No abstract

Cognitive abilities refer to brain based skills that are required to carry out any task ranging from the simplest to the most complex. Since these skills play a significant role in our day to day activities, efforts are being made by researchers for their further enhancement. The objective of the present study was to investigate if these abilities can be enhanced through a training module on critical thinking. Critical thinking involves something more than cognitive skills. Critical thinking is not static but a constantly evolving process and even more crucial in a military environment. This study consists of certain activities which are designed in such a manner that the solution of it can be generated through critical thinking. These activities were administered on 36 participants (20 male, 16 female). Each Participant’s baseline cognitive performance was assessed after which training was given to them in the form of different critical thinking activities followed by post assessment of cognitive abilities. Paired sample t - test was used which showed that There was a significant difference in the cognitive performance post critical thinking activities.

Human behaviour is studied across a wide range of people from the emotionally disturbed to the healthy. Study of human behaviour helps to break through the mental barriers, facilitating the performance and enhancing consistency of performance. Psychology has traditionally been identifi ed and studied as a trilogy of the mind: cognition, affect and conation. Cognition refers to concentration, attention, alertness, focus and other mental attributes. Affect includes anxiety, fear and stress proneness. Conation refers to the striving component (the mental processes) which causes an individual to act, react and interact according to an innate pattern of behaviour. It includes the psychomotor abilities which characterise mental processes that have motor consequences. Conation thus includes psychomotor abilities and motivation of the individual, which can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. These three domains viz. cognition, affect and conation affect an individuals performance. For example a small event, even a minor injury, on the match day can make a sportsperson doubt his ability. Thus affecting his concentration (cognition), by causing anxiety (affect) enhancing/degrading his reaction time to perform (conation). Under undue stressful conditions sportspersons tend to have a narrow attention span, often referred to as 'Tunnel Vision'. Attention may also focus on the athlete's internal thought process which can lead to 'choking' under pressure. The present paper is an approach to help understand the effective latent processes active within a sportsperson in terms of his cognitive, affective and conative ability that results in enhancing his confi dence, attention span and composure to perform optimally in adverse situations. on 30 April 2019 by guest. Protected by copyright.