What is Mental Capacity?
Mental capacity is often understood as a synonym for brainpower or intelligence. ATIA understands
mental capacity as encompassing intelligence or cognitive capacity, but also the capacity to regulate
one’s emotions. Since Damasio’s groundbreaking research, we know that emotions do not only
hamper decision making, but they can also do the opposite: assist us in optimal decision taking (as
long as somatic markers, e.g. afferent feedback signals, inform us about the positive or negative
consequences of behavioural options).
At ATIA, researchers use Advanced Analytics to discover patterns of individual characteristics that
define someone’s mental capacity. These patterns are detected in questionnaires and psychological
tests as well as in the structure and functioning of brain networks. Within this area, the research and
the applications developed by ATIA are focused on clinical decision support for compromised mental
capacity in people with mental disorders, as well as on detecting talents.
One of the advances in this field is that ATIA defines talent as the difference between acquired
mental capacities and the level to which these could be developed according to the capacities of an
individuals brain. Both types of applications are aimed at optimizing a person’s functioning.
Summary
It will be possible to compare differences in the anatomy and functioning of neural networks of
special groups (ranging from special talents to specific patients) with 1000 representative brains.
In doing so more insight is gained in mental capacities and potential ways for developing these
further.