TRAIN YOUR BRAIN

摘要

What makes a good learner? Ask teachers, and words like "discipline", "flexibility" and "self-control" keep cropping up. These all depend on "executive functions" - cognitive systems including attention and working memory that organise our thinking and keep us focused. Studies hint that physical exercise, training in martial arts, and curricula that encourage children to regulate their behaviour and think reflectively can boost executive functions. But the most extensive research has been on the role of "brain-training" software, in particulara package called Cogmed developed by Torkel Klingberg of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.