with high self-control skills is able to adjust his actions. This ability is important in any professional field.

Making decisions

Decision making is determining ways to achieve a goal or solve a problem.

Cognitive flexibility

Flexibility is a person’s cognitive capabilities that allow him to quickly adapt to changing conditions and adjust his behavior to them. Also, this ability allows a person to rely not only on his own opinion when solving production problems, but also take into account the points of view of his colleagues.

Working or random access memory

Memory is the ability to keep in mind all the necessary working information and use it to solve current production problems. In psychology, it is generally accepted that memory allows a person to successfully master new activities, communicate, and reason. Working memory is a type of short-term memory.

Development of cognitive abilities

In pedagogy, there are special exercises that allow you to develop cognitive abilities:

Exercise “Crossing movement”. You need to lie down on a flat surface, bend your left leg and right hand. The left knee needs to touch the right elbow. Then the arm and leg need to be changed. The exercise must be performed slowly. It stimulates the functioning of the cerebral hemispheres and activates the frontal lobes, has a beneficial effect on brain function and the general condition of the body.
Exercise "Elephant". You need to stand up and relax your legs slightly. Tilt your head to the side and touch your ear to your shoulder. One arm is extended forward (this is the “trunk”). Making movements only top part torso, with an outstretched hand you need to draw an infinity sign. Drawing a lying figure eight is accompanied by alternating tilts of the head to the right and left and touching the shoulder with the ear. This exercise stimulates connections between the brain and body.
Exercise “Overcoming gravity”. To perform it, you need to sit on a chair and stretch your legs forward. Feet should touch the floor. Now you need to cross your legs at the ankle joint and bend your knees slightly. You need to slowly exhale and bend forward, while inhaling you need to return to initial position. After three bends, change legs and repeat the exercise 3 more times. Exercise helps relax your back and improve blood flow. Relieving muscle tension helps improve coordination. In addition, the exercise promotes better perception of information.
Exercise "Synchronized drawing". For this exercise you will need a blank sheet of paper and 2 pencils of different colors. You need to take a pencil in each hand. Draw symmetrical objects with both hands simultaneously, starting from the axis of symmetry: squares, triangles, bagels, hearts. This type of drawing improves visual coordination and motor abilities.

Additional Information. Successful solving of cognitive problems is the result of the combined work of the analytical systems, brain and body. In order to stimulate those parts of the brain that are Everyday life are practically not involved, you can try to do household chores with a weak hand. For example, right-handed people can brush their teeth with their left hand.

Factors of cognitive decline

Cognitive abilities can worsen:

Poor nutrition. If the diet is monotonous, the body will begin to experience a deficiency of vitamins and minerals, this will affect the functioning of the brain: habitual mental tasks will cause serious difficulties for the person.
Violation of the work and rest regime. For normal brain function, a person must sleep at least 8 hours a day. Chronic lack of sleep leads to memory loss, absent-mindedness, and overwork.
Prolonged physical and psycho-emotional stress. Physical and emotional overload exhausts the nervous system. In this state, a person is unable to work productively.

Thus, a person’s cognitive abilities ensure his effectiveness in school and work. If you follow a daily routine, eat right, avoid stress, and perform special exercises to develop cognitive skills, then you can be successful in any activity and professional field.

Video

Cognitive brain functions - what is it? Speaking of, it should be noted that this a relatively young direction in science and the date of his birth is conventionally considered to be 1956.

Cognitive psychology reflects the view of a person as a computer, which appeared and began to spread during that period.

In short, a person is kiss information system, which processes information through a variety of in various ways ().

Conscious thinking, being one of the ways, not considered a core cognition. In addition to it, there are such important ones as images, emotions, attention, memory, imagination and many others.

What is the cognitive domain? Find out about this from ours.

Explanation of the term

Cognitive functions of the brain are functions that a person can perform cognition of information.

Thanks to them, a person receives images, ideas, assessments about the world around him, people, himself and much more.

Such functions include attention, visual-spatial perception, memory, understanding, thinking, executive functions (planning actions in accordance with the goal, changing reactions, etc.).

Simply put, these are the abilities of the brain, thanks to which a person acquires knowledge, skills and abilities.

Mental processes - what applies to them?

All mental processes which psychologists managed to model, called cognitive. That is, these are processes that are amenable to logic and comprehension, having an algorithm for processing information.

The processes that could not be modeled were called affective. These include an emotional and sensual attitude towards everything.

Definition of concepts

Activity

Activities in cognitive psychology are brain ability perform the following functions: attention, memory, language, visuospatial perception and executive functions.

