Is Training with the N-Back Task More Effective Than with Other Tasks? N-Back vs. Dichotic Listening vs. Simple Listening

Studer-Luethi, Barbara; Meier, Beat

doi:10.1007/s41465-020-00202-3

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 87 publications

(108 reference statements)

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“…Fourth, although there are no head-to-head comparisons available, there is some evidence to suggest that tests for executive functions (e.g., WCST) and decision making (e.g., IGT) may be more susceptible to practice effects than the tests for working memory (e.g., verbal and visual N-back tests). [ 25 29 ] Out of the five parameters measured in the WCST, only one (perseverative error) showed a significant change over time. Had practice effect been the most likely explanation for this improvement, we should have observed changes in other parameters as well.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Six-month buprenorphine-naloxone treatment is associated with neurocognitive function improvement in opioid dependence

Ghosh

Mahintamani²,

Rana³

et al. 2022

Indian J Psychiatry

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Background and Aim: The number of longitudinal studies on cognitive functions in patients on buprenorphine-based agonist treatment is limited. Our objective was to assess the change in neurocognitive functions over the first 6 months of buprenorphine-naloxone (BNX) treatment for opioid dependence (OD) and compare cognitive functions on BNX and controls. Methods: We selected 60 patients with OD aged 18 to 55 years and 20 sex-matched controls; and excluded patients with other substance dependence, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), head injury, epilepsy, and severe mental illness. We assessed patients thrice: at baseline, 3, and 6 months and Controls once. Cognitive tests included Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST), Iowa gambling task (IGT), trail making tests A and B (TMT-A and B), verbal and visual N-back test (NBT), and standard progressive matrices (SPM). We measured with-in group effect size with Cohen’s D (d). Results: A total of 24 participants completed at least one follow-up; 17 completed both follow-up assessments. All participants were men. At baseline, the patients performed worse than healthy controls in IGT, TMT-A, and B, and visual and verbal NBT. At 3 months, the performance of visual NBT improved significantly (d = 1.2 for NBT1; 1.3 for NBT2). At 6 months, additional performance improvements were seen in WCST (“perseverative error” d = 1.2), IGT (“net total score” d = 1.2), TMT-A (d = 1.1), and verbal NBT (“omission error” d = 1.7). Except for visual-NBT, results did not differ between patients and controls at both follow-ups. Conclusion: Cognitive flexibility, decision making, attention, working memory, and psychomotor speed showed improvements over 6 months of a stable dose of BNX.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Six-month buprenorphine-naloxone treatment is associated with neurocognitive function improvement in opioid dependence

Ghosh

Mahintamani²,

Rana³

et al. 2022

Indian J Psychiatry

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“…This result is difficult to interpret, especially since the n-back task was one of the training tasks in the CT. Previous research mostly showed positive effects of CT on n-back related tasks ( Jaeggi et al, 2010 ; Studer-Luethi and Meier, 2020 ). However, after the CT group received the MMI, they significantly improved their performance compared to the MMI group.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Randomized Controlled Trial Study of a Multimodal Intervention vs. Cognitive Training to Foster Cognitive and Affective Health in Older Adults

