We all have different ways of understanding and processing information and, beyond our intellectual capacity, people develop executive skills from childhood that allow us to adapt to the environment. These are the skills that come into play when we learn.

In fact, learning styles and executive functions are intrinsically related, as both influence how people process, organize, and apply information. Learning styles describe individual preferences when acquiring knowledge (visual, auditory, etc.), while executive functions, such as working memory or cognitive flexibility, are mental processes that facilitate effective learning.

Understanding how people learn is essential to teaching effectively – and learning for the long term.

Development of executive functions

Although executive functions are considered to be working memory, stimulus inhibition, planning, problem solving, and cognitive flexibility , there is one ability that is closely related to all of them: attention span .

Whether a student is more good at learning visually or one who is better at reviewing written text, their learning effectiveness will depend on their ability to organize this information. And whether they are able to apply it later in exams, tests or exercises in everyday life will depend on executive functions such as planning and working memory or inhibitory control to concentrate on what is relevant.

The balanced development of these skills can enhance any learning style. A good development of these executive functions allows us to solve problems and make decisions, and to adapt to different contexts.

Among them, we can consider attention to be the essential prior process for working memory to function, which is the most important function for learning.

How do we train working memory and attention?

Training working memory (and also attention) does not involve, as we often think, trying to memorize and retain over time a series of names or a certain explanation or definition.

Working memory processes the information that reaches us so that we can store it. More than repetition, the strategies that allow us to improve it are:

• Playing with the numbers we have around us: telephones, license plates, days of the month.
• Repeat the numbers that other people say in reverse order.
• Carry out mental calculation.
• Play word games: starting with a letter or syllable, ending with a specific one, linking words, ordering them alphabetically.
• Games that involve matching images with cards face down, Memory type .
• Activities that involve making series, sequences and ordering any group of things according to color, size or other attribute.
• Repeat the gestures that another person makes.
• All hobbies: finding the differences between two pictures, word searches, mazes, sudokus, puzzles, crosswords, etc.
• To carry out a task under a condition, such as not being able to say a word or not being able to pass by a place.
• Use subtitles when watching a video or television. Mix activities that involve reading and listening.
• Make lists and remember them.
• Puzzles and jigsaw puzzles.
• Playing card games. All popular card games involve training these skills.
• Doing two different tasks at the same time, one automatic like walking and another more complex one like counting.

The game, an essential ally

There are also two aspects that are essential for the development of attention and working memory. One of them is learning to play. And playing requires shared time.

Absolutely all board games involve the different executive functions and do so in a pleasant and unforced way. That is why it is so necessary for children and adolescents to play. And that they do not play alone but in interaction with others. In all games, it is necessary to manage certain information and work with it. And in all of them, attention and working memory are necessary.

Routines, friends of memory

On the other hand, it is very important to create routines.

In order to develop attention, working memory and other skills, it is necessary to build routines in the lives of children, and also adolescents. Routines and habits provide security because they allow us to anticipate what is going to happen .

Routines organize the environment and generate sequences of actions. This certainty about what will happen is what will allow optimal development of skills for learning. Routines offer a predictable guide and facilitate decision-making, making learning much more effective.

Providing security, playing and incorporating activities into everyday life that train working memory and attention will improve the learning capacity of children and young people.

Author Bio: Sylvie Perez Lima is Tutor professor of the Psychology and Education Studies at UOC – Universitat Oberta de Catalunya