Does working memory training lead to generalized improvements in children with low working memory? A randomized controlled trial.
TL;DR: This first randomized controlled trial with low working memory children investigated whether the benefits of training extend beyond standard working memory tasks to other more complex activities typical of the classroom in which working memory plays a role, as well as to other cognitive skills and developing academic abilities.
Abstract: Children with low working memory typically make poor educational progress, and it has been speculated that difficulties in meeting the heavy working memory demands of the classroom may be a contributory factor. Intensive working memory training has been shown to boost performance on untrained memory tasks in a variety of populations. This first randomized controlled trial with low working memory children investigated whether the benefits of training extend beyond standard working memory tasks to other more complex activities typical of the classroom in which working memory plays a role, as well as to other cognitive skills and developing academic abilities. Children aged 7–9 years received either adaptive working memory training, non-adaptive working memory training with low memory loads, or no training. Adaptive training was associated with selective improvements in multiple untrained tests of working memory, with no evidence of changes in classroom analogues of activities that tax working memory, or any other cognitive assessments. Gains in verbal working memory were sustained one year after training. Thus the benefits of working memory training delivered in this way may not extend beyond structured working memory tasks.
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TL;DR: Extensive evidence that brain-training interventions improve performance on the trained tasks, less evidence that such interventions improved performance on closely related tasks, and little evidence that training enhances performance on distantly related tasks or that training improves everyday cognitive performance are found.
Abstract: In 2014, two groups of scientists published open letters on the efficacy of brain-training interventions, or "brain games," for improving cognition. The first letter, a consensus statement from an international group of more than 70 scientists, claimed that brain games do not provide a scientifically grounded way to improve cognitive functioning or to stave off cognitive decline. Several months later, an international group of 133 scientists and practitioners countered that the literature is replete with demonstrations of the benefits of brain training for a wide variety of cognitive and everyday activities. How could two teams of scientists examine the same literature and come to conflicting "consensus" views about the effectiveness of brain training?In part, the disagreement might result from different standards used when evaluating the evidence. To date, the field has lacked a comprehensive review of the brain-training literature, one that examines both the quantity and the quality of the evidence according to a well-defined set of best practices. This article provides such a review, focusing exclusively on the use of cognitive tasks or games as a means to enhance performance on other tasks. We specify and justify a set of best practices for such brain-training interventions and then use those standards to evaluate all of the published peer-reviewed intervention studies cited on the websites of leading brain-training companies listed on Cognitive Training Data (www.cognitivetrainingdata.org), the site hosting the open letter from brain-training proponents. These citations presumably represent the evidence that best supports the claims of effectiveness.Based on this examination, we find extensive evidence that brain-training interventions improve performance on the trained tasks, less evidence that such interventions improve performance on closely related tasks, and little evidence that training enhances performance on distantly related tasks or that training improves everyday cognitive performance. We also find that many of the published intervention studies had major shortcomings in design or analysis that preclude definitive conclusions about the efficacy of training, and that none of the cited studies conformed to all of the best practices we identify as essential to drawing clear conclusions about the benefits of brain training for everyday activities. We conclude with detailed recommendations for scientists, funding agencies, and policymakers that, if adopted, would lead to better evidence regarding the efficacy of brain-training interventions.
754 citations
Cites background from "Does working memory training lead t..."
...After training, most studies report significant transfer to other tasks that also require participants to recall (and probably to rehearse) the sequence of spatial locations with only superficial differences in the visual characteristics of the stimuli (e.g., span-board or dot-matrix tests; Akerlund et al., 2013; Astle et al., 2015; Bergman Nutley et al., 2011; Brehmer et al., 2012; Dunning et al., 2013; Foy & Mann, 2014; Gray et al., 2012; Lundqvist, Grundström, Samuelsson, & Rönnberg, 2010; Roberts et al., 2016; Thorell et al., 2009; Westerberg & Klingberg, 2007)....
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...X task (which requires visual matching following by retention of spatial locations) immediately after training, but not 12 months later (Dunning et al., 2013)....
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..., 2009), other studies failed to detect selective effects in a Cogmed-trained group relative to either a non-adaptive training group (Chacko et al., 2014; Dunning et al., 2013) or a no-contact control group (Egeland et al....
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..., 2010) but by no means all studies (Dunning & Holmes, 2014; Dunning et al., 2013; Foy & Mann, 2014; Gray et al., 2012; Roberts et al., 2016)....
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...A randomized controlled trial with children with low working memory reported no selective improvements in either reading or mathematics 12 months after the completion of training (Dunning et al., 2013)....
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TL;DR: It is concluded that working memory training programs appear to produce short-term, specific training effects that do not generalize to measures of “real-world” cognitive skills.
Abstract: It has been claimed that working memory training programs produce diverse beneficial effects. This article presents a meta-analysis of working memory training studies (with a pretest-posttest design and a control group) that have examined transfer to other measures (nonverbal ability, verbal ability, word decoding, reading comprehension, or arithmetic; 87 publications with 145 experimental comparisons). Immediately following training there were reliable improvements on measures of intermediate transfer (verbal and visuospatial working memory). For measures of far transfer (nonverbal ability, verbal ability, word decoding, reading comprehension, arithmetic) there was no convincing evidence of any reliable improvements when working memory training was compared with a treated control condition. Furthermore, mediation analyses indicated that across studies, the degree of improvement on working memory measures was not related to the magnitude of far-transfer effects found. Finally, analysis of publication bias shows that there is no evidential value from the studies of working memory training using treated controls. The authors conclude that working memory training programs appear to produce short-term, specific training effects that do not generalize to measures of “real-world” cognitive skills. These results seriously question the practical and theoretical importance of current computerized working memory programs as methods of training working memory skills.
