Nationwide project seeks to understand how brain exercises produce cognitive benefits
Joint UC Riverside - UCI study seeks volunteers to assess memory training
How does memory training lead to cognitive benefits? Associate Professor Susanne Jaeggi and Aaron Seitz, director of the Brain Game Center for mental fitness and well-being at the University of California, Riverside, have wrestled with this question for several years.
Now, the duo, along with Anja Pahor, UCI project scientist, 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 UCR Brain Game Center.
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, and 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 sign up, and for more information, please click below.
Now, the duo, along with Anja Pahor, UCI project scientist, 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 UCR Brain Game Center.
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, and 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 sign up, and for more information, please click below.
Funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the project aims to determine for whom certain training methods work best. Many billion-dollar companies sell exercises as workouts for the brain — a topic of controversy in the scientific community, where the effectiveness of such training is much debated. The large-scale project will contribute extensive data and may be able to resolve some of the controversies.
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.
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.
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What our project can do is shed light on the factors that mediate and moderate these types of cognitive interventions and address the extent to which some procedures may, and others may not, lead to improvements in real world cognition.”
- Susanne Jaeggi, Associate Professor and Director, Working Memory & Plasticity Lab /
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“We want to understand which training approaches lead to what types of benefits in different individuals,” said Seitz, a professor of psychology at UCR. “We are interested in exploring how individuals may have different outcomes from the same training method. We would also like to understand how and why the best approach may differ from individual to individual. We would like to know if it’s possible to have something akin to personalized medicine in cognitive training where your doctor prescribes the treatment appropriate for just you.”
Seitz explained that although it is generally accepted among cognitive psychologists that memory training affects performance, the mechanisms involved remain largely elusive.
"Understanding these underlying mechanisms can shed light on why some studies show benefits of brain training while others fail,” said Pahor, now a project scientist at UCI. “Understanding how our memory systems work and the mechanisms that guide learning can be applied broadly in society. Our acquisition of knowledge in the world intimately relies on memory processes. Improvements in memory can, therefore, benefit almost all aspects of our lives.”
Jaeggi, who directs the UCI School of Education’s Working Memory and Plasticity Laboratory acknowledged that many in the scientific community remain skeptical that memory training works.
“If we fail to find any consistent evidence that the interventions work in 30,000 people, then that also is an important finding,” Jaeggi said. “We would save money and time for people who currently engage in brain training. It needs to be stressed that our project is not trying to prove anything; we are trying simply to get clarity. What our project can do is shed light on the factors that mediate and moderate these types of cognitive interventions and address the extent to which some procedures may, and others may not, lead to improvements in real world cognition.”
The UCI School of Education’s Working Memory and Plasticity (WMP) Lab takes an interdisciplinary approach to investigate individual differences in higher cognitive functions across the lifespan. A large part of the work focuses on the development of cognitive interventions and the investigation of whether, how, and for whom those interventions generalize to non-trained cognitive domains.
The UCR Brain Game Center researches, tests, and disseminates evidence-based, scientifically optimized brain fitness games that assist people in real-life activities. The center’s interdisciplinary team includes psychologists, neuroscientists, computer scientists, medical experts, programmers, and artists.
Seitz explained that although it is generally accepted among cognitive psychologists that memory training affects performance, the mechanisms involved remain largely elusive.
"Understanding these underlying mechanisms can shed light on why some studies show benefits of brain training while others fail,” said Pahor, now a project scientist at UCI. “Understanding how our memory systems work and the mechanisms that guide learning can be applied broadly in society. Our acquisition of knowledge in the world intimately relies on memory processes. Improvements in memory can, therefore, benefit almost all aspects of our lives.”
Jaeggi, who directs the UCI School of Education’s Working Memory and Plasticity Laboratory acknowledged that many in the scientific community remain skeptical that memory training works.
“If we fail to find any consistent evidence that the interventions work in 30,000 people, then that also is an important finding,” Jaeggi said. “We would save money and time for people who currently engage in brain training. It needs to be stressed that our project is not trying to prove anything; we are trying simply to get clarity. What our project can do is shed light on the factors that mediate and moderate these types of cognitive interventions and address the extent to which some procedures may, and others may not, lead to improvements in real world cognition.”
The UCI School of Education’s Working Memory and Plasticity (WMP) Lab takes an interdisciplinary approach to investigate individual differences in higher cognitive functions across the lifespan. A large part of the work focuses on the development of cognitive interventions and the investigation of whether, how, and for whom those interventions generalize to non-trained cognitive domains.
The UCR Brain Game Center researches, tests, and disseminates evidence-based, scientifically optimized brain fitness games that assist people in real-life activities. The center’s interdisciplinary team includes psychologists, neuroscientists, computer scientists, medical experts, programmers, and artists.