WMP Lab Meeting: Individual Differences in Plasticity: Exploring the Effect of Intelligence, Working Memory, Motivation, and Mindset on the Learning Curves During Dual-N-Back Training

Working Memory and Plasticity Lab Meeting
Friday, September 13, 2019
1:00 to 3:00 pm
Education 3238

Presentation by Per Trads Ørskov: "Individual Differences in Plasticity: Exploring the Effect of Intelligence, Working Memory, Motivation, and Mindset on the Learning Curves During Dual-N-Back Training"

Abstract

For this presentation I will shortly describe the study I have been involved in, and then move on to discuss learning in relation to the dual-n-back task. The study we did was a cluster randomized controlled trial involving 2,391 Danish students from 18 vocational and general upper secondary schools (age of students: 17.88 years [SD 2.80]). We studied the effectiveness of a multifaceted brain training intervention involving cognitive training, physical activity, and social interaction. We compared the multifaceted brain training intervention with a passive and an active control group.

At the presentation I will focus on the data collected in the active control group. The active control group (n=754) did 20 minutes of dual-n-back followed by 30 min of walking once per week for a total of 12 weeks. The students reported their training data after each training session. Around 250 students reported back on at least nine out of 12 training sessions. In addition to the training data, we have data on student intelligence (RIAS), working memory (word span/matrix span), motivation (for doing dual-n-back), perceived stress (Cohen's perceived stress scale), sleep quality (PSQI), and mindset (Dweck intelligence questionnaire). I will present the data collected in the active control group, and then I hope for a discussion on (a) data analysis, and (b) learning in dual-n-back training.