As a result of this activity, a person comes to understand something.

He begins to have an idea of objects that part of the worldview system person.

Examples: search common elements V different languages; proof of a mathematical law, theorem; essay writing.

General psychology. Cognitive processes: speech - in this video:

Thinking

Thinking is one of the information processing tools for solving many problems. It is a personal phenomenon, therefore, there are many types of thinking: critical, flexible, cheerful, arbitrary and, for example, on the contrary, uncritical, lazy, involuntary, inflexible.

Thinking is mainly engaged in just processing the flow of information (thoughts, images, pictures, sounds).

If a person analyzes information, solves mental problems, compares data and determines the particular, the general, cause and effect, process and result, then his thinking is considered completely meaningful.

Examples: reading this text; Any work; any activity and perception of information.

General psychology. Cognitive functions: thinking - in this video:

Communication

Communication is, in a nutshell, first and foremost contacts between people.

It is a whole process that includes establishing contact and then developing it. Communication is the creation of people’s need for each other, joint activity.

Within the framework of cognitive psychology, communication is important to us because during it exchange of information and its knowledge. We learn information about the interlocutor and get answers to questions.

Examples: training session; Scientific Conference; press conference.

Memory

Memory is a brain ability record, store and reproduce necessary information. If we consider memory as a broader concept, then the process of forgetting also applies to it and is an important part of it.

The peculiarity of memory is that its source of development is not inside, but outside, from the outside.

Like other mental processes, memory is formed gradually. In the first days of life, a child distinguishes his mother from others, later his memory becomes more and more and he remembers other people and things around him.

Another feature of memory is its variability. Although the past is immutable, memories can become more and more distorted over the years.

There are many types of memory.

Eye memory is visual; muscle memory – motor; long-term and short-term memory; positive and negative memory; memory of the past and memory of the future; internal and external memory and many other types. One of the most important types of memory is one’s own personal experience.

Examples: exam; driving skills; singing songs.

Flexibility

Flexibility in cognitive understanding means the ability of the brain switch from thought to thought, think several thoughts at the same time. Thanks to this, a person adapts to changes, which plays big role in learning and solving complex problems.

Examples: unexpected change in business schedule; changes in taste and style; tests for an astronaut.

Control

Cognitive control is a set of mental processes behavior regulation. It is considered one of the perfect mechanisms in the human psyche. Thanks to control, a person builds relationships with other people and environment taking into account the needs of the individual.

Examples: fight; dispute; bargaining.

Potential

The potential is called the totality of all available tools and capabilities.

Personal potential is characterized by internal and external indicators.

TO internal indicators applies mental health, interests, intelligence, emotional abilities.

External indicators come from internal ones, the development of which determines the entire potential. External indicators include responsibility, culture, personal freedom, independence.

Examples: presence of etiquette; outstanding results in music school; writing a dissertation.

Tips for improving the cognitive functions of the brain in this video:

Human capabilities, skills and abilities - what do they include?

Cognitive (cognitive) abilities (capabilities, skills, abilities) of a person (in addition to those listed above) include:

In addition to these abilities, there are many others (hand-eye coordination, inhibition, judgment, verbal abilities, etc.).

Cognitive skills acquired in childhood determine the ability to read, count, write, abstract and logical thinking.

These include imitation, exploration of objects, understanding of cause and effect, correlation of objects, selection by similarity, naming, and then the ability to read, write and count.

What factors contribute to their decrease and increase?

A negative lifestyle, constant stress, physical overexertion, unhealthy diet, reduced blood circulation and oxygen supply due to aging, and a number of nervous diseases contribute.

Improving cognitive abilities contribute to physical training (aerobic exercises, strength exercises, dancing), nutrition (water, vitamins, chocolate, milk, etc.), daily routine (sleep, workplace), learning (creativity, foreign languages, oral speech, positive thinking), relaxation (games, meditation), relationships (sex, laughter, communication).

You can learn about what affects the decline in cognitive functions from the video:

Why is testing needed?

Cognitive abilities can be measured by a number of tests.

They are needed for determining the level of development of aspects of intelligence and psychomotor functions that ensure effectiveness in specific areas of activity. There is a separate test for each of them.

For example, to determine the level of logical abilities they give math problems, analogy tasks, sequencing tasks, problem solving tasks.

IQ tests measure the ability to analyze, solve problems, reason, cope with difficult situation, perceive the interconnectedness of things.

But tests of this kind, according to psychologists, measure general intellectual potential.

