Did you know that normal age related cognitive decline effects the speed but not the quality of our thinking? Memory, reasoning and reaction time usually show the greatest decline; and verbal expression and social knowledge show little or no decline as we age.

Today was my first day of training. CogniFit first assessed my brain fitness that you can read here on Brain Fitness Assessment Part 1 and Brain Fitness Assessment Part 2.

After the assessment, you start the training - and today was on Match the Time, Name the Picture and Simon Says.. the three tests that I completed today are on Time Estimation, Naming, and Divided Attention. As you know the assessment showed high results in Time Estimation and Naming but Divided Attention.. well, let’s just say I was WAY below normal..

The good news… my training results showed that the Divided Attention was elevated.. resulting in very good results after the training. Nice.

What i like about CogniFit - it’s online and provides a variety of activities which keep my brain challenged. The differences between CogniFit and doing activities like crossword puzzles - the latter becomes routine and the brain is no longer getting the stimulation that is required and benefits can gradually decline. Therefore an effective brain fitness program will constantly monitor your performance and adapt to optimize the challenge.

CogniFit just showed me that I am NOT a multitasking genius… I am honestly quite surprised. I’ve been duped! All these 58 years I’ve been under the wrong impression… multitasking is not a skill that I excel in… I’m disappointed.

Another good news… I fail miserably in the skill of “focus”.. well, this is not something I don’t know.. I DO know that one. What is so exciting to me.. hopefully, CogniFit will help me learn to improve that skill.

My overall cognitive rating is Above Normal when comparing me to other old farts like me!

Here are the skills that I excel in:

Memory

Motor

Perception

Need help with:

Attention!!! Shifting and Divided Attention!

Okay, I am ready to take on attention.. follow me along as I improve to NORMAL on these two skills… especially divided attention… that is what I need help with most! I am out to prove to myself that I am not ADHD.

Thank you for following me along.

You may not think much about how your brain operates since we have a tendency to take it for granted.. like we do when it comes to the heart and it’s tasks and efficiencies.

Take the brain for example, do you realize how quickly it filters through information without giving much conscious thought about it? For example, as you go through your day.. what sights, sounds, and smells are more important than others? Which ones must not be missed?

And have you considered how to make sense of complex visual patterns and build a database (internally) of familiar people and places? How do you choose what stimuli to distract you? Your brain works quickly to pick and choose “what” will take you away from the “current focus” and attention.

Now this will get your brain reeling.. consider, for a moment the importance of our language skills. As we  communicate an idea while talking, our brains run ahead of us searching for “the right” words to use. If you’re like me, I have not built a rich search skill that helps me quickly select the most effective way to describe my ideas.. that keep people intrigued.

So, what does that say about my brain?

To read more on CogniFit Training: The key to cognitive vitality - click on it!