Large UC study to investigate when and how brain training transfers (or does not) to broader cognitive and health benefits

by

Anja Pahor and Aaron Seitz

Nation­wide project seeks to under­stand how brain exer­cis­es pro­duce cog­ni­tive ben­e­fits (UC press release):

How does mem­o­ry train­ing lead to cog­ni­tive ben­e­fits? Aaron Seitz, direc­tor of the Brain Game Cen­ter for men­tal fit­ness and well-being at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia, River­side, has wres­tled with this ques­tion for sev­er­al years.

Now he and Susanne Jaeg­gi, an asso­ciate pro­fes­sor at the UC Irvine School of Edu­ca­tion; and Anja Pahor, for­mer­ly a post­doc­tor­al researcher at UCR; are ready to address it by launch­ing a nation­wide project that seeks to engage 30,000 peo­ple in dif­fer­ent vari­ants of mem­o­ry train­ing through apps devel­oped by the Brain Game Center.

Results from the project can be trans­for­ma­tive toward under­stand­ing how cog­ni­tive skills can be trained and how peo­ple may vary in their propen­si­ties for such training.

Fund­ed by the Nation­al Insti­tute of Men­tal Health, the project aims to deter­mine for whom cer­tain train­ing meth­ods work best.

About the study:

Under­stand­ing Medi­at­ing and Mod­er­at­ing Fac­tors that Deter­mine Trans­fer of Work­ing Mem­o­ry Training

Seitz, Aaron R.; Jaeg­gi, Susanne Madlaina

  • Pub­lic Health Rel­e­vance: The pro­posed research is rel­e­vant to pub­lic health in that it will lead to greater under­stand­ing of, and cre­ation of more effec­tive, behav­ioral inter­ven­tions for those with cog­ni­tive impair­ments. This research is aligned with the NIMH RDoC frame­work as work­ing mem­o­ry deficits exist in a wide range of men­tal health con­di­tions, cas­es of dis­ease and brain dam­age, and are asso­ci­at­ed with age-relat­ed cog­ni­tive decline. Tar­get­ed train­ing to improve work­ing mem­o­ry has poten­tial to give rise to per­son­al­ized inter­ven­tions that can be used on an out­pa­tient basis. In addi­tion to align­ment with NIMH, this pro­posed research cuts across the bounds of numer­ous NIH agen­cies, with our frame­work con­tribut­ing to the mis­sions of the NCI, NEI, NIA, NIAAA, NINCD, NIDA, NINDS, in that all of these agen­cies work with pop­u­la­tions who can gain direct ben­e­fits from suc­cess­ful approach­es to men­tal fitness.

Par­tic­i­pa­tion in the study is free and requires a com­mit­ment of a few weeks. Par­tic­i­pants will play a mem­o­ry train­ing pro­gram, com­plete a few cog­ni­tive tests, and fill out brief ques­tion­naires anony­mous­ly. Data is down­loaded into a serv­er at UCR. Par­tic­i­pants can com­plete all ses­sions at home using their tablets or smart­phones. They may drop out at any time.

Each ses­sion lasts 20–30 min­utes. Par­tic­i­pants are asked to com­plete two ses­sions a day and at least 10 ses­sions a week. Prizes can be won at week­ly give­aways that will be host­ed by the Brain Game Cen­ter. Par­tic­i­pants have a chance to win an iPad in a month­ly giveaway.

To par­tic­i­pate in the project, peo­ple can sign up here, where addi­tion­al infor­ma­tion about the study can be found.

The Study in Context: