SynthesisFrontiers in psychology2022
What Is Targeted When We Train Working Memory? Evidence From a Meta-Analysis of the Neural Correlates of Working Memory Training Using Activation Likelihood Estimation.
Synthesis in Frontiers in psychology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effortful and effortless training of executive functions improve brain multiple demand system activities differently: an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Pooled it
- Trial
- Review
- Meta-analysis of computerised working memory training: behavioural gains, training parameters, transfer mechanisms, and neural correlates.NPJ digital medicine · 2026Article
- Evaluate the effectiveness of cognitive stimulation and physiological dynamization on sleep inertia.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Article
- Identification of Reliable Target Brain Regions for Enhancing Object-Location Memory by Brain Stimulation.Brain and behavior · 2025Article
- Temporal and spatial variability of dynamic microstate brain network in disorders of consciousness.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors at 9 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Working memory (WM) is the system responsible for maintaining and manipulating information, in the face of ongoing distraction. In turn, WM span is perceived to be an individual-differences construct reflecting the limited capacity of this system. Recently, however, there has been some evidence to suggest that WM capacity can increase through training, raising the possibility that training can functionally alter the neural structures supporting WM. To address the hypothesis that the neural substrates underlying WM are targeted by training, we conducted a meta-analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies of WM training using Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE). Our results demonstrate that WM training is associated exclusively with decreases in blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) responses in clusters within the fronto-parietal system that underlie WM, including the bilateral inferior parietal lobule (BA 39/40), middle (BA 9) and superior (BA 6) frontal gyri, and medial frontal gyrus bordering on the cingulate gyrus (BA 8/32). We discuss the various psychological and physiological mechanisms that could be responsible for the observed reductions in the BOLD signal in relation to WM training, and consider their implications for the construct of WM span as a limited resource.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.