Working memory training
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Working memory training is a process of increasing working memory, a core cognitive ability, through systematic exercises to achieve some tangible gains in cognitive performance. Once considered to be ineffective for increasing working memory capacity, recent research now suggests that some computerized working memory training can produce cognitive gains that lead to benefits in daily life among some populations, including those who typically experience poor working memory, such as people with ADHD. This research, although in need of further exploration, is inspired by the concept of neuroplasticity and has been expanded upon by researchers from various universities in Europe and North America.
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[edit] What is working memory?
Important for daily functioning, working memory can be defined as an executive function that allows humans and animals to hold information in mind for brief periods of time. Working memory capacity differs from individual to individual and can be generally measured by the number of pieces of discrete information that a person can hold in mind at any given moment. For example, someone who can remember and repeat a series of eight instructions has a greater working memory capacity than someone who can only recall a series of five. Numerous scientific studies correlate high working memory with strength in other fundamental cognitive abilities, including attention and intelligence.[1][2] Conversely, poor working memory is one of the core deficits in ADHD as well as a number of learning disabilities.[3][4]
[edit] History
In the 1970s, as the concept of working memory was becoming more widely accepted and its importance better understood, there were attempts to improve it through various methods.[5] In one case, a college student practiced repeating numbers that were read to him aloud for an hour each day.[6] He did this three to five times a week for twenty months until he could repeat as many as 79 digits. It would seem his working memory had improved. But in fact the same student, when asked to repeat letters, could only recall six at a time. As it turns out, the student had devised ways to group numbers and relate them to similar figures already in his long term memory. In reality, his working memory capacity had not increased. This study and others like it contributed to the prevailing assumption in the scientific community that working memory is a set characteristic unable to be improved.
[edit] Discovery that working memory can be improved
In 1999, Dr. Torkel Klingberg, then a post-doctoral researcher at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, discovered that working memory capacity could be improved through systematic, computerized exercises. Aware of previous failed attempts to improve working memory, Klingberg's research was inspired by numerous studies demonstrating the plasticity of the human mind.[7]:Chapter 8
After partnering with two Swedish game developers, Klingberg launched a double-blind placebo-controlled study to examine the effects of computerized training on a group of children with ADHD. This population, which typically exhibits shortcomings in working memory, was chosen with the idea that any improvements in working memory would be most easily detected in daily functioning.
The subjects performed training five days a week for five weeks using a video game-like program that constantly adapted its level of difficulty to the user's performance. Post-training results revealed that the students' working memory had improved substantially and that these gains had transferred into daily life, with ADHD symptoms diminishing.[8] The research was later published in 2002 in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology.
[edit] Ongoing research
After confirming his initial research with a second, larger study that was published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychology,[9] Klingberg founded Cogmed,[7]:191 a company which refined the training program and made it commercially available through licensed medical doctors and psychologists.
Intrigued by Klingberg's findings, which challenged the conventional notion of working memory as a set characteristic, independent researchers from universities around the world have also studied the effects of the Cogmed training on children with attention issues. Among them are Notre Dame,[10] NYU,[11] and the University of York.[12] In addition, many researchers are now exploring the use of working memory training for various new applications, with studies having been completed or launched on normal and aging adults,[13] pediatric cancer survivors,[14] and victims of stroke and traumatic brain injury.[15]
Klingberg, now a professor of neuroscience at the Karolinska Institute, continues to research working memory and the impact of training it. He has published numerous studies on the topic, most recently in the February 2009 edition of Science.[16]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Barkley RA (1997), Behavioral inhibition, sustained attention, and executive functions: constructing a unifying theory of ADHD. Psychol Bull 121:65-94
- ^ Conway AR, Kane MJ, Engle RW (2003) Working memory capacity and its relation to general intelligence. Trends Cogn Sci 7:547-552
- ^ Castellanos FX, Tannock R (2002), Neuroscience of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: the search for endophenotypes. Nat Rev Neurosci 3:617-628
- ^ Gathercole, SE, Pickering, SJ (2000) Working memory deficits in children with low achievement in the national curriculum at 7 years of age. Br J Educ Psychol. Jun;70 ( Pt 2):177-94
- ^ Butterfield, E.C.; C. Wambold, and J.M. Belmont, “On the Theory and Practice of Improving Short-Term Memory,” American Journal of Mental Deficiency 77 (1973): 654-69
- ^ Ericsson, K.A.; W.G. Chase, and S. Fallon, “Acquisition of a Memory Skill,” Science 203 (1980): 1181-82
- ^ a b Klingberg, Torkel. The Overflowing Brain, Oxford University Press, 2009
- ^ Klingberg T, Forssberg H, Westerberg H (2002), Training of working memory in children with ADHD. J Clin Exp Neuropsych 24:781-791
- ^ Klingberg T, Fernell E, Olesen P, Johnson M, Gustafsson P, Dahlström K, Gillberg CG, Forssberg H, Westerberg H (2005), Computerized training of working memory in children with ADHD – a randomized, controlled trial. J American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 44 (2):177-186
- ^ Gibson B, et al. (2006) Computerized training of working memory in ADHD. Conference for Children and Adults with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, Chicago (abstract).
- ^ Lucas, C et al. (2008) A Randomized controlled trial of two forms of computerized working memory training in ADHD. Poster presented at the American Psychiatric Association, 2008. NR6-052.
- ^ Holmes J, Gathercole S E, Dunning D L. (2009). Adaptive training leads to sustained enhancement of poor working memory in children. Developmental Science, April, 2009.
- ^ Westerberg, H, Brehmer, Y, D’Hondt, N, Söderlund, D, Bäckman, L (2007) Computerized training of working memory – A new method for improving cognition in aging. Aging Research Conference. Sidney.
- ^ Hardy C, Duke University. Research ongoing
- ^ Westerberg H, Jacobaeus H, Hirvikoski T, Clevberger P, Ostensson J, Bartfai A, Forssberg H, Klingberg T (2007). Computerized working memory training after stroke – a pilot study. Brain Injury
- ^ McNab F, Varrone A, Farde L, Jucaite A, Bystritsky P, Forssberg H, Klingberg T (2009) Changes in cortical dopamine D1 receptor binding associated with cognitive training. Science 323:800-802.