et al. 2022

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Research over the past few decades has shown the positive influence that cognitive, social, and physical activities have on older adults’ cognitive and affective health. Especially interventions in health-related behaviors, such as cognitive activation, physical activity, social activity, nutrition, mindfulness, and creativity, have shown to be particularly beneficial. Whereas most intervention studies apply unimodal interventions, such as cognitive training (CT), this study investigates the potential to foster cognitive and affective health factors of older adults by means of an autonomy-supportive multimodal intervention (MMI). The intervention integrates everyday life recommendations for six evidence-based areas combined with psychoeducational information. This randomized controlled trial study compares the effects of a MMI and CT on those of a waiting control group (WCG) on cognitive and affective factors, everyday life memory performance, and activity in everyday life. Three groups, including a total of 119 adults aged 65–86 years, attended a 5- or 10-week intervention. Specifically, one group completed a 10-week MMI, the second group completed 5-week of computer-based CT followed by a 5-week MMI, whereas the third group paused before completing the MMI for the last 5 weeks. All participants completed online surveys and cognitive tests at three test points. The findings showed an increase in the number and variability of activities in the everyday lives of all participants. Post hoc analysis on cognitive performance of MMI to CT indicate similar (classic memory and attention) or better (working memory) effects. Furthermore, results on far transfer variables showed interesting trends in favor of the MMI, such as increased well-being and attitude toward the aging brain. Also, the MMI group showed the biggest perceived improvements out of all groups for all self-reported personal variables (memory in everyday life and stress). The results implicate a positive trend toward MMI on cognitive and affective factors of older adults. These tendencies show the potential of a multimodal approach compared to training a specific cognitive function. Moreover, the findings suggest that information about MMI motivates participants to increase activity variability and frequency in everyday life. Finally, the results could also have implications for the primary prevention of neurocognitive deficits and degenerative diseases.

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“…This speaks to one of the most contentious issues in the cognitive training literature; that is, whether training on cognitive tasks can lead to generalized improvements in cognition. While some authors have suggested that training on one cognitive task leads to improvements on unrelated tasks (Au et al, 2015; Brem et al, 2018; De Lillo, Brunsdon, Bradford, Gasking, & Ferguson, 2021; Flegal, Ragland, & Ranganath, 2019; Jaeggi, Buschkuehl, Jonides, & Perrig, 2008; Kattner, 2021; Li et al, 2021; Olfers & Band, 2018; Studer‐Luethi & Meier, 2020), a considerable number of studies have failed to show such effects (Owen et al, 2010; Stojanoski et al, 2020; Stojanoski, Lyons, Pearce, & Owen, 2018). Indeed, while the holy grail of the cognitive training literature is so‐called “far transfer” (i.e., where training on one task improves performance on a completely unrelated second task), many studies have failed to even demonstrate “near transfer” (i.e., when training on one task improves performance on a similar, cognitively related second task) (Simons et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Longitudinal white matter changes associated with cognitive training

Nichols

Erez

Stojanoski

et al. 2021

Human Brain Mapping

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Improvements in behavior are known to be accompanied by both structural and functional changes in the brain. However, whether those changes lead to more general improvements, beyond the behavior being trained, remains a contentious issue. We investigated whether training on one of two cognitive tasks would lead to either near transfer (that is, improvements on a quantifiably similar task) or far transfer (that is, improvements on a quantifiably different task), and furthermore, if such changes did occur, what the underlying neural mechanisms might be. Healthy adults (n = 16, 15 females) trained on either a verbal inhibitory control task or a visuospatial working memory task for 4 weeks, over the course of which they received five diffusion tensor imaging scans. Two additional tasks served as measures of near and far transfer. Behaviorally, participants improved on the task that they trained on, but did not improve on cognitively similar tests (near transfer), nor cognitively dissimilar tests (far transfer). Extensive changes to white matter microstructure were observed, with verbal inhibitory control training leading to changes in a left‐lateralized network of frontotemporal and occipitofrontal tracts, and visuospatial working memory training leading to changes in right‐lateralized frontoparietal tracts. Very little overlap was observed in changes between the two training groups. On the basis of these results, we suggest that near and far transfer were not observed because the changes in white matter tracts associated with training on each task are almost entirely nonoverlapping with, and therefore afford no advantages for, the untrained tasks.

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Is Training with the N-Back Task More Effective Than with Other Tasks? N-Back vs. Dichotic Listening vs. Simple Listening

Cited by 7 publications

References 87 publications

Six-month buprenorphine-naloxone treatment is associated with neurocognitive function improvement in opioid dependence

Six-month buprenorphine-naloxone treatment is associated with neurocognitive function improvement in opioid dependence

A Randomized Controlled Trial Study of a Multimodal Intervention vs. Cognitive Training to Foster Cognitive and Affective Health in Older Adults

Longitudinal white matter changes associated with cognitive training

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