Easy and Practical Improvement Methods

Executive Functions      

Inhibition     

Inhibitory control can be improved. Perhaps the best approach is to simply decide to
refrain from a behavior and then practice it. For example, put out a small dish of a favorite wrapped candy and practice walking by it and refrain from taking a piece. Other helpful activities include anything that requires you to have patience and restraint such as playing card games such as poker or commercial games such as Chutes and Ladders or chess. Even 10–20 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise can provide long-term benefits in inhibitory control.

Working Memory      

Working memory can be improved by activities that require working memory such as chess, jigsaw puzzles, Sudoku, games that require remembering rules, and matching games.

Cognitive Shifting      

Cognitive shifting skills can be improved by playing strategy board games or card games that require strategy. Learning how to do something new or beginning a new hobby can also be helpful. Often a significant obstacle here is for the person to recognize and accept that there is a problem.

Updating      

Updating can be improved by participating in games that rely on short-term memory and require quick switching between tasks. Many action video games fall into this category as do card games that rely on memorizing cards that have been played and planning the next move based on that information.

Planning   

Planning ability can be improved by exercises and games that stimulate the prefrontal cortex. These would include any game that requires memory and planning such as chess, solving arithmetic problems without the use of a calculator, and cooking using an unfamiliar recipe.

Perception   

Visual Perception   

Significant problems with visual perception must be evaluated and treated by medical professionals. Mild problems can be addressed by certain active restorative activities. These might include dominoes, card games, matching pictures, word or rhyming pairs, word or picture bingo games, or peg patterns.

Auditory Perception    

Unlike many cognitive skills, this one is difficult to improve by using common and readily available activities and games. Several commercially available online activities can be effective in improving mild auditory perception difficulties.

Spatial Perception     

Spatial Perception can be improved by practicing anything that requires spatial orientation. Puzzles using 3D, assembling a model from a kit, playing ping pong, knitting, building a house of cards or other similar activities can result in improvement in this skill.

Attention

Focused Attention      

The ability to focus attention can be improved by general improvement in health through exercise, diet, and getting adequate rest. Playing games that require focused attention can improve overall ability in that area. Also helpful would be learning an unfamiliar hobby such as cooking, knitting, playing a musical instrument, or solving crossword puzzles.

Divided Attention

Set aside 15 minutes. Put a news program on a radio or TV. Take all your eating utensils of all sizes (spoons, forks, knives, etc.) out of the drawer and mix them all up in a pile on a table. While listening to the news program, try to remember as many facts as possible and the identities of all advertisers while sorting the utensils as quickly as possible. When finished sorting, try to recall and count as many facts as possible from the news program. Mix the utensils up again and repeat the process. Make note of your score and repeat the exercise a few hours later or the next day. Keep a running total over a period of a week and watch for improvement.

Memory      

Short-Term Memory     

Since the different types of memory tend to work together, activities that require the use of any memory function may improve overall memory performance. These activities might include chess, various card games, memorization activities such as practicing learning and recalling a number sequence, names of state capitals, or online activities specifically designed to improve memory.

Working Memory

Training on specific working memory tasks can improve working memory overall. Activities like reading, playing cards, computer games, arts and crafts, sudokus, and crosswords can be effective.

Contextual Memory    

Contextual memory may be improved by activities that encourage new synapses and neural circuits to regain some of the function that has been lost through injury or pathology and even through normal aging. These activities include any games or other exercises that rely on memory. Several online activities are specifically designed to aid in this process.

Long-Term Memory  

Long-term memory may be improved by doing crossword puzzles, board games requiring memory, and chess. Adequate sleep is also essential for long-term memory.

Performance Skills

Estimation      

We can work to improve our estimation skills using appropriate cognitive stimulation exercises. Dancing is an excellent activity since it uses and therefore provides learning regarding estimation of speed, distance, and time. Playing action video games and using a desktop flight
simulator program can be helpful. To get outdoors, horseshoes, cornhole, tennis, badminton, pickleball, and golf can also be beneficial.        

Processing Speed      

Be creative. Any activity that forces you to think quickly is beneficial to maintaining or improving cognitive processing speed. The key is to perform the activity several times each day for at least fifteen minutes each time.