The effect of different exercise programmes on cognitive functioning in children and adolescents
Romain Meeusen, Sabine Schaefer, Phillip Tomporowski, Richard Bailey in Physical Activity and Educational Achievement, 2017
The term cognition includes processes of perception, attention, thinking/problem solving, memory and language and is typically referred to as how the mind works (Pinker, 1999). Cognitive control processes, also called executive functions, include different cognitive functions such as self-control, selective attention, cognitive inhibition, working memory and cognitive flexibility (Diamond, 2013; Miyake et al., 2000). Executive functions are usually subsumed into the three categories of self-control (also called inhibition), working memory and cognitive flexibility. Self-control involves resisting temptations and avoiding impulsive acting. Working memory helps to keep information in mind and allows us to work with this information mentally (e.g. to solve a problem). And cognitive flexibility refers to the ability to change perspectives on how to solve a problem, and the flexibility to adjust to changing priorities, rules or demands (Diamond, 2013). Executive functions further contribute to the higher-order cognitive processes of planning, problem solving and reasoning and are linked to mental health (Collins & Koechlin, 2012; Diamond, 2013). Individuals suffering from mental disorders (e.g. attention deficit-hyperactivity, conduct disorder, depression) often show decreased executive functioning (Diamond, 2005; Fairchild, van Goozen, Stollery, Aitken, & Savage, 2009; Taylor Tavares et al., 2007).
The art and science of mindfulness
Antonella Sansone in Cultivating Mindfulness to Raise Children Who Thrive, 2020
Neural changes resulting from mindfulness meditation may increase the efficiency of attentional control (Malinowski, 2013). Focused attention meditation is typically practised first to increase the ability to enhance attentional stability, and awareness of mental states with the goal being the ability to monitor moment-by-moment changes in experience. Mindfulness meditation may lead to greater cognitive flexibility (Kashdan & Rottenberg, 2010). Neuroscientists tell us that perception is never “the thing as it is”. Mindful awareness does permit us to get as close as we can to clear vision, to a grounded receptive state, which allows mothers and fathers to connect fully with the feelings and experiences of their preborn babies. To be open to experiencing, we first need to be in a state of intentionality to receive (Siegel, 2007).
Using Cognitive Flexibility Hypertext to Develop Sexual Harassment Cases
Cleborne D. Maddux, D. LaMont Johnson in The Web in Higher Education: Assessing the Impact and Fulfilling the Potential, 2021
This differs in some important respects from the common use of a single, large case study. Specifically, the use of cognitive flexibility suggests the following: A need for multiple case studies to insure that a variety of possible situations are presented.A focus on cross-case differences in how concepts and principles are applied. The use of concepts that are connected and applied across case scenarios as opposed to their presentation in a single case scenario.
Working memory load affects repetitive behaviour but not cognitive flexibility in adolescent autism spectrum disorder
Published in The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry, 2018
Nicole Wolff, Witold X. Chmielewski, Christian Beste, Veit Roessner
Cognitive flexibility represents the ability to selectively switch and adapt behaviour in response to changing environmental conditions (Norman & Shallice 1980; Miyake et al. 2000). These processes have been investigated extensively (Allport et al. 1994; Rogers & Monsell 1995), and it is well known that switching between tasks usually requires more time and is performed less accurately than repetitions of tasks. These effects are referred to as ‘switch costs’ (Rogers & Monsell 1995). It is furthermore well known that for these processes the prefrontal cortex (Dove et al. 2000), the basal ganglia and cortico-striatal networks (Hikosaka & Isoda 2010; Beste et al. 2012; Yildiz & Beste 2015; Zhang et al. 2016) as well as the anterior cingulate cortex (Luks et al. 2002; Liston et al. 2006; Johnstone et al. 2007) are of importance. These functional neuroanatomical structures are known to be altered in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) (for reviews, see Hill 2004; Geurts et al. 2009; Chmielewski & Beste 2015), giving rise to the assumption that task-switching deficits play a central role in cognitive control deficits in ASD (Chmielewski & Beste 2015). In light of the presence of restricted and repetitive behaviour and a preference for behavioural and environmental consistency in ASD (D’Cruz et al. 2013), an in-depth understanding of dysfunctions in cognitive flexibility would seem to be of scientific and clinical importance.
It’s never too late to improvise: The impact of theatre improvisation on elderly population
Published in Experimental Aging Research, 2023
Daniella Bassis, Judit Rybko, Rotem Maor
Cognitive flexibility relates to a person’s ability to shift between modes of thinking and adapt to novel or changing environments (Buitenweg, Murre, & Ridderinkhof, 2012). However, the aging process is characterized by a decline in cognitive capacities, as well as in physical and neurobiological ones (Buitenweg, Ven De Ven, Ridderinkhof, & Murre, 2019; Nguyen, Murphy, & Andrew, 2011), such as attention, processing speed, working memory, and reasoning (Argiris, Macpherson, Della Sala, & Foley, 2020; Cantarella et al., 2019; Fisk & Sharp, 2007; Isbel, Lagopoulos, Hermens, Stefanidis, & Summers, 2020; Salthouse, 2006). Moreover, cognitive flexibility is an important component of executive functions (Diamond, 2013), which tend to show an earlier and larger decline among older adult than other functions (Reuter-Lorenz & Lustig, 2017).
A meta-analysis of executive functions among survivors of subarachnoid haemorrhage
Published in Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 2021
Mary-Kate Burke, F. Colin Wilson, David B. Curran, Martin Dempster
In this review, Cognitive Flexibility was defined as the ability to switch between mental strategies or sets. Collectively this domain encompassed both verbal fluency tests and more general cognitive flexibility measures. This domain was assessed by set shifting tasks such as Wisconsin (Bowden et al., 1998) and Modified Card Sorting Test (Nelson, 1976), computer-based set shifting tests (da Costa et al. 2018) and the CANTAB set shifting task (Tucha et al., 2012). Results demonstrated statistical significance and a moderate effect size (k = 8, G = −0.76; 95% confidence interval [−0.97; −0.56]; p < 0.01), suggesting SAH individuals performed comparatively worse. Heterogeneity was moderate across included studies (I2 = 39.58%). When cognitive flexibility measures were considered independently from verbal fluency scores, results generated a large effect size (k = 5, G = −0.87; CI at 95% [1.16; −0.58]). Heterogeneity of scores was found to be small (I2 = 15.35%).
Related Knowledge Centers
- Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
- Stroop Effect
- Task Switching
- Wisconsin Card Sorting Test
- Prefrontal Cortex
- Basal Ganglia
- Executive Functions
- Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder
- Cognitive Shifting
- A-Not-B Error