For example, a test of attention span and multitasking provides insight into both overall performance on multiple tasks simultaneously and performance on each individual task. The test is useful for people whose activities require constant distribution of attention between simple tasks (secretary).

Cognitive psychology views the human psyche as system of cognitive operations. It allows a convenient consideration of man as a computer and is on the way to unifying many studies under a single concept.

Cognitive ability test:

Don't pursue goals that are easy to achieve. It is worth aiming at what you can do with difficulty, after making considerable effort - Albert Einstein

Even though Einstein was not a neuroscientist, he certainly knew everything when he spoke about the human ability to achieve anything. He intuited something that we have only now been able to confirm with data: namely, what makes cognitive abilities work at their best? high level. Essentially: What doesn't kill you makes you smarter.

Just recently, my teacher told me that people are bad at controlling their intellect. It was genetically assigned at birth. He explained that efforts made to develop intelligence in children (for example, through programs such as Head Start) met with little success once they were put into practice, and furthermore, once the “training” ended, they immediately returned to initial low level of cognitive abilities. Indeed, the data supported this, and he (along with many other intelligence researchers) concluded that intelligence could not be improved, or, according to at least, the changes will not last.

However, I objected.
You see, before I began this phase of my research, I began working as a Behavioral Therapy Specialist, teaching young children with autism. These children had a range of cognitive impairments - my job was to educate them in areas that were underdeveloped to bring them as close as possible to the level of functioning of their peers. To achieve the goal, during the treatment process we used many methods, or Multimodal Training (when the maximum number of information input methods is used).

One of my first clients was a little boy with PDD-NOS (Pervasive Delay). mental development), a mild form of autism. When we started treatment, we tested his IQ and it was around 80, which is practically considered mentally retarded. After I worked with him for about three years - individually, teaching him in areas such as communication, reading, math, social behavior, play skills, entertainment and recreation - using multimodal techniques - he was retested. His IQ was now well over 100 (given that 100 is considered "average" compared to the average person). That's a 20-point increase, more than a one-level improvement for a child with autism!

This was not the only child who, before my eyes, progressed significantly during my medical practice. I have been very fortunate to see so many children develop rapidly - not by miracle, and even without taking medication, there is also data confirming their success. I thought - if these children with severe learning difficulties were able to progress so much and make such gains in every aspect of cognitive functioning - why couldn't the average person make the same progress? Or even achieve great success, given that he does not have the additional problems of autism?

Although the data from early studies did not give very accurate results, I did not give up. I still believed that there was a chance to significantly increase cognitive functioning by providing appropriate training - as I had seen this with my own eyes when I worked as a doctor.

Then in 2008, a stunning study was done, “Increasing Fluid Intelligence with Short-Term Memory Training” by Jaeggi, Bushkul, Jonides and Perrig. This study was somewhat of a breakthrough for those researching this topic. They were the first to show that it was actually possible to develop intelligence to a fairly high level through training. What did they do differently?

The people in Jaggie's study were trained using an intensive, multimodal (visual and auditory input) short-term memory task (n-back task) over time periods of varying lengths, over one or two weeks, depending on the group. After this training, they were tested to determine how much they had improved. Most likely, one could assume that after training their level increased. But they went even further. They wanted to see if progress could be transferred to a completely different test of cognitive ability, which would become an indicator of an increase in absolute cognitive ability. What did they find?

After training short-term memory using the n-back test, people were actually able to transfer significant increases in levels to a cognitive aspect that was completely irrelevant to others. It was a huge event.

What is "Intelligence"?

First of all, let me explain what I mean when I say the word intelligence. To be clear, I'm not just talking about increasing the amount of facts or bits of knowledge you can accumulate, or what is called crystallized intelligence - this is not fluency or memorization training - in fact, it's almost the opposite. I'm talking about improving your fluid intelligence, or your ability to remember new information, retain it, then use that new knowledge as the basis for solving the next problem or learning another new skill, and so on.

Now, while short-term memory is not synonymous with intelligence, it is very related to intelligence. To successfully make intellectual inferences, it is quite important to have a good short-term memory. So, to make the most of your intelligence, it's worth significantly improving your short-term memory - like using the best and most modern parts to help a machine perform at its highest level.

What can you learn from this? This study is significant because it found:

Hypothetical intelligence can be trained.
Training and subsequent success are dependent on dosage; the more you train, the more benefits you gain.
Every person can develop their cognitive abilities, regardless of their starting level.
Progress can be achieved by practicing on tasks that do not resemble questions on a test.

How can we put this research into practice and benefit from it?

