Study: Working memory training can improve fluid intelligence

By: Alvaro Fernandez

Very inter­est­ing new study on com­put­er­ized cog­ni­tive train­ing (or brain train­ing), well sum­ma­rized in LA Times arti­cle Mem­ory train­ing improves intel­li­gence in some chil­dren, report says. Quote:

The train­ing pro­gram used by Jaeggi and co-workers focused on ramp­ing up work­ing mem­ory: the abil­ity to hold in mind a hand­ful of infor­ma­tion bits briefly, and to update them as needed. Cog­ni­tive sci­en­tists con­sider work­ing mem­ory a key com­po­nent of intel­li­gence. But they have long debated whether strength­en­ing short-term mem­ory capac­ity will boost a person’s over­all intel­lec­tual func­tion, and will do so even after the brain-training ses­sions are over.

It can, and it does, accord­ing to this new research, pub­lished in the Pro­ceed­ings of the National Acad­emy of Sciences.

The full study, Short-term and long-term ben­e­fits of cog­ni­tive train­ing, is avail­able here, and includes this cru­cial and often over­looked analysis:

We con­clude that cog­ni­tive train­ing can be effec­tive and long-lasting, but that there are lim­it­ing fac­tors that must be con­sid­ered to eval­u­ate the effects of this train­ing, one of which is indi­vid­ual dif­fer­ences in train­ing per­for­mance. We pro­pose that future research should not inves­ti­gate whether cog­ni­tive train­ing works, but rather should deter­mine what train­ing reg­i­mens and what train­ing con­di­tions result in the best trans­fer effects, inves­ti­gate the under­ly­ing neural and cog­ni­tive mech­a­nisms, and finally, inves­ti­gate for whom cog­ni­tive train­ing is most useful.


Article retrieved from: http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2011/06/14/study-working-memory-training-can-improve-fluid-intelligence/


Image retrieved from: http://www.healthadel.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/brain1.jpg

Posted in: