Strengthened effective connectivity underlies transfer of working memory training to tests of short-term memory and attention
Open accessAbstract
Although long considered a natively endowed and fixed trait, working memory (WM) ability has recently been shown to improve with intensive training. What remains controversial and poorly understood, however, are the neural bases of these training effects and the extent to which WM training gains transfer to other cognitive tasks. Here we present evidence from human electrophysiology (EEG) and simultaneous transcranial magnetic stimulation and EEG that the transfer of WM training to other cognitive tasks is supported by changes in task-related effective connectivity in frontoparietal and parieto-occipital networks that are engaged by both the trained and transfer tasks. One consequence of this effect is greater efficiency of stimulus processing, as evidenced by changes in EEG indices of individual differences in short-term memory capacity and in visual search performance. Transfer to search-related activity provides evidence that something more fundamental than task-specific strategy or stimulus-specific representations has been learned. Furthermore, these patterns of training and transfer highlight the role of common neural systems in determining individual differences in aspects of visuospatial cognition.
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Dual n-back working memory training has been associated with improvement on similar dual n-back tasks, other tasks of working memory, and fluid intelligence.
“Dual n-back working memory training has been associated with improvement on similar dual n-back tasks, other tasks of working memory, and the broader construct of fluid intelligence [5–18]”
From Dual N-back working memory training in healthy adults: A randomized comparison to processing speed training. (2016) · cites this paper as [7]
Studies reporting performance gains in digit span and reading span after dual n-back training suggest that training increases ability on untrained, closely related tasks (near transfer effects).
“Studies reporting performance gains in tasks such as digit span and reading span [6–8, 10,12] after dual n-back training suggest that training increases ability not only on the trained task (i.e., practice effects), but also on untrained, closely related tasks (near transfer effects).”
From Dual N-back working memory training in healthy adults: A randomized comparison to processing speed training. (2016) · cites this paper as [7]
Near and far transfer effects, albeit mixed, have been demonstrated after dual n-back training in younger (e.g., under 30) and older (e.g., over 60) age groups.
“Although near and far transfer effects, albeit mixed, have been demonstrated after dual n-back training in younger (e.g., under 30) and older (e.g., over 60) age groups [5–12,15,17,18] effects were not previously investigated in a middle age-range sample.”
From Dual N-back working memory training in healthy adults: A randomized comparison to processing speed training. (2016) · cites this paper as [7]
Effects of dual n-back training were not previously investigated in a middle age-range sample.
“Although near and far transfer effects, albeit mixed, have been demonstrated after dual n-back training in younger (e.g., under 30) and older (e.g., over 60) age groups [5–12,15,17,18] effects were not previously investigated in a middle age-range sample.”
From Dual N-back working memory training in healthy adults: A randomized comparison to processing speed training. (2016) · cites this paper as [7]
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- Authors
- Kundu, B., Sutterer, D. W., Emrich, S. M., & Postle, B. R.
- Affiliations
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- University of Oregon (US)
- Brock University (CA)
- Venue
- The Journal of Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Society for Neuroscience
- Published
- 2013-05-15
- Volume
- 33
- Issue
- 20
- Pages
- 8705-8715
- ISSN
- 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
- 1529-2401
- PMC
- PMC3758887
- OpenAlex
- W2076323188
- Cited by
- 161
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 20 · 2013: 9
- FWCI
- 26.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH064498, MH-095428, MH064498, R01MH095984, F30MH095428)
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences (T32GM008692)
- 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 training, transfer of training, effective connectivity, short-term memory capacity, visual search, attention, frontoparietal network, individual differences, visuospatial cognition, transcranial magnetic stimulation, EEG
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Algorithms, Analysis of Variance, Attention, Brain, Brain Mapping, Color Perception, Electroencephalography, Evoked Potentials, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Memory, Short-Term, Neural Pathways, Neuronal Plasticity, Neuropsychological Tests, Photic Stimulation, Psychometrics, Psychomotor Performance, Reaction Time, Space Perception, Transfer, Psychology, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Young Adult
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