Focusing on cognitive potential as the bright side of mental atypicality

Colzato, Beste and Hommel discuss the possibility of a theoretical framework which considers the positive potential of selective cognitive dysfunction. They suggest a two-step approach to identify the potential and develop the corresponding training. Standard accounts of mental health are based on a deficit view solely focusing on cognitive impairments associated with psychiatric conditions. Based on the principle of neural competition, we suggest an alternative. Rather than focusing on deficits, we should focus on the cognitive potential that selective dysfunctions might bring with them. Our approach is based on two steps: the identification of the potential (i.e., of neural systems that might have benefited from reduced competition) and the development of corresponding training methods, using the testing-the-limits approach. Counterintuitively, we suggest to train not only the impaired function but on the function that might have benefitted or that may benefit from the lesser neural competition of the dysfunctional system.

Automated summary

This article discusses the positive potential of selective cognitive dysfunction and proposes a two-step approach to identify and develop corresponding training methods. Traditional views on mental health focus on cognitive impairments, whereas we should pay attention to the cognitive potential that selective dysfunctions might bring.