There is a reason why the n-back task has been so successful in increasing cognitive abilities. This training involves dividing attention between competing stimuli, that is, multimodality (one visual stimulus, one auditory stimulus). This involves focusing on specific details while ignoring irrelevant information, and this helps improve short-term memory over time, gradually increasing the ability to process information effectively in multiple directions. In addition, the stimulus was constantly switched, in such a way that the phenomenon of “practicing test questions” never occurred - there was something new every time. If you've never taken the n-back test, let me tell you about it: it's very difficult. It is not surprising that such an activity has so many benefits for cognitive abilities.

But let's think from a practical point of view.
Eventually, the cards in the deck or the sounds in the piece will run out (the experiment lasted 2 weeks), so it is not practical to think that if you want to continuously increase your intellectual abilities throughout your life, then one n-back will be enough. Besides, you will get tired of it and stop doing it. I'm sure I would do that. Not to mention the time you'll spend learning this way - we're all very busy all the time! So we need to think about how to model the same types of super-effective multimodal brain stimulation techniques that can be used in normal life and still get the maximum benefit in cognitive growth.

So, taking all this into account, I have developed five basic elements that will help in the development of fluid intelligence, or cognitive ability. As I noted, it is impractical to consistently perform the n-back task or variations of it every day for the rest of your life to reap cognitive benefits. But the practical thing is to make lifestyle changes that will provide the same—and even greater—benefit to cognitive ability. This can be done every day to reap the benefits of intense whole-brain training, and should also translate into benefits for overall cognitive functioning.

These five basic principles are:

Look for innovation
Challenge yourself
Think creatively
Don't take the easy way out
Stay online

Each of these points is a great thing in itself, but if you really want to function at the highest cognitive level possible, it is better to do all five points, and as often as possible. In fact, I live by these five principles. If you accept these as fundamental guiding principles, then I guarantee that you will make the most of your abilities, beyond even what you thought you were capable of - all without artificial enhancement. Great information: Science backs these principles up with data!

1. Look for innovation

It is not a coincidence that geniuses like Einstein were knowledgeable in many fields, or polymaths as we call them. Geniuses are constantly looking for new things to do, exploring new areas. This is their individuality.

There is only one "Big Five" trait from the Five Factor Model of Personality (Acronym: ODEPR, or Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Irritability) that is associated with IQ, and that is the trait Openness to Experience. People who have a high level of Openness are constantly looking for new information, new activities, new things to learn - new experiences, in general.

When you are looking for innovation, several things happen. First of all, you create new synaptic connections with every new activity in which you participate. These connections build on each other, increasing activity nervous system, creating more connections so that new connections are created on their basis - thus learning occurs.

An area of interest in recent research is neural plasticity as a factor in individual differences in intelligence. Plasticity refers to the number of connections made between neurons, how this affects subsequent connections, and how long lasting those connections are. This basically means how much new information you are able to take in, and whether you are able to retain it, making permanent changes in the brain. Constantly exposing yourself directly to new things helps put the brain in a prime state for learning.

Novelty also triggers the release of dopamine (I've mentioned this before in other posts), which is not only highly motivating, but also stimulates neurogenesis - the creation of new neurons - and prepares the brain for learning. All you have to do is satisfy your hunger.

Excellent condition for learning = New activity -> dopamine production -> promotes a more motivated state -> which promotes neuronal recruitment and creation -> neurogenesis can occur + increased synaptic plasticity (increased number of new neural connections, or learning).

As a follow-up to Jaeggi's study, researchers in Sweden found that after 14 hours of short-term memory training for 5 weeks, there was an increase in the amount of binding dopamine D1 potential in the prefrontal and parietal regions of the brain. This particular dopamine receptor, type D1, is associated with nerve cell growth and development, among other things. This increase in plasticity, by promoting greater consolidation of this receptor, is very beneficial in order to maximize cognitive functioning.

Follow the point at home: Be “Einstein.” Always look for new mental activities - expand your cognitive horizons. Learn the tool. Take a painting course. Go to a museum. Read about new area Sciences. Be dependent on knowledge.

2. Challenge yourself

There is a huge amount of terrible work written and distributed about how to “train your brain” and “become smarter”. When I talk about "brain training games", I mean memory and speed games, the purpose of which is to increase the speed of information processing, etc.; This includes games such as Sudoku, which are recommended to be played in " free time"(complete the oxymoron, taking into account the development of cognitive abilities). I'm going to debunk some of the stuff you've previously heard about brain training games. I'll tell you what: They don't work. Personalized learning games don't make you smarter - they make you more proficient at learning brain games.

