Strengthening Learning Capacities® COGNITIVE ENHANCEMENT · 2018. 3. 28. · Strengthening...

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Strengthening Learning Capacities® COGNITIVE ENHANCEMENT: Keeping Our Brains Fit and Healthy Debbie Gilmore Executive Director, Arrowsmith Program Established in Toronto, 1978 In over 100 public and private schools throughout Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea and Spain

Transcript of Strengthening Learning Capacities® COGNITIVE ENHANCEMENT · 2018. 3. 28. · Strengthening...

Page 1: Strengthening Learning Capacities® COGNITIVE ENHANCEMENT · 2018. 3. 28. · Strengthening Learning Capacities® COGNITIVE ENHANCEMENT: Keeping Our Brains Fit and Healthy Debbie

Strengthening Learning Capacities®

COGNITIVE

ENHANCEMENT:

Keeping Our Brains Fit and Healthy

Debbie Gilmore

Executive Director, Arrowsmith Program

Established in Toronto, 1978

In over 100 public and private schools throughout

Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Thailand,

South Korea and Spain

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Strengthening Learning Capacities®

TOPICS FOR TODAY

• Neuroplasticity

• Barbara Arrowsmith Young her work

• Cognitive function

• Cognitive lens

• Cognitive reserve

• Cognitive enhancement

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Strengthening Learning Capacities®

NEUROPLASTICITY

Neuro=Brain Plasticity=Modifiable

The brain's ability to change both its

physical structure and its functional

organization, to form new neural

connections throughout life

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Strengthening Learning Capacities®

PRE-NEUROPLASTIC PARADIGM

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Strengthening Learning Capacities®

PRE-NEUROPLASTIC PARADIGM

The Brain

• Unchangeable

• Hard-wired

• Function can not be

altered if damaged or

limited

Ageing Brain

• Brain maturation at

approx. age 11 or 12

• Slow decline

• No process to improve

function

• Live with it

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Strengthening Learning Capacities®

NEUROPLASTICITY GIVES HOPE

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Strengthening Learning Capacities®

Strengthen specific

cognitive functions in

neural networks

Change cognitive

capacity to learn

THE BRAIN CAN BE MODIFIED

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Strengthening Learning Capacities®

Our brain is a lifelong resource that we can

use to take control of our lives, our version

of the world and how we operate within it.

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Strengthening Learning Capacities®

BARBARA ARROWSMITH YOUNG

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Strengthening Learning Capacities®

Somatosensory Cortex

(Registers location of sensation)

Parietal Lobe

(Spatial Reasoning)

Juncture Temporal/Parietal/Occipital

(Association Area of Association Areas)

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Strengthening Learning Capacities®

ALEXANDER LURIAIdentification of Function

• Mapped out the brain and

proposed that the brain is

made up of specialized

cognitive areas that carry out

very specific cognitive

functions.

• These areas work together in

neural networks to carry out

complex tasks.

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Strengthening Learning Capacities®

Lyova Zazetsky and A.R. Luria

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Strengthening Learning Capacities®

MARK ROSENZWEIGStimulation of Function

The brain can change at a physiological level

thus creating better learners.

Stimulated (Enriched) rats

• improved performance on mazes (better

learners)

• increased levels of neurotransmitters

• more glia cells

• enlarged capillaries (better blood

supply)

• more dendrite branching (more synaptic

connections)No Special Toys for Stimulation

Stimulation (Enriched)

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IMPLICATIONS OF THEIR RESEARCH

Not only is the brain made of very specific

cognitive areas but these areas can be

targeted, stimulated and strengthened

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Strengthening Learning Capacities®

ARROWSMITH PROGRAM• Designed by Barbara Arrowsmith Young to address her

own cognitive deficits by utilizing the research of Luria and Rosenzweig

• The Arrowsmith Program is a suite of cognitive programs comprised of intensive and graduated cognitive exercises that are designed to strengthen a series of cognitive functions.

• It is a facilitator-led program.

• The teacher has specialized training by Arrowsmith Program.

• The 19 cognitive functions addressed by the Arrowsmith Program are those involved in reading, writing, auditory memory, non-verbal learning, reasoning, executive functioning, numeracy, visual memory and spatial awareness.

• Programs are designed to address an individual’s unique profile – no ‘one size fits all’

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Strengthening Learning Capacities®

COGNITIVE FUNCTION

Cognitive functions are the characteristic function or

job of a region of the brain or network of regions

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CONTINUUM OF FUNCTION

Very Severe

Average Superior

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Strengthening Learning Capacities®

EXAMPLES OF COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS

• capacity to read non-verbal

cues necessary for

navigating social

interactions

• visual memory functions

necessary to learn reading

and spelling patterns

• executive functions

necessary for thinking,

planning and problem

solving

• capacity for grasping

relationships

• auditory memory functions

involved in retaining

information

• capacity for quantification

required for time

scheduling and budgeting

• ability to learn motor

patterns necessary for

writing

• capacity to recognize faces

• spatial reasoning

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Strengthening Learning Capacities®

UNIQUE COGNITIVE PROFILE

• Every individual has a unique learning profile due to his or her combination of cognitive strengths and deficits

• Cognitive deficits combine to create various academic and social learning problems

• The Arrowsmith Cognitive Profile Questionnaire is available on www.arrowsmithschool.org

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Brain Activity while Reading Out Loud (Lassen et. al. 1978)

