Inspired to Recovery food choices up your Enhance cognitive skills capacities? Of course, some abilities — cognihive as cogniitve, Enhance cognitive skills learning, and listening — may come more naturally than others. in clinical psychology from Pennsylvania State University in However, there are also relatively low-tech, low-cost, effective options for cognitive strengthening, available to most individuals with some ingenuity and effort.

Enhance cognitive skills -

I did a meta-analysis of recent neuroscience studies to compile a list of habits that can improve cognitive function for people in every generation. These habits can improve cognitive function and protect against cognitive decline for a lifespan. Last December, researchers at Boston University School of Medicine discovered more evidence that physical activity is beneficial for brain health and cognition.

The study found that certain hormones , which are increased during exercise, may help improve memory. The researchers were able to correlate blood hormone levels from aerobic fitness and identify positive effects on memory function linked to exercise.

In , researchers at Dana-Farber and Harvard Medical School released a study showing a specific molecule released during endurance exercise that improves cognition and protects the brain against degeneration. See " Scientists Discover Why Exercise Makes You Smarter. In their breakthrough discovery, scientists honed in on a specific molecule called irisin that is produced in the brain during endurance exercise through a chain reaction.

Irisin is believed to have neuroprotective effects. Researchers were also able to artificially increase the levels of irisin in the blood which activated genes involved in learning and memory.

A study of children in Finland investigated the link between cardiovascular fitness, motor skills, and academic test scores.

The researchers found that first-graders with poor motor skills also had poorer reading and arithmetic test scores. Across the board, children with better performance in fitness and motor skills had higher cognitive function and scored better on reading and arithmetic tests.

A study , "The Impact of Sustained Engagement on Cognitive Function in Older Adults: The Synapse Project," found that learning new and demanding skills while maintaining an engaged social network is key to staying sharp as we age.

The findings reveal that less-demanding activities, such as listening to classical music or simply completing word puzzles, probably don't provide noticeable benefits to an aging mind and brain. Older adults have long been encouraged to stay active and to flex their memory and learning like any muscle that you have to "use or lose.

When you are inside your comfort zone you may be outside of the enhancement zone. Another study, from , found that a training program designed to boost cognition in older adults also increased their openness to new experiences, demonstrating for the first time that a non-drug intervention in older adults can change a personality trait once thought to be fixed throughout a person's lifespan.

A study from Michigan State found that childhood participation in arts and crafts leads to innovation , patents, and increases the odds of starting a business as an adult.

The researchers found that people who own businesses or patents received up to eight times more exposure to the arts as children than the general public. And that was something we were surprised to discover.

Last year, neuroscientists discovered multiple ways that musical training improves the function and connectivity of different brain regions and improves cognitive function.

Practicing a musical instrument increases brain volume and strengthens communication between brain areas. Playing an instrument changes how the brain interprets and integrates a wide range of sensory information, especially for those who start before age seven.

The findings were presented at the Neuroscience conference in San Diego. In a press briefing, Gottfried Schlaug of Harvard Medical School summarized the new research from three different presentations at the conference.

He said, "These insights suggest potential new roles for musical training including fostering plasticity in the brain; have strong implications for using musical training as a tool in education ; and for treating a range of learning disabilities.

Another study found that reading books, writing, and participating in brain-stimulating activities at any age may preserve memory. Neuroscientists discovered that reading a novel can improve brain function on a variety of levels.

This study of the brain benefits of reading fiction was conducted at Emory University and published in the journal Brain Connectivity. The researchers found that becoming engrossed in a novel enhances connectivity in the brain and improves brain function.

In , John Cacioppo of the University of Chicago presented findings that identified that the health consequences of feeling lonely can trigger psychological and cognitive decline.

Cacioppo's research found that feeling isolated from others can disrupt sleep, elevate blood pressure, increase morning rises in the stress hormone cortisol, alter gene expression in immune cells, increase depression , and lower overall subjective well-being.

All of these factors conspire to disrupt optimal brain function and connectivity, and reduce cognitive function. A pilot study by researchers at Harvard's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center identifed that the brain changes associated with meditation and subsequent stress reduction may play an important role in slowing the progression of age-related cognitive disorders like Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.

First author Rebecca Erwin Wells explained, "We were particularly interested in looking at the default mode network DMN —the brain system that is engaged when people remember past events or envision the future, for example—and the hippocampus—the part of the brain responsible for emotions, learning and memory—because the hippocampus is known to atrophy as people progress toward mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease.

We also know that as people age, there's a high correlation between perceived stress and Alzheimer's disease, so we wanted to know if stress reduction through meditation might improve cognitive reserve. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco UCSF have created a specialized video game that may help older people boost mental skills like handling multiple tasks at once.

Adam Gazzaley of UCSF and colleagues published their findings in Nature in If someone received additional "booster" sessions over the next three years, the improvements were even more dramatic.

Scientists have known for decades that the brain requires sleep to consolidate learning and memory. At the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego in , sleep researchers from Brown University presented groundbreaking new research that helps explain the specifics of how the sleeping brain masters a new task.

The extent of reorganization that the brain accomplishes during sleep is suggested by the distinct roles the two brainwave oscillations appear to play.

A study from University of California, San Francisco UCSF found an association between poor sleep quality and reduced gray matter volume in the brain's frontal lobe, which helps control important processes such as working memory and executive function.

