How Do I know Which Exercises To Use In Shirsa?

Think about what you most want to improve: your Memory, Attention, Brain Speed, Critical thinking, and Problem solving. 

Shirsa Exercises

Start with the exercises in that category. Please note, however, that the exercises are complementary, and working in one category will likely enhance benefits in another domain. 

We often recommend that people begin with Brain Speed, since increasing the speed with which the brain can work with information is the foundation for all other cognitive skills.


- Sukhada Desai

How Does Shirsa Achieve These Benefits?

Shirsa's exercises are based on a handful of powerful ideas. Unlike previous cognitive training, they do not try to fix a problem by practicing it—they don’t improve memory by practicing memory. 

Rewiring the Brain

Instead, the exercises start with elemental cognitive function by first improving the speed and accuracy of your sensory perceptions. This becomes the foundation for improved attention. Improved attention is the building block of working memory, and working memory is the building block of much else—immediate memory, delayed memory, episodic memory, executive function, reasoning, speech and language, visual-spatial skills, and so on. No one has taken this complete bottom-up approach to cognitive training before.

In addition, our scientists are experts in brain plasticity, the ability of the brain to re-wire and change. Each exercise draws on what experts have learned in recent years about driving change in the brain.

Training must be focused on improving speed to meet real-world conditions; it must intensively and progressively improve accuracy; it must adapt continuously and minutely (by thousandths of a second) to each person’s performance; it must be designed so the task gradually generalizes to real-world experience; it must be engaging in a way that stimulates neurotransmitters (chemicals in the brain that enhance attention, learning and mood) and that brings you back to do the exercises again and again.

- Sukhada Desai