Brain Games

Last week I went to a Cognitive Neuroscience Conference at my alma mater, Temple University, on the topic of Working Memory and Working Memory Training. In addition to discussing the areas of the brain (e.g., pre-frontal cortex, parietal lobe) and neurotransmitters (e.g., dopamine, GABA) involved in Working Memory, the presenters discussed the difference between maintaining something in working memory (for example, recalling a phone number or a shopping list verbatim), and manipulating something stored in Working Memory (such as performing mathematical calculations on numbers stored in memory).  In terms of attention, it seems that attention does not affect the former, Working Memory maintenance, but may affect the latter, Working Memory manipulation.

As far as the efficacy of Working Memory Training programs, such as Cogmed and Lumosity, there was some disagreement among the presenters, but all presenters believed that these trainings are imperfect as they are currently designed. In the end, it seems that there is not enough transfer from a trained task in one of these programs to a new task in terms of working memory improvement. As one presenter put it, "Practice the skills you want to acquire. If you want to learn to play the piano, practice on the piano, not the violin."

One thing several presenters did agree on is that these Working Memory Training programs seem to help individuals learn strategies to use in similar Working Memory tasks. I'm sure this came as no surprise to anyone involved with children or education today. The best thing you can do for children is to teach them HOW they learn.