Cognitive Training by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030392925
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Conclusions and Outlook

In sum, research focusing on EF training consistently showed that intensive training resulted in robust performance improvements on the training tasks, indicating that cognitive plasticity is considerable up to old age (see in this volume: Belleville et al., Gajewski and Falkenstein, Guye et al., Könen et al., Pothier and Bherer, Umanath et al., Verhaeghen, Wenger et al.). Most studies also reported near transfer of training to tasks measuring the same construct as the training task and some studies even reported far transfer to different cognitive abilities in older age. However, especially when it comes to far transfer, the existing evidence is mixed and has recently inspired heated debates in the field. Yet, many inconsistent findings can be explained by large differences in the type and intensity of the training as well as in the research design and the analytical methods that have been applied (see Könen and Auwerwald, Schmiedek, Schmiedek, Taatgen, this volume). For instance, transfer seems to occur more consistently if (1) the training is process-based and engages higher-order control processes, such as EF, instead of task-specific strategies, (2) the training and transfer tasks engage overlapping cognitive and neural resources, (3) the training is adaptive or variable (e.g., by including changing tasks and processes), and (4) the training puts a high load on the ability to resolve task interference (e.g., with high stimulus ambiguity or changing task modalities) (e.g., Anguera et al. 2013; Au et al. 2014; Gathercole et al. 2019; Karbach and Kray 2009; Karbach and Unger 2014; Kray and Fehér 2017; Kray and Ferdinand 2013; Nguyen et al. 2019; Strobach et al. 2014; Karbach and Verhaeghen 2014).

Current meta-analytic evidence suggests that there is small but significant far transfer of EF training across the adult lifespan, including transfer to other components of EF, attention, and fluid intelligence (e.g., Au et al. 2014; Karbach and Verhaeghen 2014; Nguyen et al. 2019; but see Melby-Lervåg and Hulme 2013; Sala and Gobet 2017). Thus, given that the effect sizes for far transfer seem to be relatively small, the question really is whether these effects should be considered relevant? In accordance with many other researchers (e.g. Green et al. 2019; Oberauer 2015), we think that these effects indeed are extremely relevant. From a scientific point of view, they are very informative for our theoretical conception of EF. The fact that EF training transfers to other components of EF but that these transfer effects are smaller than the gains on the training tasks is more in line with the idea that EF is a set of separable but highly correlated control functions. From a more applied point of view, even small improvements in cognitive performance can be extremely relevant for individuals with cognitive deficits (see Johann and Karbach, Belleville et al., this volume). Moreover, these small effects could be much increased if we understood exactly which features of training moderate the effectiveness of the intervention and how this effectiveness can be maximized (cf. Oberauer 2015). Future studies will have to focus on these issues, for instance by considering individual differences in motivational (e.

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