Training working memory: Limits of transfer

Task- or stimulus-specific strategies probably explain much of the pretest-to-posttest improvement for intermediate and near transfer to verbal and visuospatial working memory tasks.

“For intermediate and near transfer effects to verbal and visuo-spatial working memory tasks, the development of task- or stimulus-specific strategies is likely to explain a large amount of the pretest-to-posttest improvement (Gibson et al., 2014; Dunning & Holmes, 2014; Sprenger et al., 2013).”

Deviation from double-blind procedure is the norm in the cognitive training literature, with only a small number of studies attempting a double-blind placebo-control procedure.

“Unfortunately, deviation from the double-blind procedure is the norm within the cognitive training literature: We know of only a small number of studies that attempted to use a double blind placebo-control procedure (Sprenger et al., 2013, Study 2;von Bastian & Eschen, 2015).”

A prior Bayesian study found that transfer from other training types to untrained tasks consistently supported the null.

“there is at least one study using Bayesian analyses that showed that transfer from other forms of training to non-trained tasks uniformly favored the null (see Sprenger et al., 2013).”

Process-specific explanations struggle to explain why some shared features and processes are sufficient for transfer while others are not.

“On the other hand, process-specific explanations of transfer as reflecting increases in the efficiency of individual processes within WM (Dahlin et al., 2008; Minear et al., 2016; Sprenger et al., 2013) struggle to explain why some shared task features and processes are sufficient for transfer whereas others are not.”

Far transfer effects after training WM, IC, or attention are still limited and inconclusive.

“Although plenty of studies have found near transfer effects after training WM, IC, or attention, far transfer effects are still limited and inconclusive (Thorell et al., 2009; Spierer et al., 2013; Sprenger et al., 2013; Enge et al., 2014; Schwaighofer et al., 2015; Melby-Lervåg et al., 2016).”

Research investigating transfer within and across working memory paradigms following training has largely concluded that transfer is confined to untrained working memory tests that are highly similar to the trained activities.

“Research investigating transfer within and across working memory paradigms following training has largely concluded that transfer is confined to untrained working memory tests that are highly similar to the trained activities (e.g., Harrison et al., 2013; Sprenger et al., 2013; von Bastian et al., 2013; Minear et al., 2016; Blacker et al., 2017; Soveri et al., 2017).”