Neuroscientists have discovered that chronic stress and high levels of cortisol can damage the brain. A wide range of recent studies has affirmed the importance of maintaining healthy brain structure and connectivity by reducing chronic stress, which lowers cortisol.

Neuroscientists at the University of California, Berkeley, found that chronic stress triggers long-term changes in brain structure and function which can lead to cognitive decline.

Their findings might explain why young people exposed to chronic stress early in life are prone to mental problems such as anxiety and mood disorders later in life, as well as learning difficulties.

The "stress hormone" cortisol is believed to create a domino effect that hardwires pathways between the hippocampus and amygdala in a way that might create a vicious cycle by creating a brain that becomes predisposed to be in a constant state of fight-or-flight.

The researchers found that hardening wires may be at the heart of the hyper-connected circuits associated with prolonged stress. Professor Reuven Feuerstein's work, mentioned above, led him to draw up a list of what he called cognitive functions. These cognitive functions are what we might also call thinking skills, learning-to-learn skills , cognitive processes, cognitive ability or cognitive skills.

He organised his list of cognitive thinking skills into three areas. What do we mean by the affective element? Basically, this involves emotions, feelings and attitudes.

It relates to how we deal with things emotionally. Feuerstein called these non intellective factors. The cognitive thinking skills and non-intellective factors are shown in the table below.

Information in this table is drawn from Adey and Shayer, Feuerstein and Lidz. Giving the things we gather through our senses and our experience names so that we can remember them more clearly and talk about them. Using knowledge about space and time: describing things and events in terms of where and when they occur.

Being precise and accurate when it matters; recognising the need to be precise and accurate when gathering information. Gathering information from several sources; organising the information we gather by considering more than one thing at a time working memory is used to hold information in our head whilst gathering other information.

Using only the part of the information we have gathered that is relevant, that is, that applies to the problem, and ignoring the rest. Seeing how things go together; looking for the relationship by which separate objects, events, and experiences can be used together.

then thinking; thinking about different possibilities and figuring out what would happen if you were to choose one or another. Working memory : holding information in your head whilst working with it. Long term memory : recalling previous learning or approaches to solving problems.

Thinking before responding; reducing a trial and error approach to learning; count to 10 at least so that you do not say or do something you will be sorry for later. Leave the question for a little while and then, when you return to it, use a strategy to help you find the answer.

Mentally lifting something up and placing it elsewhere; Carrying an exact picture of an object in your mind to another place for comparison without losing or changing some details.

How interested is the learner? Self regulation , including restraining impulsivity. The learner tries out alternative solutions or self corrects, or the learner perseveres in using a strategy even when it does not work.

The mortar that holds together the bricks of the house of cognition represents the process of mediation. Mediation is a specific way of supporting and promoting cognitive thinking skills. We saw that there are five layers to the cognitive map which help us to understand task demands.

We have to stick the bricks together. So, if we teach cognitive thinking skills without sticking them together, they are not likely to be useful. Mediation is a way of helping pupils to make links between the curriculum they are following and the cognitive thinking skills they are using.

Feuerstein suggested that for an interaction to be called mediation, the following three essential characteristics have to be present:.

These essential characteristics are important because interaction can only be called mediation when these three characteristics are used. Kathy Greenberg gives a useful overview of how mediation is more than good teaching.

Greenberg suggests what 'Teacher-Mediators' do in contrast to good teachers. Here are some examples:. The idea of building a house also illustrates the importance of cognitive thinking skills in relation to the taught curriculum.

The roof of a house is the last part to be added to the building. It isn't possible to build the roof and then add the other parts of the building. In our house of cognition, the roof represents the curriculum or the products of learning. Successful learning is being able to put the roof on the house Cognitive skills are important foundations for learning.

We could argue that the current National Curriculum and EYFS Early Learning Goals are the roof of the house. They set out the content of what should be learned; the products of learning. Therefore, schools and early years settings mostly work on the roof of the house. There is little or no emphasis on the other parts of the house of cognition, so there is nothing to hold up the roof.

Promoting cognitive skills in children with special educational needs can be a challenging but rewarding task. Here are nine practical strategies that teachers can use:. Remember, every child is unique, and what works for one might not work for another.

It's important to be patient, flexible, and creative in your approach. According to a study by the American Society for Engineering Education, using real-world examples in teaching can significantly improve students' understanding and retention of information. As the famous educational psychologist Jean Piaget once said, "The goal of education is not to increase the amount of knowledge but to create the possibilities for a child to invent and discover, to create men who are capable of doing new things.

So how do we put the roof on the house? This can be a challenge when there is so much emphasis on delivering the products, rather than the processes of learning. However, a few simple adjustments can be made in order to include the bricks and mortar in everyday classroom practice:.

A plan means thinking about something before you do it and deciding the steps you need to do to finish the task.

You decide what to do first and next and so on. So when we use a plan for writing we have three big chunks, the beginning, the middle and the end. Then for each chunk we will list in order what will happen in our story.

Focusing on the processes of learning through supporting cognitive thinking skills will help children and young people to be successful and independent learners. If an individual knows how to learn they will develop skills and behaviours that are transferable to all kinds of contexts beyond the classroom and the taught curriculum.

Adey, P. and Shayer, M. Really Raising Standards: Cognitive intervention and academic achievement. London: Routledge. Greenberg, K.

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