Changes in cortical activity after training of working memory — a single-subject analysis
Abstract
Working memory (WM) capacity is an important factor for a wide range of cognitive skills. This capacity has generally been assumed to be fixed. However, recent studies have suggested that WM can be improved by intensive, computerized training [Klingberg T, Fernell E, Olesen P, Johnson M, Gustafsson P, Dahlström K, et al. Computerized training of working memory in children with ADHD--a randomized, controlled trial. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psych 2005;44:177--86]. A recent study by Olesen, Westerberg and Klingberg [Olesen P, Westerberg H, Klingberg T. Increased prefrontal and parietal brain activity after training of working memory. Nat Neurosci 2004;7:75--9] showed that group analysis of brain activity data show increases in prefrontal and parietal cortices after WM training. In the present study we performed single-subject analysis of the changes in brain activity after five weeks of training. Three young, healthy adults participated in the study. On two separate days before practice and during one day after practice, brain activity was measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during performance of a WM and a baseline task. Practice on the WM tasks gradually improved performance and this effect lasted several months. The effect of practice also generalized to improve performance on a non-trained WM task and a reasoning task. After training, WM-related brain activity was significantly increased in the middle and inferior frontal gyrus. The changes in activity were not due to activations of any additional area that was not activated before training. Instead, the changes could best be described by small increases in the extent of the area of activated cortex. The effect of training of WM is thus in several respects similar to the changes in the functional map observed in primate studies of skill learning, although the physiological effect in WM training is located in the prefrontal association cortex.
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Studies of the neural mechanism of working memory training in healthy adults suggest training increases prefrontal and parietal cortex activity.
“Studies of the neural mechanism of action of WMT in 2 modestly sized functional magnetic resonance imaging studies in healthy adults (n03 and n08) in Olesen et al. [35] and (n03) in Westerberg and Klingberg [41] suggest that WMT increases brain activity in the PFC and parietal cortex [35]”
From Will Working Memory Training Generalize to Improve Off-Task Behavior in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder? (2012) · cites this paper as [41]
Plasticity accounts lack specificity to accommodate limited transfer across WM tasks.
“Accounts that attribute training and transfer to plasticity in the undifferentiated neural substrate of WM (Klingberg, 2010; Westerberg & Klingberg, 2007) lack the specificity to accommodate limited transfer across WM tasks.”
From Working memory training involves learning new skills (2019) · cites this paper as Westerberg & Klingberg, 2007
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- Authors
- Westerberg, H., & Klingberg, T.
- Affiliations
- Karolinska Institutet (SE)
- Corresponding author
- Klingberg, Torkel
- ORCID
- Klingberg, Torkel
- Venue
- Physiology & Behavior
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2007-09
- Volume
- 92
- Issue
- 1-2
- Pages
- 186-192
- ISSN
- 0031-9384 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2141559543
- Cited by
- 259
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 26 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 23 · 2014: 24 · 2013: 20 · 2012: 14
- FWCI
- 18.76
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Physiology & Behavior (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
- Keywords
- working memory, working memory training, single-subject analysis, prefrontal cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, brain activity changes, training-induced plasticity, transfer of training, reasoning tasks, skill acquisition, functional maps
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Brain Mapping, Cerebral Cortex, Female, Humans, Learning, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Memory, Short-Term, Neuropsychological Tests, Practice, Psychological, Reference Values, Prefrontal Cortex
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