WORLD ABACUS

enable us to retrieve it is broken down into three key stages: encoding, storage and recall. Storage relates to how we permanently record this encoded data, and recall concerns how we retrieve this data on demand. As with all cognitive skills, Memory is also divided into sub categories such as „Working Memory‟ and „Face-Name Memory.‟
Face-Name Memory
Face-Name Memory is a particular cognitive skill required for recognizing and matching people‟s faces (visual representation) with their names (semantic representation) over the long-term. For example, we employ our face-name memory whenever we encounter a person we‟ve seen before and attempt to match their name with their face. Cognitive research into face recognition and name recalling is being applied in increasingly more hospitality environments as a means of improving customer loyalty by converting pseudo-relationships with guests into more genuine relationships. Spatial Memory
Spatial Memory plays a vital role in your ability to function within a particular environment. It is the part of your memory responsible for recording data about your surroundings and spatial orientation. It relates to how your brain stores information regarding the location of physical objects in space, such as the environment around you, and is extremely vital for humans and many other species‟ survival, especially in terms of animal migration. Your spatial memory is necessary, for instance, in order to navigate from one place to another, much like the way a mouse‟s spatial memory is required in order to navigate its way through a maze. Your spatial memory is formed by collecting and processing visual and other information about your surroundings. Working Memory
Are you finding it more and more difficult to memorize phone numbers, follow directions or perform mental arithmetic, that is, without using pen and paper? Or perhaps you find yourself asking the same questions repeatedly? Improving your working memory requires boosting your ability to store items in your memory for a brief time and manipulating them. This prevents important information from just fading away unnoticed. Working memory training games are specifically designed to train this vital cognitive skill. By playing them you will increase your memory capacity, ability to complete simple tasks, follow instructions, and help you become more organized overall.
2.Attention
Attention is the critical skill which allows you to select important information while ignoring all irrelevant data. This skill allows you to concentrate on only the relevant tasks at hand, such as regular daily activities, and perform them efficiently. For example, when driving a car you should ignore events occurring on the sidewalk, but pay absolute attention to what‟s happening on the road. Or, you should be able to watch your children while cooking, talking on the phone or watching television. Our more important types of attention include Selective Attention, which enables us to focus on one task intensively (such as playing a sport), and Divided Attention which enables us to distribute our resources over several objects simultaneously. Unfortunately, like other important cognitive abilities, our attention capabilities are likely to decrease gradually as we age. Luckily, however, recent research has determined that attention skills can be trained and improved in older adults. Indeed, studies not only indicate that training attentional skills improves one‟s attention skills, but these improvements may be retained for as much as five years after training. Trained participants displayed higher performance levels when conducting their daily activities such as finances, housework and driving etc. Divided Attention
Do you fail to absorb relevant information at work, while watching TV or reading the newspaper etc.? Are you preoccupied at times and subsequently distracted from completing certain tasks? Do you wish you were a better multi-tasker? Divided Attention training games are designed to help you enhance your ability to manage and process various data simultaneously and with little difficulty. We encounter this task throughout our daily lives. For instance, while driving a car and listening to music, or talking on the phone while cooking. The list, of course, goes on. Orienting Attention
Also known as “focused attention,” orienting attention refers to the ability to respond to specific visual, auditory or tactile stimuli. Orienting attention is required when we are presented with two or more stimulus inputs at the same time, and instructed to respond to only one. This differs from “divided attention” whereby a person is also presented with at least two stimulus inputs, but
required to attend and respond to all stimulus inputs simultaneously. Studies on orientation attention tell us how effectively we select certain inputs rather than others. Selective Attention
Training your selective attention enables you to boost your ability to remain focused in dynamic visual environments. Selective attention training games are designed to help you improve your capacity to concentrate on one single item while ignoring all unnecessary information. Sustained Attention
Sustained attention refers to a state in which attention must be maintained over a period of time. This is often required of people engaged in “watch-keeping” activities where, as listeners or observers, they must continuously monitor a situation in which unpredictable and infrequent events may occur. An example of sustained attention would be focusing on a radar screen in order to immediately detect any sudden blip that might signal an approaching ship or aircraft.
3.Logic & Reasoning
Logic and Reasoning are the cognitive skills with which we reach sound conclusions in order to make decisions and solve our daily life problems. How we reach these conclusions is based on the information we receive through our various senses and process it. Although we constantly apply logic and reasoning, many times we‟re not even consciously aware of our doing so. By receiving stimuli and applying logic to arrive at correct conclusions, we are performing the mental task of reasoning. However, unlike our instinctive decisions, meaning those made based on emotional responses, cognitive reasoning typically requires longer response times. Logic and reasoning are closely linked and often work together in order to help us function properly. Without these two key cognitive components, conducting our lives rationally would indeed be very difficult. Logic and reasoning comprises various subcategories including concept formation, inductive, deductive, conditional, and probabilistic reasoning. Concept Formation
Do you feel you have difficulty categorizing problems or objects into groups? Our environment constantly bombards us with complex stimuli comprising numerous varying features. Concept formation is a crucial skill that helps us cope within such a dynamic environment. In short, concept formation enables us to identify an attribute shared by various stimuli, as well as organize and chunk (group) these stimuli under that common attribute. Concept formation games are designed to challenge your ability to create different concepts within a short period of time. After training you will have improved your ability to create order in a changing environment by categorizing objects into different groups as required.Inductive Reasoning
Having difficulties solving problems requiring reason and logic? Would you like to improve your ability to conceptualize problems and implement solutions in a variety of daily life situations? Though inductive reasoning is sometimes erroneously considered to be un-trainable, certain training can in fact enhance these skills, and significantly. Training your analytical thinking helps you to improve your ability to infer general conclusions, draw predictions, and apply this reasoning under any number of circumstances.
4.Visual Perception
Visual processing, or perceptual, disorders refer to a reduced ability to properly process information observed by the eye. These hindrances affect how the brain interprets and processes visual information. Signs of visual perceptual deficits include short attention span, delayed motor perceptual ability, high frustration levels, and more. Visual motor integration, that is, the ability to use visual cues to guide one‟s movements, is a common area of difficulty. This area includes both fine motor and gross motor skills. People with difficulty with visual motor integration often have difficulty orienting themselves in space, particularly in relation to other people and objects. These people are commonly referred to as „clumsy‟ because they tend to bump into things, or place objects near table edges where they can easily fall off. Poor visual motor integration can interfere with virtually all aspects of a person‟s life including social, professional, academic, and athletic.