• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Tracking Health and Wellness Applications of Brain Science

Spanish
sb-logo-with-brain
  • Resources
    • Monthly eNewsletter
    • Solving the Brain Fitness Puzzle
    • The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness
    • How to evaluate brain training claims
    • Resources at a Glance
  • Brain Teasers
    • Top 25 Brain Teasers & Games for Teens and Adults
    • Brain Teasers for each Cognitive Ability
    • More Mind Teasers & Games for Adults of any Age
  • Virtual Summits
    • 2019 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
    • Speaker Roster
    • Brainnovations Pitch Contest
    • 2017 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
    • 2016 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
    • 2015 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
    • 2014 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
  • Report: Pervasive Neurotechnology
  • Report: Digital Brain Health
  • About
    • Mission & Team
    • Endorsements
    • Public Speaking
    • In the News
    • Contact Us

Promoting Mental Agility through Cognitive Control and Mental Representation

July 24, 2012 by Judith C. Tingley, PhD

The words, The Agile Mind cap­tured my atten­tion imme­di­ate­ly. The title con­veyed ener­gy, inno­va­tion, change, bounc­ing on a tram­po­line in my head. I knew that inves­ti­gat­ing the book would be an adventure.

As soon as the book The Agile Mind by Wilma Kout­staal was in my hands, I explored the 24-page index, look­ing for my favorite top­ic, prob­lem-solv­ing think­ing. On page 29 I accessed a brand new take on the intu­itive ver­sus ratio­nal prob­lem solv­ing chal­lenge. A cen­tral aspect of men­tal agili­ty is the abil­i­ty to flu­id­ly spring around in your mind and body while prob­lem solv­ing: restat­ing the prob­lem, attempt­ing dif­fer­ent think­ing process­es, test­ing out dif­fer­ent solu­tions, unlike­ly or not, talk­ing out loud to your­self, while tak­ing breaks to read poet­ry or jump rope, watch a bad movie, or walk in the moon­light at midnight.

Brain imagery and sol­id research show that opti­mal prob­lem solv­ing occurs when the thinker is nim­ble-mind­ed. He can cruise between abstract and con­crete, detail and big pic­ture, con­trolled and auto­mat­ic think­ing. She can zoom in and zoom out, keep feel­ings and thoughts con­nect­ed and dis­con­nect­ed when need­ed, and reg­u­late atten­tion and dis­trac­tion: Olympic qual­i­ty think­ing, and not impos­si­ble to acquire.

Men­tal agili­ty relates close­ly to phys­i­cal agili­ty, the phrase gen­er­at­ing a sense of quick­ness and flex­i­bil­i­ty in activ­i­ty, com­bined with bal­ance, coor­di­na­tion, and sta­mi­na. Not a char­ac­ter­is­tic of the per­son who says, “No, this is the way we’ve always done it,” but a descrip­tion of the employ­ee who says, “But let’s see what hap­pens if we try X+Y‑K!” Either could have a good solu­tion in mind, but the per­son who tries X+Y‑K will have gained more infor­ma­tion, expe­ri­ence, and men­tal agili­ty for future prob­lem-solv­ing on any top­ic, even if the solu­tion is not the best at the moment.

Dr. Kout­staal, author and cog­ni­tive neu­ro­sci­en­tist, describes two pri­ma­ry dimen­sions of men­tal agility.

•  The process or lev­els of cog­ni­tive con­trol. We can have a con­trolled, dis­ci­plined step-wise process, a gut feel­ing, uncon­scious asso­ci­a­tions lead­ing to a sud­den rev­e­la­tion, and then fur­ther down the road, a total­ly uncon­scious habit­u­al process of think­ing with lit­tle insight. Lev­els of cog­ni­tive con­trol can be sta­tion­ary, can occur one at a time, all at once, or change frequently.

•  The con­tent or lev­els of speci­fici­ty of men­tal rep­re­sen­ta­tion. We can have a visu­al­ly abstract rep­re­sen­ta­tion of a prob­lem, a col­or­ful paint blast burst­ing in air, a mem­o­ry of the feel­ing of an event or time, a con­crete rep­re­sen­ta­tion such as the exact words writ­ten on a doc­u­ment, or a pho­to­graph of a geo­graph­i­cal site.

In the past, argu­ments took place about whether skill in process or skill in con­tent was most impor­tant in prob­lem-solv­ing think­ing. Is unknow­ing and auto­mat­ic think­ing bet­ter or worse than knowl­edge­able con­trolled prob­lem-solv­ing? Kout­staal lets us stop deal­ing with that either-or choice. Many com­bi­na­tions and per­mu­ta­tions of process and con­tent can work well.

