Cognitive Flexibility

"Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn."

Benjamin Franklin

Introduction

Cognitive flexibility is an intrinsic property of a cognitive system often related to the capacity to regulate its activity and content, switch between different task rules and corresponding behavioral responses, retain many concepts simultaneously and shift inside attention between them. Term cognitive flexibility is traditionally wont to ask one among the chief functions. During this sense, it are often seen as neural underpinnings of adaptive and versatile behavior. Maximum of flexibility test were established under this supposition numerous decades ago. Nowadays, cognitive flexibility also can be mentioned as a group of properties of the brain that facilitate flexible yet relevant switching between functional brain states.

Description

Cognitive flexibility varies during the lifespan of a private. Additionally, certain conditions like obsessive–compulsive disorder are related to reduce cognitive flexibility. Since cognitive flexibility may be a vital component of learning, deficits during this area may need other implications.

Two common approaches to studying of cognitive flexibility specialize in the unconscious capacity for task switching and conscious ability of cognitive shifting. Methods of measuring cognitive flexibility include the A-not-B task, the Dimensional Change Card Sorting Task, the Multiple Classification Card Sorting Task, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, and therefore the Stroop Test. Functional resonance imaging (fMRI) research has shown that specific brain regions are activated when an individual engages in cognitive flexibility tasks. These regions include the prefrontal cortex (PFC), basal ganglia, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and posterior parietal cortex (PPC). Educational applications

Cognitive flexibility and all other decision-making function services are vital to success both in classroom settings and life. A study examining the impact of cognitive intervention for at-risk children in preschool classrooms found that children who received such intervention for one to 2 years significantly outperformed their peers. Compared to same-age children who were randomly assigned to the control (a literacy unit developed by the varsity district), preschoolers who received intervention achieved accuracy many 85% on tests of inhibitory control (self-discipline), cognitive flexibility, and dealing memory. Their peers within the control (no intervention) condition, on the opposite hand, demonstrated only 65% accuracy. Educators involved during this study ultimately opted to implement the cognitive skills training techniques rather than the district-developed curriculum.

Further indicative of the role cognitive flexibility plays in education is that the argument that how students are taught greatly impacts the character and formation of their cognitive structures, which successively affect students' ability to store and readily access information. An important aim of education is to assist students learn also as appropriately apply and adapt what they need learned to novel situations. This is often reflected within the integration of cognitive flexibility into educational policy regarding academic guidelines and expectations. For instance, as outlined within the Common Core State Standards Initiative, a standards-based education reform developed to extend high school graduation rates, educators are expected to present within the classroom "high level cognitive demands by asking students to demonstrate deep conceptual understanding through the appliance of content knowledge and skills to new situations." This guideline is that the essence of cognitive flexibility, and a teaching style focused on promoting it's been seen to foster understanding especially in disciplines where information is complex and nonlinear. A counterexample is clear in cases where such material is presented in an oversimplified manner and learners fail to transfer their knowledge to a replacement domain.

Impact on teaching and curriculum design

An alternative educational approach informed by cognitive flexibility is hypertext, which is usually computer-supported instruction. Computers leave complex data to be presented during a multidimensional and coherent format, allowing users to access that data as required. The foremost widely used example of hypertext is that the Internet, which dynamically presents information in terms of interconnection (e.g. hyperlinks). Hypertext documents, therefore, include nodes – bits of data – and links, the pathways between these nodes. Applications for teacher education have involved teacher-training sessions supported video instruction, whereby novice teachers viewed footage of master teachers conducting a literacy workshop. During this example, the novice teachers received a laserdisc of the course content, a hypertext document that allowed the learners to access content during a self-directed manner. These cognitive flexibility hypertexts (CFH) provide a "three-dimensional" and "open-ended" representation of fabric for learners, enabling them to include new information and form connections with preexisting knowledge. While further research is required to work out the efficacy of CFH as an instructional tool, classrooms where cognitive flexibility theory is applied during this manner are hypothesized to end in students more capable of transferring knowledge across domains.

Researchers within the field advocate a teaching style that comes with group problem-solving activities and demands higher-level thought consistent with this process, an educator initially poses one question during a number of the way. Next, students discuss the matter with the teacher and amongst themselves, asking questions.

Mansoor Ahmed Chemical Engineer,Web developer