So, they do have a goal, but the results won't last long. To gain anything from these types of cognitive activities, one must appeal to the first principle of seeking innovation. Once you master one of these cognitive activities in the brain training game, you should move on to the next stimulating activity. Do you understand how to play Sudoku? Great! Now move on to the next type of stimulating games. There has been research that supports this logic.

Several years ago, scientist Richard Haier wanted to know whether it was possible to significantly increase cognitive ability through intense training in new types of mental activity over a few weeks. They used the video game Tetris as new activity, and used people who had never played the game before as research subjects (I know, I know – can you imagine such people exist?!). They found that after training for several weeks on the Tetris game, study subjects experienced an increase in cortical thickness, as well as an increase in cortical activity, as evidenced by an increase in the amount of glucose used in that area of the brain. Basically, the brain used more energy during that training period, and became thicker—meaning more nerve connections, or new experiences learned—after such intense training. And they became experts in Tetris. Cool, yeah?

Here's the thing: After an initial dramatic cognitive boost, they noticed a decrease in both cortical thickness and the amount of glucose used during the task. However, they were still good at Tetris; their skill did not deteriorate. Brain scans showed less brain activity during the game, instead of an increase as in previous days. Why the decline? Their brains became more efficient. Once their brain figured out how to play Tetris and really started to get the hang of it, it became too lazy to do anything. He didn't have to work as hard to play the game well, so the cognitive energy and glucose went in a different direction.

Efficiency is not your friend when it comes to cognitive growth. In order for the brain to continue making new connections and keeping them active, you must continue to move on to other stimulating activities once you reach the peak of mastery in a particular activity. You want to be in a constant state of slight difficulty, struggling to achieve something, no matter what it is, as Einstein noted in his saying. This keeps the brain in limbo, so to speak. We will return to this issue later.

3. Think creatively

When I say that thinking creatively will help you improve your nervous system, I don't mean painting a picture, or doing something fancy, like in the first point, “Seek innovation.” When I talk about creative thinking, I mean direct creative cognition, and what it means while the process continues in the brain.

Contrary to popular belief, creative thinking is not “right-brain thinking.” Both sides of the brain are involved here, not just the right. Creative cognition includes divergent thinking (a wide range of topics/subjects), the ability to make distant associations with ideas, switch between traditional and non-traditional perspectives (cognitive flexibility), and generating original, fresh ideas that are also relevant to the activity in which you are engaged. To do everything correctly, you need the right and left hemispheres to work simultaneously and together.

Several years ago, Dr. Robert Sternberg, former Dean of Tufts University, opened the PACE (Psychology of Ability, Competence and Excellence) Center in Boston. Sternberg tried not only to define the basic concept of intelligence, but also to find ways in which any person can maximize his intelligence through training, and especially through education in schools.

Here Sternberg describes the goals of the PACE Center, which was founded at Yale University:
“The core concept of the center is that abilities are not fixed, they are flexible, they can be changed, each person can transform his abilities into his competence, and his competence into mastery,” explains Sternberg. “Our focus is on how we can help people change their abilities so that they can more easily solve problems and cope with the situations they will encounter in life.”

Through his research, Project Rainbow, he developed not only innovative creative teaching methods in the classroom, but produced assessments that tested students in ways that required them to approach problems creatively and practically, as well as analytically, rather than simply memorizing facts .

Sternberg explains:
“In Project Rainbow we assessed creative, practical, as well as analytical abilities. A creative test could be, for example, like this: ‘Here is a cartoon. Give it a title.’ A practical assignment could be a film about a student who comes to a party, looks around, doesn’t know anyone, and obviously feels awkward. What should a student do?"

He wanted to see if teaching students to think creatively about assignments could make them learn more about a topic, enjoy learning more, and transfer what they learn to other areas. scientific activity. He wanted to see if, by changing teaching and assessment methods, he could prevent “teaching to pass” and get students to learn more in general. He collected information on this topic and still got good results.

Briefly? On average, students in the test group (those taught using creative methods) received higher final college course scores than the control group (those taught using traditional methods and assessment systems). But to make things fair, he gave the test group the same analytical exam as the regular students (a multiple choice test) and they also scored higher. high scores on this test. This means they were able to transfer the knowledge they learned using creative, multimodal learning methods and score higher on a completely different cognitive test on the same material. Does this remind you of anything?

4. Don't take the easy way out

I mentioned earlier that efficiency is not your friend if you are trying to improve your IQ. Unfortunately, many things in life are designed to increase efficiency. Thus, we do more with less time, physical and mental effort. However, this does not have a beneficial effect on your brain.

