Table 1.
Overview of studies that investigated neural effects as a consequence of WM training (healthy populations only).
| Examined neural effect | Study | N | Age (years) | Control group | Transfer assessed | Method | Intervention | Training time | Main outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Functional activation changes | Garavan et al. (2000) – Exp. 1 | 12 | 26 | No | No | BOLD | Visuospatial WM | 20 min | Activation decrease |
| Garavan et al. (2000) – Exp. 2 | 5 | 28 | No | No | BOLD | Visuospatial WM | 3 h 30 mina | Activation decrease | |
| Jansma et al. (2001) | 15 | 23 (SD = 2.1) | No | No | BOLD | Sternberg item recognition task | 45 min | Activation decrease | |
| Landau et al. (2004) | 10 | 22–27 | No | No | BOLD | Delayed face recognition task | 30 min | Activation decrease | |
| Landau et al. (2007) | 11 | 23.5 | No | No | BOLD | Delayed object/spatial location recognition task | 60 mina | Activation decrease | |
| Sayala et al. (2006) | 10 | 20–34 | No | No | BOLD | Delayed object/spatial location recognition task | <60 min | Activation decrease | |
| Schneiders et al. (2011) | 48 | 23.7 | Yes | No | BOLD | Visual and auditory n-back | 10 sessions (8 h total) | Activation decrease | |
| Hempel et al. (2004) | 9 | 26–32 | No | No | BOLD | Spatial 0-back, 1-back, 2-back | 4 weeks, 2×/day (total NA) | Activation increase then decrease | |
| Westerberg and Klingberg (2007) | 14 | 24.9 | Yes | Yes | BOLD | 3 different WM tasks | 5 weeks, 24.9 sessions (total NA) | Activation increase | |
| Jolles et al. (2010) | 29 | 22.2 (19.3–25.3) | Yes | Yes | BOLD | Object span task (forwards and backwards) | 6 weeks, 2.7×/week (6.9 h total) | Activation increase | |
| Dahlin et al. (2008) – Exp. 2 | 19 | 68.3 (65–71) | Yes | Yes | BOLD | 6 different updating tasks | 5 weeks, 3×/week (11.3 h total) | Activation increase | |
| Dahlin et al. (2008) – Exp. 1 | 22 | 23.6 (20–31) | Yes | Yes | BOLD | 6 different updating tasks | 5 weeks, 3×/week (11.3 h total) | Activation redistribution | |
| Olesen et al. (2004) – Exp. 2 | 8 | 29.3 (SD = 2.1) | No | Yes | BOLD | 3 different visuo-spatial WM tasks | 5 weeks, 18 sessions (total NA) | Activation redistribution | |
| Changes in cerebral blood flow at rest | Mozolic et al. (2010) | 48 | 69.3 | Yes | No | ASL | Interference paradigm | 8 weeks, 1×/week (8 h total) | Inconclusive |
| Structural changes | Takeuchi et al. (2011b) | 55 | 21.7 | Yes | Yes | VBM | Mental calculation | 5 days within 6 days (4 h per day) | Reduced gray matter volume |
| Takeuchi et al. (2010) | 11 | 27.1 (SD = 1.4) | No | No | DTI | 3 different WM tasks (visuo-spatial, n-back) | 2 months, 25 min/session (total NA) | Increased white matter integrity | |
| Dopaminergic function | McNab et al. (2009) | 13 | 20–28 | No | Yes | PET | 10 different WM tasks (visuo-spatial, verbal) | 5 weeks, 35 min/session (14 h total) | Change in D1 binding potential |
| Bäckman et al. (2011) | 20 | 19–33 | Yes | Yes | PET | 6 different updating tasks | 5 weeks, 3×/week, 45 min/session | Increased Dopamine release during training performance | |
| Brehmer et al. (2009) | 29 | 26 (20–31) | Yes | No | Genotyping | 7 WM tasks (visuo-spatial, verbal) | 4 weeks, 22.9 sessions (9.5 h total) | WM training performance modulated by genotype (trend only) | |
| Bellander et al. (2011) | 29 | 26 (20–31) | Yes | No | Genotyping | 7 WM tasks (visuo-spatial, verbal) | 4 weeks, 22.9 sessions (9.5 h total) | WM training performance modulated by genotype |
Notes: This table focuses only on studies that implemented a WM intervention.
a
Estimate, i.e., not reported by authors.
NA: not available.