Cognitive Playground series: Renamed fruit memory
Executive functions include cognitive processes like working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibition control, which help manage and control behavior. For instance, inhibition helps control impulses, leading to more thoughtful decisions. It also maintains focus by filtering out distractions during tasks requiring sustained attention. Inhibition enables us to manage our impulses and emotions, allowing calm and rational response to stressors. And finally, it helps us set and achieve goals by prioritizing tasks and resisting distractions, acting as a kind of gatekeeper or "mental brake" that prevents irrational actions.
Although easily overlooked, inhibition safeguards the executive functions that distinguish humans from animals: self-control, decision-making, emotional regulation, safety and risk management, long-term planning, and cognitive flexibility (the ability to adapt to new situations and solve problems). These executive functions are essential for making rational and informed choices, concentrating on important tasks without getting sidetracked, stress handling stress and emotional challenges, and achieving long-term goals.
Clearly, the role of inhibition as an executive function is vital for governing overall behavior, well-being, and success in navigating the complexities of modern life.
The unfortunate reality is that inhibition, like other executive functions, peaks in young adulthood, begins to decline in middle age, and more declines precipitously in old age. The reasons for this are complex and related to individual factors, but in general encompass:1
- Neural changes, or structural and functional changes in the brain, especially in the prefrontal cortex
- Reduced neuroplasticity, or the decreased ability of the brain to adapt and reorganize itself
- Increased cognitive load in older adults, which can exacerbate difficulties in managing distractions and impulses
That is to say, our brakes become less and less effective over time as we age. Age affects how quickly we can think, which in turn affects our ability to control impulses and remember things1, although different types of inhibition may be affected differently by aging. For example, the ability to suppress dominant responses (i.e., automatic or ingrained habits) may decline more than the ability to ignore distracting information.2
However, studies show that this decline can be slowed and even arrested through brain training. Inhibition brain training games are designed to improve this mental brake by challenging your brain to practice stopping and thinking before acting.
A great example is Thinkie's "Renamed Fruit Memory" game, which requires both working memory and inhibition to succeed. In this game, players are presented with pictures of various fruits that have been renamed to other fruit names; for example, "strawberry" may be renamed to "pineapple" during one round of gameplay. The objective is to remember the fruits' new names and select them from the name tiles, but to do so only while the newly named fruit is in the activation frame. The game tests inhibition alongside working memory and concentration skills, presenting a significant challenge indeed.
By regularly playing games like Renamed Fruit Memory, you strengthen your brain’s ability to control impulses while training your ability to focus. Over time, this can lead to improvements in various real-life tasks such as avoiding distractions, improving self-control, and making better choices under pressure.
It's important to note that while inhibition decline is common with aging, it is not universal or inevitable. The complex interplay of these factors contributes to the variability observed in cognitive aging across individuals.4
1 Inhibition changes across the lifespan: experimental evidence from the Stroop task