What do brain training apps claim to do?
Improve memory, focus, reasoning, and overall cognitive function.
What is the main misconception about brain training?
Training specific tasks does not necessarily generalize to broader cognitive abilities.
What did Carpenter et al. (2016) find?
Participants improved on trained tasks but showed little transfer to general abilities.
What are limitations noted in Carpenter et al. (2016)?
Small sample, demand characteristics, trainer differences, limited tasks.
What is the difference between training and learning?
Training improves practiced tasks; learning involves broader transferable change, which is rare.
What did Thorndike & Woodworth (1901) conclude?
Transfer occurs only when tasks share identical elements.
What did Olesen et al. (2003) find?
Working memory training caused neural changes but no broad cognitive enhancement.
Why is the ‘brain is like a muscle’ analogy misleading?
Scientific evidence shows training one skill does not automatically strengthen others.
What did Jaeggi et al. (2008) claim?
Working memory training boosts fluid intelligence, though later studies struggled to replicate it.
What did De Semoni & von Bastian (2018) find?
Strong improvement on trained tasks but no far transfer.
What did Soveri et al. (2017) conclude?
N-back training improves n-back performance but shows little far transfer; effect sizes are small (~0.2).
What did the 2014 scientific consensus statement say?
Little evidence that brain games improve underlying cognitive abilities or real-life performance.
What is opportunity cost in the brain training debate?
Time spent on brain games could be used for reading, exercise, or socializing.
What is near transfer?
Improvement on tasks similar to those practiced.
What is far transfer?
Improvement on tasks that differ from training, rarely observed.
What is effect size?
A statistical measure showing magnitude of an effect, e.g., 0.2 is small.
What is a meta-analysis?
A statistical review combining results from multiple studies.
