Brain training, more recognisably known as cognitive training, is a routine of programmes designed to challenge, stimulate and improve one’s cognitive function. The phrase “cognitive ability” usually refers to components of mental intelligence such as brain capacity and output. Cognitive training supports the hypothesis that cognitive abilities can be trained by exercising the brain, analogous to the physical training is improved by exercising the body.
Cognitive training activities can take place in a vast range of physical and mental tasks which can be incorporated into most, if not all, training routines. By incorporating aspects of mental functions such as perception, attention, memory, emotions, language, decision making, thinking and reasoning into a fitness or strength based task, adds a completely different element to one’s training. By overstimulating the neuroplasticity of one’s mental state in training, you are able to enhance and prepare an athlete for more opportunities within a sport or game – thinking outside the box.
What is neuroplasticity?
Cognitive training is grounded in the idea that the brain is plastic. Brain plasticity refers to the ability for the brain to change and develop based on life experiences.
Studies have shown that attempting to train the updating component of executive function in young and older adults determined that cognitive training could lead to improvements in task performance across both of the groups, however the general transfer of ability to new tasks was only shown in young adults and not older adults. It has been hypothesized that transfer effects are dependent on an overlap in neural activation during the trained and transfer tasks.
Cognitive training has been shown to lead to neural changes as increased blood flow to the prefrontal cortex, especially in attention training and decreased bilateral compensatory recruitment in adults. Research indicates that one of the most effective forms of cognitive training may be in the form of cardiovascular fitness. Researchers have shown that decreased cardiovascular fitness is correlated with brain atrophy and that training older adults in a cardiovascular fitness regimen leads to increased volume in the prefrontal and temporal cortex areas and increased performance on memory tasks.
That being said, incorporating cardiovascular fitness and mental fitness tasks into your daily training routine could be the missing link to creating a physically and mentally fitter athlete!