Targeted training: Converging evidence against the transferable benefits of online brain training on cognitive function

Neuropsychologia
Bobby StojanoskiAdrian M Owen

Abstract

There is strong incentive to improve our cognitive abilities, and brain training has emerged as a promising approach for achieving this goal. While the idea that extensive 'training' on computerized tasks will improve general cognitive functioning is appealing, the evidence to support this remains contentious. This is, in part, because of poor criteria for selecting training tasks and outcome measures resulting in inconsistent definitions of what constitutes transferable improvement to cognition. The current study used a targeted training approach to investigate whether training on two different, but related, working memory tasks (across two experiments, with 72 participants) produced transferable benefits to similar (quantified based on cognitive and neural profiles) untrained test tasks. Despite significant improvement on both training tasks, participants did not improve on either test task. In fact, performance on the test tasks after training were nearly identical to a passive control group. These results indicate that, despite maximizing the likelihood of producing transferable benefits, brain training does not generalize, even to very similar tasks. Our study calls into question the benefit of cognitive training beyond pr...Continue Reading

Citations

Mar 3, 2020·Frontiers in Psychology·David J HarrisSamuel J Vine
Jan 2, 2021·The American Journal of Medicine·Gretchen O ReynoldsSeth A Gale
Jul 17, 2021·Human Brain Mapping·Emily Sophia NicholsAdrian Mark Owen
Dec 15, 2018·ACS Chemical Neuroscience·Martin DreslerDimitris Repantis

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