Consider one modern convenience, GPS. GPS is an amazing invention. I am one of those people for whom GPS was invented. I'm terribly bad at navigating the terrain. I get lost all the time. Therefore, I thanked fate for the advent of GPS. But you know what? After using the GPS for a short time, I found that my sense of orientation became even worse. When I didn't have it at hand, I felt even more lost than before. So when I moved to Boston - the city where horror movies about lost people originate - I stopped using GPS.

I won’t lie – my suffering knew no bounds. My new job meant traveling all over the outskirts of Boston, and I got lost every day for at least 4 weeks. I was so often lost and wandering around for who knows how long that I thought I would lose my job due to chronic lateness (I was even complained about writing). But over time, I began to find the right path thanks to the vast navigational experience that I acquired with only my brain and a map. I really began to sense where and what was in Boston thanks solely to logic and memory, and not GPS. I still remember how proud I was that I found the hotel in the city center where my friend was staying, based only on the name and description of the area - even without an address! I felt like I had graduated from a school of navigational education.

Technology makes our lives easier, faster, more efficient in many ways, but sometimes our cognitive abilities can suffer as a result of these kinds of simplifications and harm us in the future. Before everyone starts screaming and emailing my transhumanist friends about how I'm sinning against technology, I should warn you that that's not what I'm doing.

Look at it this way: when you drive to work, it costs less physical strength, time, and this is a more convenient and enjoyable way than walking. Everything seems to be fine. But if you only drive or spend your whole life on a Segway, even not for short distances, then you will not waste energy. Over time, your muscles atrophy, your physical state will weaken and you will likely gain extra weight. As a result, your general condition will worsen.

Your brain needs exercise too. If you stop using your problem-solving skills, your logical, cognitive abilities, then how will your brain always be in better shape, let alone improve your mental abilities? Consider the fact that if you constantly rely only on useful modern conveniences, your skills in specific area. For example, translator programs: wonderful, but my knowledge of languages noticeably deteriorated as soon as I started using them. Now I force myself to think about a translation before I know the right one. The same applies to spell checking and automatic correction. In truth, automatic correction is the worst thing ever invented to improve your thinking process. You know that the computer will find and correct your mistakes, so you continue typing without even thinking about it. How to spell this or that word correctly. As a result, after a few years of stable autocorrect and automatic spell checking, are we the world's most illiterate nation? (I wish someone would do some research on this.)

There are times when the use of technology is justified and necessary. But there are times when it's better to say no to shortcuts and use your brain while you have the luxury of time and energy. To keep yourself in good physical shape, it is recommended to walk to work as often as possible or take the stairs instead of the elevator several times a week. Don't you want to keep your brain fit too? Put your GPS aside every now and then and do your navigation and problem-solving skills a favor. Keep it handy, but try to find everything yourself first. Your brain will thank you for this.

5. Be online

And now we come to the last element on the path to increasing your cognitive potential: a computer network. What's great about this last setup is that if you're doing the previous four things, you're probably already doing this one. If not, then start. Immediately.

Communicating with other people, or through social media such as Facebook or Twitter, or face to face, you expose yourself to situations that will allow you to achieve goals 1-4 much more easily. By encountering new people, ideas, and new environments, you open yourself up to new opportunities for mental growth. Being around people who may not be in your field can help you see problems from a new perspective or discover new solutions you've never thought of before. Connecting with other people online is a great way to learn how to open yourself up to new things and absorb unique and meaningful information. I won't even get into the social benefits and emotional well-being that a computer network brings, but it's just an added benefit.

Stephen Johnson, who wrote the book How People Are Born good ideas”, discusses the importance of groups and networks in promoting ideas. If you are looking for new situations, ideas, environments and perspectives, then the network is the answer for you. It would be quite difficult to implement the smarter concept without making the network a core component. The great thing about computer networks: It benefits everyone involved. Collective intelligence for victory!

There's one more thing I need to mention...
Remember at the beginning of this article I told a story about my clients with autism spectrum disorders? Let's think for a moment about how to increase the level of flexibility in your intelligence in light of everything we've already talked about. What can these kids achieve at such a high level? This is not a coincidence or a miracle - it is because we took into account all these training principles in their therapy program. While most other therapy providers are stuck with the Errorless Learning paradigm and slightly modified Lovaas Methods of Applied Behavior Analysis, we have embraced and fully embraced a multimodal approach to training. We pushed the kids to try their best to learn, we used the most creative methods we could think of, and we dared to set the bar seemingly well above their abilities. But you know what? They transcended time frames and made me truly believe that amazing things are possible if you have enough will, courage and persistence to set yourself on that path and stick with it. If these children are disabilities can live while constantly improving their cognitive abilities, so can you.

My parting question is this: If we have all this supporting data showing that these teaching methods and approaches to learning can have such a profound positive impact on cognitive growth, why would therapy programs or school systems won't use some of these methods? I would like to see them as the standard in training rather than the exception. Let's try something new and shake up the education system a little? We would raise our collective IQ significantly.

Intelligence is not just how many levels of math you have completed, how quickly you can solve an algorithm, or how many new words with more than 6 characters you know. It's about about getting closer to new problem, recognize its important components, and solve it. Then take what you have learned and apply it to solve the next, more complex problem. It's about innovation and imagination and being able to use it to make the world a better place. It is this type of intelligence that is valuable, and it is this type of intelligence that we should strive for and encourage.

About the author: Andrea Kuszewski is a behavioral therapist for children with autism based in Florida; specialist in Asperger's syndrome, or high-functioning autism. She teaches the basics of behavior in society, communication, as well as the impact of behavior on the home and society, training children and parents in therapy methods. Andrea's work as a researcher with , the US branch of the Social Science Research Group METODO Transdisciplinary, Bogota, Colombia, explores the influence of neuro-cognitive factors in human behavior - this includes aspects such as creativity, intelligence, illegal behavior, and diffuse confusion disorders such as schizophrenia and autism. Also, as a creativity researcher, she is a painter herself and has studied different kinds visual communication, ranging from traditional drawing to digital painting, graphic design, and 3D modeling, animation in the fields of health sciences and behavioral science. She blogs at The Rogue Neuron and on Twitter

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. Probably most of you have discussed whether your friend or neighbor can be called smart person. After this question, as a rule, a discussion begins, but by what criteria should we judge?

Is a smart person someone who has a lot of knowledge? But he is simply a carrier of information, and may not use it in practice and in life.

When scientists try to define intelligence, they always talk about cognitive abilities person– cognitive functions. What are they, how to develop them, and what to do if they “break down”? We will figure it out and become smarter for our friend.

Cognitive functions, abilities and processes

Cognitive functions are processes in the brain that are involved when we learn about our environment.

The information that comes through our analyzers is processed. We translate it into knowledge. They are stored in memory and accumulate over time, becoming life experience.

Cognitive abilities are:

attention;
memory;
thinking;

If a person throughout his life develops these cognitive characteristics, then he can be considered smart and intelligent.

Since he is able to perceive information from different sources in large quantities and long time; remembers it, reproduces it; draws conclusions; has logical thinking; can imagine the most vivid images based on what he saw or heard.

How to develop cognitive thinking

Immediately after birth, the child begins to perceive and explore the world. But he does this at his own level, depending on his age and whether his parents work with him.

There are the following types of cognitive thinking:

Visually effective(up to 3 years) – the child examines everything around, touches it, sometimes even tries to lick it. That is, it uses all the simplest ways to find out about the objects around it. The role of mom and dad at this stage is to show your child various interesting objects, name them, tell them in an accessible language about their properties and method of use, and let them study them themselves.
Visual-figurative(up to 7 years) – the child learns to complete assigned tasks and solve problems using logic. Parents should play educational games with him fine motor skills, memory, attention and imagination. Also teach rules of behavior, which also develops cognitive thinking.
Abstract(after 7) – the student learns to understand and imagine things that cannot be seen or touched.

But what should an adult do? Is it really the level of development of memory or thinking that exists at the moment? this is the limit? No, even at 40 or 60 years old you can continue to work on your cognitive abilities.

The love of learning about the world around us and ourselves contributes to the improvement of these brain functions.

Learn a foreign language.
Choose a different road to get to work or school.
Do familiar things with your other hand (for right-handed people - left, for left-handed people - right).
Do crossword puzzles.
Draw even if you don't know how. Make it more difficult: take the pencils in both hands and continue to draw something.
Say it out loud or to yourself different words vice versa.
If you need to calculate simple equations, do it in your head, without the help of a calculator or paper.
In order to train your memory, before going to bed, you need to remember in detail how the whole day went. You can also reproduce an autobiography from childhood. Or in reverse order: from today until they crawled on the floor for a toy. You can remember either simply in your head, or by telling someone, or writing it down in a notebook.
Watch various films and read books, of course.
There are many applications on our smartphones that are directly aimed at developing certain cognitive functions.

