Trial reportTranslational psychiatry2022
Adaptive working memory training does not produce transfer effects in cognition and neuroimaging.
Trial report in Translational psychiatry, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05929872 (The Efficacy of Strategic Memory Training Coupled With Non-invasive Brain Stimulation Techniques in Healthy Aging Population and Subjective Cognitive Decline Patients), which is not on this map. Cited by 15 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
The Efficacy of Strategic Memory Training Coupled With Non-invasive Brain Stimulation Techniques in Healthy Aging Population and Subjective Cognitive Decline Patients: a Randomized-controlled Study
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The asymmetry of working memory training transfer: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Psychonomic bulletin & review · 2026Pooled it
- Comparative Efficacy of Cognitive Training for Post-Stroke Aphasia: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis.Neurorehabilitation and neural repair · 2024Pooled it
- Change in Resting-State Functional Connectivity Following Working Memory Training in Individuals With Repetitive Negative Thinking.Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging · 2024Trial
- A comparison of single-domain and multidomain executive functions cognitive training for enhancing cognition and well-being in older adults.Psychological research · 2026Article
- The effects of working memory training on decision-making in collegiate basketball referees: a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Cognitive training shapes brain plasticity and schematic representations.Behavioral and brain functions : BBF · 2025Review
- Brain-Inspired Multisensory Learning: A Systematic Review of Neuroplasticity and Cognitive Outcomes in Adult Multicultural and Second Language Acquisition.Biomimetics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Thinking as Analogy-Making: Toward a Neural Process Account of General Intelligence.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Review
- Exploring the n-back task: insights, applications, and future directions.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Review
- Cognitive training gain transfer in cognitively healthy aging: per protocol results of the German AgeGain study.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2025Article
- A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis of Cognitive Training in the Treatment of Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorder.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- Mindfulness in Pregnancy and Postpartum: Protocol of a Pilot Randomized Trial of Virtually Delivered Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy to Promote Well-Being during the Perinatal Period.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Similarity between structural and proxy estimates of brain connectivity.Journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism : official journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism · 2024Article
- Systematic Human Learning and Generalization From a Brief Tutorial With Explanatory Feedback.Open mind : discoveries in cognitive science · 2024Article
- Tai Chi exercise improves working memory capacity and emotion regulation ability.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Despite growing interest in cognitive interventions from academia and industry, it remains unclear if working memory (WM) training, one of the most popular cognitive interventions, produces transfer effects. Transfer effects are training-induced gains in performance in untrained cognitive tasks, while practice effects are improvements in trained task. The goal of this study was to evaluate potential transfer effects by comprehensive cognitive testing and neuroimaging. In this prospective, randomized-controlled, and single-blind study, we administered an 8-week n-back training to 55 healthy middle-aged (50-64 years) participants. State-of-the-art multimodal neuroimaging was used to examine potential anatomic and functional changes. Relative to control subjects, who performed non-adaptive WM training, no near or far transfer effects were detected in experimental subjects, who performed adaptive WM training. Equivalently, no training-related changes were observed in white matter integrity, amplitude of low frequency fluctuations, glucose metabolism, functional and metabolic connectivity. Exploratory within-group comparisons revealed some gains in transfer tasks, which, however, cannot be attributed to an increased WM capacity. In conclusion, WM training produces transfer effects neither at the cognitive level nor in terms of neural structure or function. These results speak against a common view that training-related gains reflect an increase in underlying WM capacity. Instead, the presently observed practice effects may be a result of optimized task processing strategies, which do not necessarily engage neural plasticity.
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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.