Please help us recruit 30,000 adults for a UC Citizen Science project on cognitive training

Wordcloud derived from the two papers referenced in this blog (by Susanne Jaeggi & Aaron Seitz) How can we cut through the controversies around brain training and unlock the exciting potential as suggested by the numerous published studies showing examples of cognitive training benefits? Our approach is to use larger, more representative datasets to uncover the most relevant ingredients that may work across different intervention types, illustrating how their impact may vary across the diverse range of individuals participating in such large trials. While most studies focus on the average participant, our latest paper provides an important example of how, even within a single study, the outcomes can differ widely across participants. We found that in order for participants to show broad benefits as a result of cognitive training (i.e., far transfer), they first need to improve within the trained domain (i.e., show near transfer). While this may seem to be a common sense observation, it is a critical step in clarifying that while not everyone seems to be able to improve on the training task, there are methods to account for this variance while still recognizing the training benefits experienced by other participants in the same study. As such we note that our emerging field is only beginning to understand the factors that mediate the potential benefits, and the barriers preventing them. That’s where Citizen Science comes in: In our ongoing large-scale study we aim to rec...
Source: SharpBrains - Category: Neuroscience Authors: Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Education & Lifelong Learning Technology & Innovation Brain Game Center brain training Brain-games cognitive-functioning Cognitive-Training near transfer personalization Source Type: blogs