Cognitive Design

SharpBrains, a leader in the emerging field of cognitive training published an interest report in 2008 on the Top 10 Brain Training Future Trends.  The report predicts we will see brain training emerge in physical exercise, corporate wellness and leadership programs.  

In other words, functionality that creates brain boosting effects (e.g. improved focus, memory, visual acuity, creativity) will begin to emerge in the design of other products and programs.  This is an important trend for cognitive designers. 

For example, would customers be interested in an organizer or reminder systems that not only helps them remember things but at the same time makes their memory stronger?  How about employees, would they see “cognitive enhancement” as a valuable perk or benefit?  

There is clear evidence that people, especially college students and professional aging baby boomers want to pump up their brains.  Nintendo has sold nearly half a million copies of its Brain Age game and there were half a dozen articles in 2008 discussing the rising tide of off-prescription use of Ritalin,  Adderall and other cognitive enhancers. 

When working with clients on this issue I ask three general questions:

1. How much do your customers and employees need and want mental fitness? 
2. How can you tune existing products, services and programs to have more of an incidental brain boosting effect? 
3. What new products, services and programs can you develop to fulfill the demand for cognitive training?

For example, Allstate is doing a large-scale pilot in Pennsylvania to see if cognitive training in senior drivers will lower accidents.  I know of a competitor that is going further and prototyping “games” you play in the car to elevate boredom and are designed to make you a better driver.  

I have a group of student designers that are trying to figure out how to change how big companies do meetings so that they automatically include brain boosting effects. Imagine, mental fitness built seamlessly into every meeting you must attend!

There are many possibilities but it is important to make sure that the features and functions you add to create brain boosting effects is backed by cognitive science or that you have enough controls in your application to test a hypothesis. 

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 10th, 2009 at 10:05 am and is filed under Cognitive Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.