Cognitive impairments and disorders

How more people is engaged intellectual development, the more connections appear between neurons, which, in turn, also develop. This creates cognitive reserve.

If one part of the brain stops working adequately due to injury or aging, then another will take over to perform important functions.

An experiment was conducted at Harvard where 824 people were observed over many years. They were social welfare and intellectual development.

The result showed that people who actively developed their cognitive abilities were able to think logically in old age, remembered the smallest details, and behaved adequately.

Cognitive disorders possible for the following reason:

injury;
infectious diseases of other systems, in which toxins are released and cells of the nervous system are damaged (syphilis);
oncological formations;
diabetes;
stroke;
aging.

Depending on what caused the dysfunction, there will be different symptoms and cognitive deficits. Let's look at an example.

Dementia that appears after age 65 is called Alzheimer's disease. The main symptom is the development of forgetfulness. Subsequently, memory deterioration progresses to the point that a person may not remember his name or where he lives. Problems with orientation in space also begin. Therefore, such patients require constant supervision.

Speech is impaired. It is difficult for a person to pronounce words and repeats them. Then there are problems with logical thinking, which is also noticeable when talking with the patient. They become embittered by everything around them, very sensitive and whiny.

Vascular dementia develops due to insufficient blood circulation in the brain, ischemia, and strokes. Memory impairment does not come to the fore as in Alzheimer's. A decrease in attention and concentration is immediately noticeable. Patients have difficulty identifying similarities and differences between objects, slow thinking, and difficulty pronouncing words.

Treatment is prescribed only after a thorough diagnosis of the cause. If this is a consequence of diseases such as infectious diseases, cancer, diabetes, then therapy is aimed at eliminating or correcting the underlying disease.

For Alzheimer's disease, acetylcholinesterase inhibitors are used. In case of vascular disorders, the attention of doctors is aimed at improving blood circulation: phosphodiesterase inhibitors, calcium channel blockers, a2-adrenergic receptor blockers.

In order to improve the state of intelligence for diseases, drugs with metabolic and antioxidant properties are often used. Experiments have also proven the positive effect of nootropics. But it is worth remembering that they only help when there is a problem. Does not improve cognitive abilities in healthy people.

Cognitive distortions (dissonance)

Not just a fancy phrase that relates only to scientists and professors. Ourselves in everyday life we often encounter this.

This is a condition in which contradictions arise:

knowledge;
opinions;
beliefs.

During a cognitive distortion, a person experiences confusion, anxiety, embarrassment, feelings of shame and guilt, or even anger - psychological discomfort. For example, there is a beggar sitting in a pedestrian crossing to whom you gave some money. She reaches for them, and an expensive watch is shown on her hand.

You are confused at first because you thought the person needed financial support. But it turns out that he may be richer than you yourself. At first you find yourself in a stupor, which can then turn into aggression because you have been fooled.

occurs for the following reasons:

the discrepancy between a person’s knowledge of an object, phenomenon, other people and really what they are;
discrepancy between the acquired experience and the situation that was repeated, only in a different way;
discrepancy between personal opinion and the point of view of others, which pops up randomly;
maintaining traditions and beliefs, if you yourself do not sincerely respect and believe them;
logical inconsistency of facts.

What to do if this strange cognitive dissonance happens to you? First you need to reduce the significance of this condition. After all, there is an explanation for everything that is simply not available to you at the moment.

To do this, you need to look for new information about subject of cognitive distortion. Study it in more detail, or talk about it with other people. Perhaps you just had a small piece of knowledge and this was a great opportunity to expand it.

Not worth having very constrained beliefs. You must absorb and notice information of various formats, study everything around you. With this approach to life, it is unlikely that anything will surprise or greatly offend. You will simply stumble upon new knowledge that you will immediately take note of.

Cognitive psychology

There are many areas of psychotherapy that are individually selected for the client depending on his personality type and the current problem. One of the frequently used methods is cognitive behavioral therapy.

The essence of the direction is that the cause of the problem, most likely, lies in the person himself, and not in the world around him. In his thinking in particular.

Therefore, the psychologist and the client try to study it, find out what statements it is based on and what experience formed the basis of the problem.

Psychotherapist finds a false installation, which causes negative feelings in a person, a feeling of impossibility to overcome current difficulties. And he shows it from the outside. Explains why it is wrong and how to think more effectively. But at the same time, the specialist does not impose his life position.

Cognitive therapy suitable for such situations:

obsessive-compulsive disorders;
eating disorder (,);
mild depression;
relationship difficulties;
addiction.

Good luck to you! See you soon on the pages of the blog site