Does Working Memory Training Transfer? A Meta-Analysis Including Training Conditions as Moderators

Do Individual Differences Predict Change in Cognitive Training Performance? A Latent Growth Curve Modeling Approach

“…Such compensation effects have been argued to emerge as participants with lower initial cognitive status have more room for improvement (see Titz and Karbach 2014 for a review). These diverging findings are reflected by recent meta-analyses, with some reporting evidence for age being a moderator of training outcomes (e.g., MelbyLervåg and Hulme 2013) and others not (e.g., Karbach and Verhaeghen 2014;Schwaighofer et al 2015). A closely related yet potentiallydistinct factor possibly contributing tothese mixed findings is general cognitive functioning (von Bastian and Oberauer 2014).…”

“…Although the idea of improving general cognitive functioning within a few weeks is enticing, there is also accumulating evidence against a generalized effect of WM training (e.g., Clark et al 2017;De Simoni and von Bastian 2017;Guye and von Bastian 2017;Sprenger et al 2013). Even on the meta-analytic level, evidence is mixed regarding the effectiveness of cognitive training in both younger and older adults (e.g., Au et al 2015;Dougherty et al 2016;Karbach and Verhaeghen 2014;Kelly et al 2014;Lampit et al 2014;Melby-Lervåg and Hulme 2013;Melby-Lervåg et al 2016;Schwaighofer et al 2015;Soveri et al 2017). Aside from design and methodological choices potentially explaining the diverging findings (e.g., Noack et al 2009;Shipstead et al 2012), many authors increasingly articulated the potentially important influence of individual differences on cognitive training trajectories and outcomes (e.g., Buitenweg et al 2012;Guye et al 2016;Könen and Karbach 2015;Shah et al 2012;von Bastian and Oberauer 2014 Individual differences in cognitive functioning (e.g., Ackerman and Lohman 2006) and learning potential (e.g., Stern 2017) accentuate with increasing age (e.g., Rabbitt et al 2004) and have been shown to be related to personality (e.g., Graham and Lachman 2012), cognition-related beliefs such as need for cognition (NFC; e.g., Fleischhauer et al 2010;Hill et al 2013), and everyday life activities (e.g., Jopp and Hertzog 2007).…”

Who Benefits the Most? Individual Differences in the Transfer of Executive Control Training Across the Lifespan

“…Importantly, these training-related benefits usually benefit performance on untrained similar tasks assessing the same ability as the training tasks (near transfer) and oftentimes also to performance on tasks measuring untrained related abilities (far transfer), even though these far transfer have not been reported consistently across the literature (for meta-analyses see Au et al 2015;Karbach and Verhaeghen 2014;Schwaighofer et al 2015). All in all, previous research shows that cognitive plasticity (i.e., the potential modifiability of a person's cognitive abilities) seems to be present across the lifespan, even up to very old age (Buschkuehl et al 2008;Karbach et al 2010;Li et al 2008;Schmiedek et al 2010;Zinke et al 2012).…”

The effectiveness of working memory training – points to consider for future research

“…A heated discussion around this topic is still present not only in scientific magazines, but it is also observed in form of the above mentioned open letters published online and exchanged between two opponent groups of researchers. Growing number of meta-analysis and reviews demonstrates how much controversy the issue of effectiveness of WMT stirs (Dougherty, Hamovitz, & Tidwell, 2015;Hulme & MelbyLervåg, 2012;Klingberg, 2010;Melby-Lervåg & Hulme, 2013;Morrison & Chein, 2012;Redick, Shipstead, Wiemers, Melby-Lervåg, & Hulme, 2015;Redick, 2015;Schwaighofer, Fischer, & Bühner, 2015;Shipstead, Hicks, & Engle, 2012a, 2012bShipstead, Redick, & Engle, 2012;von Bastian & Oberauer, 2013). There are also publications reviewing the research conducted on clinical groups (Gates, Fiatarone Singh, Sachdev, & Valenzuela, 2013;Weicker & Thöne-otto, 2015).…”