Abstract
The large number of behavioral studies testing whether working memory training improves performance on an untrained task have yielded inconclusive results. Moreover, some studies have investigated the possible neural changes during the performance of untrained tasks after training. Here, we studied the transfer from n-back training to the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT), two different tasks that use the central executive system to maintain verbal stimuli. Participants completed fMRI sessions at baseline, immediately after one week of training, and at the five-week follow-up. Although behavioral transfer effects were not obtained, training was associated with decreased activation in the anterior dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC; BA 9/46) while performing the PASAT that remained stable five weeks later. Consistent with our hypothesis, the changes in the anterior DLFPC largely overlapped with the n-back task fMRI activations. In conclusion, working memory training improves efficiency in brain areas involved in the trained task that may affect untrained tasks, specifically in brain areas responsible for the same cognitive processes.
Highlights
The large number of behavioral studies testing whether working memory training improves performance on an untrained task have yielded inconclusive results
Other researchers define near and far transfer applied to different cognitive domains: near transfer when moving within the same cognitive domain and far transfer when moving across other cognitive domains[2,6,7]
The analysis of variance (ANOVA) conducted to investigate the effects of training on the n-back task yielded significant differences between groups and sessions, indicating www.nature.com/scientificreports improvements in terms of accuracy and reaction times (RTs) after training that remained stable after five weeks
Summary
The large number of behavioral studies testing whether working memory training improves performance on an untrained task have yielded inconclusive results. The most recent review by Soveri et al.[7] reported a moderate effect of task-specific transfer, but very small near and far transfer effects (the same or different cognitive domains) This last study did not find a moderating role in the results of the kind of control group, the training type, the number of sessions, or the hours of training. Visual or tactile training on texture discrimination produces similar improvement, and using the same brain areas, on the visual discrimination test[22] These cross-modal effects have been shown to be directional in the sense that training on a visuospatial n-back task improves the performance on auditory n-back[8], but not in the opposite direction (auditory n-back training did not improve visual n-back[33])
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