Example of a Functional system (neural network)

as postulated by A. R. Luria

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COGNITIVE LENS

Think about the person who:

• Is socially awkward or rude

• Cannot see another person’s point of view

• Is rigid and needs routine

• Can’t tidy their room

• Can’t see a specific item in the fridge or their closet

• Can’t use a map or find their way to a familiar place

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Strengthening Learning Capacities®

Reduce Negative Factors

Chronic Stress

Prolonged Anxiety

Chronic Pain

Sleep Deprivation

Increase Positive Factors

Self- challenge

- Active Sustained Engagement

- Effortful Processing

- Novelty and Complexity

- Reward/Performance Feedback

Exercise

HARNESSING NEUROPLASTICITY

… various factors can contribute to loss of synapses, shrinkage or retraction of

dendrites (de-branching), and pruning of axons, thereby reducing

communication in those areas” (Kays et al., 2012)

“I can’t”; “I don’t”

Mindfulness

Growth Mindset

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CHANGE SUSTAINED OVER TIME

To ensure the change in functioning is sustained and not just practice effect or short-term temporary wiring change we need to:

• Keep our brains active over the lifespan

• Integrate and use the cognitive gains resulting from mental training

• Reduce factors that lead to negative neuroplastic change

• Increase factors that lead to positive neuroplastic change

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CHANGE SUSTAINED OVER TIME

“If one wants only a temporary trick, it can be induced quickly; if one wants it to last, it must be induced gradually, allowing for harder neuroplastic change.”

“Regardless of the source, a sustained change in a pattern of neural activity is a necessary trigger for neuroplasticity.

Lillard & Erisir (2011)

Donald Hebb’s principle: neurons that fire together wire together. In other words, all of the brain’s activities that occur together (fire together), strengthen their connections and inter-connections (wire together)

The more they fire together, the stronger the connections.

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COGNITIVE RESERVE

Cognitive reserve refers to the ability to optimize or maximize performance through differential recruitment of brain networks and/or alternative cognitive strategies.

The brain can change the way it operates and thus make added resources available to cope with challenges.

This concept holds out the promise of interventions that could slow cognitive ageing or reduce the risk of dementia.

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COGNITIVE RESERVE

Cognitive reserve is not fixed – it can change across the lifespan depending on exposure and behaviours.

Therefore changes in lifestyle, even later in life, might impart reserve against age-related cognitive decline or dementia.

The exact “recipe” is still unknown. The generic recommendation is to maintain educational and mentally stimulating activities throughout life.

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COGNITIVE RESERVE

Yaakov Stern (2012, Columbia University) found that:

• Lifetime exposures including educational and occupational attainment and leisure activities in late life, can increase cognitive reserve

• Those who engaged in more leisure activities had 38% less risk of developing dementia

• The protective effect of higher cognitive reserve decreased risk of developing dementia by 46%

• Experiences at all stages of life, even late in life, can impart cognitive reserve. The findings support the possibility that it may be possible to intervene even later in life in order to impart reserve, slow age-related cognitive decline and prolong healthy ageing.

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COGNITIVE ENHANCEMENT

• The adult brain has the plasticity ‘switch’ mostly turned “off”.

• Change is only permitted for those things that have captured the brain’s attention, and only when the brain itself judges that change to be beneficial for it.

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COGNITIVE ENHANCEMENT

How do we turn the plasticity switch to “on”?

When :

• we pay attention or focus on a task or goal

• we are rewarded or punished or when it expects

a reward or punishment

• the brain positively evaluates performance in a

goal-directed behaviour

• the brain is surprised by something new or

unexpected

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COGNITIVE ENHANCEMENT

When task achievement is of no

consequence, or when experiences are

unimportant or strictly routine, the brain

does not release the chemicals – the

modulatory neurotransmitters – to turn “on”

the plasticity switch.

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COGNITIVE ENHANCEMENT

What types of activities are beneficial?

• Cognitive stimulation

• Exercise

• Social stimulation

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Strengthening Learning Capacities®

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COGNITIVE STIMULATION

• Take on a new activity and acquire

new skills and abilities

• Develop a habit of working on the

level at which you make steady,

measurable progress

• Count every indication of progress

as success

• Reward yourself for growing

achievements

• Work on a demanding level which

will improve abilities faster

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Strengthening Learning Capacities®

COGNITIVE STIMULATION

• Exercises that are satisfying and rewarding

• Activities that encompass new learning and that demand you pay attention to the details of what you see or hear or feel or smell

• Activities that involve complex planning or performance challenges

• Skills that can never really be mastered

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Strengthening Learning Capacities®

EXERCISE

• Physical fitness is a major contributor to brain fitness.

• Its aerobic values have a direct, positive physiological impact on the brain.

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Strengthening Learning Capacities®

SOCIAL STIMULATION

• Visiting or being visited by relatives and

friends

• Go to movies or restaurants or sporting

events

• Doing unpaid community volunteer work

• Playing cards or games or bingo

• Going to a club, centre, classes, church

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Strengthening Learning Capacities®

LANGUAGE, MEMORY AND VISION

• Engage in activities that will focus on

language, memory and vision.

• During ageing, nearly every aspect of

the brain’s operation and accuracy

slows down and deteriorates.

BE CONSCIOUS

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Strengthening Learning Capacities®

MORE BRAIN FOOD

Mindfulness

Gratitude

Sleep health

Good diet

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Strengthening Learning Capacities®