Michael C. Patterson - Cognitive Activity Design: Designing Creative Activities and Art-Based Projects That Promote Brain Health and Flourishing

Cognitive

Activity Design

Designing CreativeActivities and Art-Based Projects

That Promote Brain Healthand Flourishing

by Michael C.Patterson

& RogerAnunsen

Published by MINDRAMPCONSULTING at Smashwords

Copyright 2015 Michael C.Patterson

Smashwords Edition, LicenseNotes

This eBook is licensed foryour personal enjoyment only and may not be re-sold or shared.Please purchase an individual copy for each reader of this book atSmashwords.com. Thank you for respecting the hard work of theauthors and help us maintain the low cost of the eBooks.

Cover design by JillianPatterson

Other Books fromMINDRAMP

Strong Brains, Sharp Minds

B etter Brains by Design: The Questfor Qualongevity

TABLE OFCONTENTS

Your Creative Responsibility

How the Book is Structured?

OVERVIEW

What is Cognitive Activity Design?

What is Cognitive Wellness?

MINDRAMPs Cognitive Activity DesignInitiative

Who Benefits from Cognitive Activities?

The Cognitive Activity Design Template

Reverse Engineering Rogers Activities

Case Study: The Drag Race

Characteristics of a Well-ConstructedCognitive Activity

Case Study: A Memorable Salute

A Creative Approach to Cognitive ActivityDesign

Case Study: Hazel Rides Again

The Essential CogWheels of Brain Health

Case Study: Hiram Lifts Off

The Core Components of Flourishing

Case Study: Stat Man John

A Positive Mindset

Case Study: As Simple as a Sunset

Combinatorial Approaches

Case Study: As Simple as a HarvestMoonrise

Elements of Your Cognitive Activity DesignTemplate

The Activity Design Template

Art-Making and Art-Taking

Case Study: Violas Lifetime of Stitches

Art Domains

Art-Based Activity Design Template

Case Study: Marty Glogau: ARetrospective

Art and The Senses

Art is Organized Sensations: A CreativeProvocation

Case Study: Bowling for Memories

Focusing On Sensations

Case Study: Strawberry Fields areForever

Art &Flourishing

Case Study: Grandmas see THE Grandma

Art & Brain Health

Case Study: Wandas Fashion Statement

What is Cognition?

The Power of Music

The Neurochemistry of Music

The Arts & Neurogenesis

The Neuroscience of Narrative

Seeing Like an Artist

Savants and Sensations

Sources of Savant Super Powers

What Makes a Good Story Good? The Perceptionof Expectation & Surprise!

Case Study: Marthas Encore

INTRODUCTION

This book is written for anyone who creates,schedules, supports and leads activities for older adults. Thebasic premise is that any formal activity that is done with elderscan become an opportunity to combat cognitive decline and mentalstagnation. Better yet, every interaction with elders can, andshould, stimulate their mature minds in ways that promote brainhealth. Every activity should nurture a sense of well-being andstrengthen participants mental resilience. Every activity shouldignite repeated bursts of positive energy in the minds ofelders.

Exciting new research in the fields ofneuroscience, cognitive aging and positive psychology reveals thatour brains are far more malleable than we ever imagined. We allhave surprising power to shape the future health of our brains - atany age. We have the ability to escape negative mindsets and learnto embrace contentment, fulfillment, even joy, at any age. Thisbook translates the science into practical approaches to designingcognitively stimulating activities for elders.

This book offers activity design tools totap into your passion and creativity. We are convinced that thesetools, in the right hands and minds, can and will transformlives.

The MINDRAMP mission is to make longevityworth living. Long life should not be a Faustian bargain in whichwe sacrifice health and happiness for a few extra years ofexistence. Whatever years we have should be spent without unduepain and suffering; our extra years should be brightened by love,happiness, fulfillment and meaning.

We created the term Qualongevity tocapture the idea of maintain quality-of-life within the context ofextended life expectancy. Qualongevity means living longer andliving well.

Learn how to designactivities that promote Qualongevity; learn how to use scientificevidence to conduct activities for older adults that expand anddeepen their cognitivewellness . Help us in developing theexciting new field of C ognitive ActivityDesign .

Your CreativeResponsibility

This book will not tell you what activitiesto do. It will not provide you with a list of ready-made activitiesthat you can plug and play. We dont believe that cookie-cutteractivities are likely to be very good. We will argue that the bestcognitive activities are designed specifically to address realsituations. Your actives will be designed to address concreteissues and concerns that arise within your specific workplace orcommunity. Effective cognitive activities are designed to addressthe needs of specific people and are tailored to the uniquecharacter of the social environment in which they take place.

This book will encourage you to be creativeand innovative. We will ask you to explore your full creativepotential and to use that power to design unique and innovativeactivities. We will give you advice and guidance based on our ownexperience and research. We will offer tips on how to how to tapinto your creative powers. We will ask creative provocations tohelp you think outside of the box, generate lots of ideas andselect innovative approaches to the design of cognitivelystimulating activities.

Throughout the book we willalso share stories about innovative activities that co-author RogerAnunsen devised when he worked as activity director at an assistedliving facility (ALF). These case studies are intended to be models of good cognitiveactivities. After each story we will reverse-engineer theactivity and extract the key mechanisms that we think made it acognitively stimulating activity. Make full use of thesetechniques, but make them your own. Be creative.

How the Book is Structured

The first section of thebook focuses on defining a well-constructed cognitive activitydesign (CAD). We will offer some ideas on the characteristics of agood CAD based on our years of experience in translating scienceinto practical programs. We will also provide you with tools youcan use to stimulate creative thinking about the type of cognitiveactivities you want to design. You will learn how to use theMINDRAMP CreativeCycle to guide you through the creative process ofdesigning and implementing a complete cognitive activity.

In Section Two we willexplore how a focus on The Arts can generate ideas for effectivecognitive activities. We will look at some unique characteristicsof the various art domains to see how they can be used to stimulatecognitive wellness and promote feelings of flourishing. We willexplore how to work through each phase of the MINDRAMPCreativeCycle to set goals, generate ideas and put youractivities into action.

Section Three provides some of thescientific and theoretical background for the practical adviceoffered in Sections One and Two. This section is intended for thoseof you who want to dig deeper into the science and explore somecreative speculation about the nature of art and cognitivestimulation. We encourage you to use these essays as resources, butyou can certainly design good cognitive activities by simplyfocusing on the first two sections.

SECTION ONE

COGNITIVE ACTIVITY DESIGN

OVERVIEW

What is Cognitive Activity Design?

In the briefest of terms,cognitive activity design (CAD) is the construction andimplementation of activities that promote cognitive wellness inparticipants who engage in the activities. The implication is thatstandard, traditional activities may not, as a rule, serve topromote cognitive wellness as well as they might. We will,therefore, need to identify the unique aspects of a cognitively stimulating activity that differentiate it from a standardactivity.