But we still have oth­er con­cerns. How do we acquire and keep our men­tal agili­ty? As The Agile Mind clear­ly reminds us, we need not only a healthy brain, but an excit­ing, chang­ing envi­ron­ment, time to notice and pay atten­tion, space to incu­bate our thoughts, dif­fer­ent activ­i­ties, routes, music, views, news­pa­pers, books, friends, ene­mies. “Agile think­ing involves ways of rep­re­sent­ing and pro­cess­ing (using) infor­ma­tion and knowl­edge that is flex­i­bly, cre­ative­ly, and adap­tive­ly attuned to chang­ing cir­cum­stances and goals.”

Unknow­ing­ly and unin­ten­tion­al­ly fol­low­ing Koutstaal’s inte­grat­ed mod­el of think­ing, emo­tion and action, I moved a few years ago to an entire­ly dif­fer­ent part of the U.S., leav­ing friends and fam­i­ly, lawyers and doc­tors, rit­u­als and tra­di­tions. It was and still is like a shot of adren­a­line. I am lost dai­ly, wear entire­ly dif­fer­ent clothes, let my hair grow white from blonde, stopped play­ing ten­nis, start­ed hik­ing and climb­ing, gave up Mex­i­can food, learned about the NW instead of the SW Native Amer­i­cans, start­ed med­i­tat­ing reg­u­lar­ly with a group, and took up bird watch­ing — to many guf­faws from old friends. My mind is more flex­i­ble, my mood lighter, and I think I’ve become smarter too!

The Agile Mind is an ency­clo­pe­dia of the newest think­ing about think­ing. I may nev­er read all 763 pages but I’ll con­tin­ue to be excit­ed by a para­graph here, a research study there, a new mod­el of think­ing, emo­tions, and action explained clear­ly, and every top­ic ref­er­enced and tied togeth­er beau­ti­ful­ly. I know the voy­age through the book, inspires inno­va­tion, con­sis­tent­ly recharges intel­lec­tu­al curios­i­ty, and advances my brain fit­ness. What more could you ask?

To Learn More:

  • Why Agile Minds Deploy Both Ratio­nal and Intu­itive Problem-Solving
  • Enhance Metacog­ni­tion and Prob­lem-Solv­ing by Talk­ing Out Loud to Yourself


– Judith C. Tin­gley Ph.D. is a for­mer psy­chi­atric nurse, psy­chol­o­gist, author of 4 pub­lished books, and free-lance writer, cur­rently work­ing on a book on how to break the neg­a­tive self-talk habit. You can fol­low her via Twit­ter @drtingley

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Pock­et

Filed Under: Brain/ Mental Health, Education & Lifelong Learning, Peak Performance Tagged With: Agile Mind, Brain-Fitness, cognitive-control, Emotions, healthy-brain, Koutstaal, Mental agility, mental representation, problem-solving, thinking

Primary Sidebar

Top Articles on Brain Health and Neuroplasticity

  1. Can you grow your hippocampus? Yes. Here’s how, and why it matters
  2. How learning changes your brain
  3. To harness neuroplasticity, start with enthusiasm
  4. Three ways to protect your mental health during –and after– COVID-19
  5. Why you turn down the radio when you're lost
  6. Solving the Brain Fitness Puzzle Is the Key to Self-Empowered Aging
  7. Ten neu­rotech­nolo­gies about to trans­form brain enhance­ment & health
  8. Five reasons the future of brain enhancement is digital, pervasive and (hopefully) bright
  9. What Educators and Parents Should Know About Neuroplasticity and Dance
  10. The Ten Habits of Highly Effective Brains
  11. Six tips to build resilience and prevent brain-damaging stress
  12. Can brain training work? Yes, if it meets these 5 conditions
  13. What are cognitive abilities and how to boost them?
  14. Eight Tips To Remember What You Read
  15. Twenty Must-Know Facts to Harness Neuroplasticity and Improve Brain Health

Top 10 Brain Teasers and Illusions

  1. You think you know the colors? Try the Stroop Test
  2. Check out this brief attention experiment
  3. Test your stress level
  4. Guess: Are there more brain connections or leaves in the Amazon?
  5. Quick brain teasers to flex two key men­tal mus­cles
  6. Count the Fs in this sentence
  7. Can you iden­tify Apple’s logo?
  8. Ten classic optical illu­sions to trick your mind
  9. What do you see?
  10. Fun Mental Rotation challenge
  • Check our Top 25 Brain Teasers, Games and Illusions

Join 12,620 readers exploring, at no cost, the latest in neuroplasticity and brain health.

By subscribing you agree to receive our free, monthly eNewsletter. We don't rent or sell emails collected, and you may unsubscribe at any time.

IMPORTANT: Please check your inbox or spam folder in a couple minutes and confirm your subscription.

Get In Touch!

Contact Us

660 4th Street, Suite 205,
San Francisco, CA 94107 USA

About Us

SharpBrains is an independent market research firm tracking health and performance applications of brain science. We prepare general and tailored market reports, publish consumer guides, produce an annual global and virtual conference, and provide strategic advisory services.

© 2022 SharpBrains. All Rights Reserved - Privacy Policy