ArticlePsychonomic bulletin & review2021
Training-induced improvement in working memory tasks results from switching to efficient strategies.
Article in Psychonomic bulletin & review, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed.
- Transfer Effects of Integrated Adaptive Working Memory Training in School-Age Children: Improvements in Inhibitory Control and Asymmetric Gains in Mathematical Abilities.Journal of Intelligence · 2026Article
- Neurocognitive academic training to improve symptoms executive functions and Chinese handwriting in children with ADHD.NPJ science of learning · 2026Article
- Meta-analysis of computerised working memory training: behavioural gains, training parameters, transfer mechanisms, and neural correlates.NPJ digital medicine · 2026Article
- Short-Term Practice Modulates ERP Components Without Behavioral Change in a Short-ISI Go/NoGo Task.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Spontaneous memory strategies in a videogame simulating everyday memory tasks.Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006) · 2024Article
- Self-reported strategy use in working memory tasks.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Strategy use and its evolvement in word list learning: a replication study.Royal Society open science · 2024Article
- Asymmetric negative transfer effects of working memory training.Memory & cognition · 2023Article
- Semantic Bimodal Presentation Differentially Slows Working Memory Retrieval.Brain sciences · 2023Article
- Training allows switching from limited-capacity manipulations to large-capacity perceptual processing.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2023Article
- Mind your nose: A randomized controlled trial of olfactory-based memory training for older people with subjective cognitive decline.Alzheimer's & dementia (New York, N. Y.)Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
It is debated whether training with a working memory (WM) task, particularly n-back, can improve general WM and reasoning skills. Most training studies found substantial improvement in the trained task, with little to no transfer to untrained tasks. We hypothesized that training does not increase WM capacity, but instead provides opportunities to develop an efficient task-specific strategy. We derived a strategy for the task that optimizes WM resources and taught it to participants. In two sessions, 14 participants who were taught this strategy performed as well as fourteen participants who trained for 40 sessions without strategy instructions. To understand the mechanisms underlying the no-instruction group's improvement, participants answered questionnaires during their training period. Their replies indicate that successful learners discovered the same strategy and their improvement was associated with this discovery. We conclude that n-back training allows the discovery of strategies that enable better performance with the same WM resources.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.