584 citations
TL;DR: The importance of executive functioning (EF) skills in mathematical achievement is well established, and researchers have moved from just measuring working memory or updating to an inclusion of other EF skills, namely, inhibition and shifting.
Abstract: The importance of executive functioning (EF) skills in mathematical achievement is well established, and researchers have moved from just measuring working memory or updating to an inclusion of other EF skills, namely, inhibition and shifting. In this article, we review studies that have taken different approaches to measuring EF (e.g., using single vs. multiple indicators) and those that have applied different analytical techniques to conceptualize the structure of EF (e.g., exploratory vs. confirmatory techniques). Across studies, updating is often a unique predictor of math achievement at many ages; the findings relating to inhibition and switching are less conclusive. We discuss these findings in relation to age-related variance in EF structure, the nature of inhibitory and shifting task requirements, and the role of updating as a limiting factor or a common resource for inhibition and shifting.
376 citations
TL;DR: The aim of this review is to illustrate the role of working memory and executive functions for scholastic achievement as an introduction to the question of whether and how workingMemory and executive control training may improve academic abilities.
Abstract: The aim of this review is to illustrate the role of working memory and executive functions for scholastic achievement as an introduction to the question of whether and how working memory and executive control training may improve academic abilities. The review of current research showed limited but converging evidence for positive effects of process-based complex working-memory training on academic abilities, particularly in the domain of reading. These benefits occurred in children suffering from cognitive and academic deficits as well as in healthy students. Transfer of training to mathematical abilities seemed to be very limited and to depend on the training regime and the characteristics of the study sample. A core issue in training research is whether high- or low-achieving children benefit more from cognitive training. Individual differences in terms of training-related benefits suggested that process-based working memory and executive control training often induced compensation effects with larger benefits in low performing individuals. Finally, we discuss the effects of process-based training in relation to other types of interventions aimed at improving academic achievement.
295 citations
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TL;DR: A general statistical methodology for the analysis of multivariate categorical data arising from observer reliability studies is presented and tests for interobserver bias are presented in terms of first-order marginal homogeneity and measures of interob server agreement are developed as generalized kappa-type statistics.
Abstract: This paper presents a general statistical methodology for the analysis of multivariate categorical data arising from observer reliability studies. The procedure essentially involves the construction of functions of the observed proportions which are directed at the extent to which the observers agree among themselves and the construction of test statistics for hypotheses involving these functions. Tests for interobserver bias are presented in terms of first-order marginal homogeneity and measures of interobserver agreement are developed as generalized kappa-type statistics. These procedures are illustrated with a clinical diagnosis example from the epidemiological literature.
64,109 citations
"Does working memory training lead t..." refers background in this paper
...ICCs of .5 –.6 indicate moderate agreement between clusters, .7–.8 show a strong agreement, and ICCs of over .8 almost perfect agreement (Landis & Koch, 1977)....
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07 Feb 2014
6,430 citations
TL;DR: GPOWER performs high-precision statistical power analyses for the most common statistical tests in behavioral research, that is,t tests,F tests, andχ2 tests.
Abstract: GPOWER is a completely interactive, menu-driven program for IBM-compatible and Apple Macintosh personal computers. It performs high-precision statistical power analyses for the most common statistical tests in behavioral research, that is,t tests,F tests, andχ2 tests. GPOWER computes (1) power values for given sample sizes, effect sizes andα levels (post hoc power analyses); (2) sample sizes for given effect sizes,α levels, and power values (a priori power analyses); and (3)α andβ values for given sample sizes, effect sizes, andβ/α ratios (compromise power analyses). The program may be used to display graphically the relation between any two of the relevant variables, and it offers the opportunity to compute the effect size measures from basic parameters defining the alternative hypothesis. This article delineates reasons for the development of GPOWER and describes the program’s capabilities and handling.
4,167 citations
TL;DR: It is proposed that the primary purpose for which the phonological loop evolved is to store unfamiliar sound patterns while more permanent memory records are being constructed, and its use in retaining sequences of familiar words is, it is argued, secondary.
Abstract: A relatively simple model of the phonological loop (A. D. Baddeley, 1986), a component of working memory, has proved capable of accommodating a great deal of experimental evidence from normal adult participants, children, and neuropsychological patients. Until recently, however, the role of this subsystem in everyday cognitive activities was unclear. In this article the authors review studies of word learning by normal adults and children, neuropsychological patients, and special developmental populations, which provide evidence that the phonological loop plays a crucial role in learning the novel phonological forms of new words. The authors propose that the primary purpose for which the phonological loop evolved is to store unfamiliar sound patterns while more permanent memory records are being constructed. Its use in retaining sequences of familiar words is, it is argued,
2,138 citations
TL;DR: It is concluded that it is possible to improve Gf without practicing the testing tasks themselves, opening a wide range of applications.
Abstract: Fluid intelligence (Gf) refers to the ability to reason and to solve new problems independently of previously acquired knowledge. Gf is critical for a wide variety of cognitive tasks, and it is considered one of the most important factors in learning. Moreover, Gf is closely related to professional and educational success, especially in complex and demanding environments. Although performance on tests of Gf can be improved through direct practice on the tests themselves, there is no evidence that training on any other regimen yields increased Gf in adults. Furthermore, there is a long history of research into cognitive training showing that, although performance on trained tasks can increase dramatically, transfer of this learning to other tasks remains poor. Here, we present evidence for transfer from training on a demanding working memory task to measures of Gf. This transfer results even though the trained task is entirely different from the intelligence test itself. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the extent of gain in intelligence critically depends on the amount of training: the more training, the more improvement in Gf. That is, the training effect is dosage-dependent. Thus, in contrast to many previous studies, we conclude that it is possible to improve Gf without practicing the testing tasks themselves, opening a wide range of applications.
2,024 citations