Ep 11: Cognitive Flexibility

This is a special addition of SLPs More Water Please!

We are being cognitively flexible and not obsessing over adhering to an established routine!

What is cognitive flexibility?

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 refers to the brain’s ability to transition from thinking about one concept to another. The quicker you are able to switch or “shift” your thinking from one dimension (e.g. color of an object) to another (e.g. shape of an object), the greater your level of cognitive flexibility.  

Shifting, or cognitive flexibility, is described as the ability to refocus attention to relevant stimuli (Diamond, 2006) and also simultaneously consider conflicting representations of information in order to execute goal-directed behavior (Jacques & Zelazo, 2005). Cognitive inflexibility is thought to manifest as perseveration on a prepotent response, which demonstrates an individual's difficulty or inability to shift to new representations (Zelazo et al., 2003). Young children show perseveration on shifting tasks by making consistent errors and showing difficulty in inhibiting a prepotent response (Zelazo et al., 2003). Inflexibility is most consistently observed in TD children under 3, with increases in shifting abilities occurring between 3 and 5 years. Perseveration is observed in individuals with a variety of disorders associated with deficits in frontal lobe functioning, such as traumatic brain injury and autism (Zelazo et al., 2003). 

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