How to maintain Peak Cognitive Performance?

The work places of most of us expect high level cognitive functioning on a continuous basis. While this is clearly a tall order, there is a lot our companies can do to help us achieve this goal.

Just like our physical fitness, the state of our cognitive fitness fluctuates depending on many factors. By systematically investing in mental workouts such as CogniFit, companies can significantly improve the cognitive status of their workers.

Thus, by challenging our brains we do not only reduce the risk for old age decline, but also directly contribute to effective performance throughout the years. Modern companies are growingly aware of the enormous contribution of high level work force and there is hardly anything that can pay greater dividends than investing directly in the brains of people.

Some reasons for the fitness of cognitively active brains

With the recent advances in neuroscience came several discoveries about the health of active brains. All of them, without exception, enhance the principle of "use it or lose it". This has now become such a pervasive notion that there is a good chance that additional reasons will be discovered in the future.

The list of available ones is, however, convincing enough. Active brain cells (neurons) need a better blood supply, and get a better blood supply than idle ones. This preferential supply of oxygen and a variety of nutrients enhances their function. Neurons are particularly vulnerable to inadequate oxygen supply, and their activation ensures that they will not starve for oxygen.

As the activity of neurons increases, so does their tendency to sprout dendrites that connect between brain cells. Consequently, the more active a particular brain cell is, the more connections to neighbouring cells it develops.

It is estimated that a single neuron can have up to thirty thousand such connections, making it a centre of a highly developed network of activity. One outcome of belonging to such a network is that the chances of being stimulated by others are also higher, thus increasing the chances of future activation.

Neurons that for some reason reduce their activity tend, over time, to lose this connectivity. The importance of being part of an active network cannot be overstated, and for he brain cells involved, it can easily become a matter of life and death.

From adolescence onwards, our brains lose a high number of neurons every day. Unconnected cells indicate that they have been idle for quite some time, and thus their loss would not heavily impact the functioning of the individual. Consequently, they become a prime target for cell death. This competitive advantage of active and well connected neurons was beautifully argued by Edelman in his seminal work on "neural Darwinism."

With the recent advances in neuroscience came several discoveries about the health of active brains.

Active neurons enhance the production of Nerve Growth Factor (NGF), a substance that contributes to the maintenance of healthy neurons. Since brain cells can often be quite old, their continuous maintenance is of primary importance to their function.

Once again, the higher the cognitive challenge, the greater the secretion of this beneficial NGF.

Last but not least, recent research discovered that contrary to accepted common wisdom, there is regeneration of new brain cells throughout the entire life span. Stem cells develop in the part of the brain called the hippocampus (an area closely related to memory consolidation), and migrate inside the brain itself to the area of highest need for "reinforcement" of function.

Once they reach that area, they mature and learn from the surrounding cells how to perform their function. This local education of the cells is a particularly striking example of the brain's exquisite specialization.

A good example is the process launched after brain injury or stroke. As the person tries hard to activate the damaged area, this can stimulate higher production of new cells that will eventually migrate to the area of the lesion, and over time contribute towards restoration of the lost function.

Once again, the effort to activate the brain during the rehabilitation period is the key to the entire sequence of events. It is doubtful whether a passive acceptance of the loss of function would have similar results.

Cognitive effort builds cognitive reserves

It is not clear whether higher education, a complex working environment, or mentally challenging hobbies can ensure risk free cognitive aging. The same, of course, goes for dementia, the prevention of which cannot be guaranteed by any of these factors. Rather, they might lead to the development of sufficient cognitive reserves that will effectively delay these problems.

Thus, if available brain cells are in good shape, they may well compensate for cumulative cell loss over the years. The building of such cognitive reserves becomes, therefore, an excellent investment, ensuring cognitive vitality well into the future.

It is not clear whether higher education need to actively focus on the task at hand and allocate sufficient resources of attention to carry it to its successful completion.

How can we build cognitive reserves?

One common denominator of the entire list of factors mentioned so far is cognitive effort. In other words, for some activity to be useful in maintaining or enhancing cognitive vitality, it has to require some effort. This is not unlike physical exercise whose effectiveness calls for at least some minimal investment in physical effort.

Engaging exclusively in very easy exercises would have only marginal impact on one's physical fitness. By effort, we imply the need to actively focus on the task at hand and allocate sufficient resources of attention to carry it to its successful completion.

A wonderful illustration of the benefits of cognitive effort is provided in the famous "Nun Study" by Showdown. As part of the attempt to study the antecedents of cognitive health in elderly nuns, the study analyzed one page autobiographical essays written by them at the average age of 22 when they were in college.

These short descriptions were analyzed blindly by linguistic experts for "idea density" (i.e., number of different ideas per every ten words) and "grammatical complexity" (simple versus complex sentence construction, branching, etc.).

In other words, for some activity to be useful in maintaining or enhancing cognitive vitality, it has to require some effort.

To everybody's astonishment, the results were able to predict cognitive health sixty years later, at the average age of eighty.

Sisters with higher idea density in college had significantly higher scores on standard cognitive tests, and were less likely to have Alzheimer's disease than those with lower idea density.

A similar relationship, though somewhat weaker, was found between grammatical complexity and cognitive scores.

Both high idea density and grammatical complexity require greater effort on the part of the writer (and for that matter the reader as well). The ability and willingness to invest in such cognitive effort bode well for the future cognitive vitality of the sisters.

The opposite of cognitive effort is automatic processing. Cognitive activity that can be carried out automatically does not require any effort at all. As certain activities become gradually more familiar with experience, they become easier and less effortful. At some point they might become fully automatic, thus releasing us from the need to attend to them altogether.

The brain's capacity for developing automatic sequences of routine tasks is on the whole a major blessing. The number and variety of activities that we are able to carry out without attending to the process itself is impressive indeed.

Consider the way we walk home from the station without the need to rehearse the directions. In fact, we may be deep in thought about other matters and yet will find ourselves entering our home.

Think about the complex hand-eye coordination necessary for a smooth handshake. We just do it; there is not need to think about it anymore. Reading itself becomes an automatic activity through experience. Thus, the visual pattern of whole words is stored in memory and the jump from looking at a page and extracting the meaning becomes effortless. In the same way, with years of experience, some elements of driving become automatic as well, freeing the driver to talk, listen to music, or otherwise engage part of his/her attention.

Automatic processing, however, is not without its costs. The convenience of well-rehearsed actions, allowing the brain to manage without cognitive effort, encourages certain forms of mental laziness to take root. The outcome of such idleness, just like in the case of physical idleness, is getting out of shape and losing some cognitive vitality.

Consequently, one of the best ways to build cognitive reserves is to engage in activities that are relatively new, and preclude automatic processing.

When on a trip to a new place, the road back to the hotel cannot be taken without proper attention allocation on our part. We must be well aware of the surrounding circumstances, remember a few key reference points and plan the route accordingly.

In the same manner, when driving a new car in a new location, the driving would involve much more deliberate attention than typically. Novelty, the natural opposite of routine, poses important challenges to the brain, and contributes to cognitive well-being.

Our brains are well-suited to profit from experience, and very few things retain their novelty for a long time. On the contrary, we are capable of developing routines extremely fast.

This gives us the good feeling of mastering a new situation. Even the most complex activities have significant components that are routine. The cognition-enhancing qualities of novelty must be therefore actively pursued, and we cannot rely on opportunities provided by everyday life experience to do the trick for us. This is further augmented by the natural preference of the human brain to develop routine procedures that save energy and effort.