10 Employability Skills @ 2020

# 10 – Cognitive Flexibility

(Author: Subramanian M)

           

Cognitive flexibility has been described as the mental ability to switch between thinking about two different concepts, and to think about multiple concepts simultaneously.  Cognitive flexibility is the human ability to adapt the cognitive processing strategies to face new and unexpected conditions in the environment. Cognitive Flexibility is an ability which could imply a process of learning, that is, it could be acquired with experience. Cognitive Flexibility involves the adaptation of cognitive processing strategies. Cognitive Flexibility is the adaptation will occur to new and unexpected environmental changes after a person has been performing a task for some time.

When a person performs a complex task her/his behavior needs to be adapted to the environmental conditions in which the task is being performed. However, these conditions continue to change as the task develops, therefore in order to be flexible a person has to focus attention on these conditions on a regular basis. In addition to this, in order to adapt her/his behavior to the new conditions the person needs to restructure her/his knowledge so as to effectively interpret the new situation and the new task requirements. Cognitive flexibility, therefore, depends on attentional processes and knowledge representation.

Core Cognitive Capacities are as follows:

1.    Sustained attention

2.    Response inhibition

3.    Speed of information processing

4.    Cognitive flexibility and control

5.    Multiple simultaneous attentions

6.    Working memory

7.    Category formation

8.    Pattern recognition

Cheers | Subramanian M

References:

·         http://www.c8sciences.com/about/8ccc/

·         http://mentalhealthdaily.com/2015/07/24/what-is-cognitive-flexibility/

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.156.976&rep=rep1&type=pdf