Brain Training - Working Memory Is Key
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patrick
Like the mainspring in a clock, working memory provides the power for forward motion that keeps the brain ticking. Any shortfall or weakness in our working memory will have a serious impact on our cognitive ability. And, conversely, a particularly strong and effective working memory can supercharge our thinking skills.
Working memory plays a critical role in thinking-we use it when we're solving problems, when we're listening and reacting, when we're reading, writing, planning, reflecting, and deciding. All mental tasks use working memory to some degree. But we reach our working memory capacity fairly quickly. Capacity varies a little depending upon the kind of information, digits being easier to remember than words, for instance, but most adults can hold in mind just five to seven pieces of information at once.
Just a few working memory points then can mean the difference between a so-so working memory and an excellent one, but this margin has a considerable impact on academic performance, career success, and emotional stability. People with poor working memory find it hard to process information, solve novel problems, focus attention, and follow directions. Research indicates that working memory provides an ever greater correlation to academic success than intelligence.
In one fascinating and ingeniously simple piece of research, participants were asked to choose between a healthy salad and a piece of cake. Overwhelmingly respondents opted for the healthy salad. But when given the task of remembering a set of words before being asked the question, respondents more often than not chose cake. When we overload our working memory, our emotional responses surface quickly.
With so much riding on this one facet of mental ability, it comes as a relief to discover that we can increase our working memory with just a short course of diligent training. Scientists from the Universities of Michigan and Bern designed a novel working memory training protocol to strengthen visual and aural working memory at the same time. Participant's working memory scores rose by about sixty percent in less than 20 days, and the training also transferred to fluid intelligence (the target of the study) producing a forty percent increase there, too.
To be able to stimulate the brain change necessary, this training must be demanding. A challenging task that demands extreme focus causes the brain to produce new nerve cells; these cells then bolster the parts of the brain that maintain our working memory. Using brain scans a team from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden recently recorded these changes with before and after scans that clearly show the generation of the new brain cells from working memory training.
If you're interested in investigating working memory training for yourself or someone you know, it's very important that the program uses an effective training protocol. The Michigan / Bern researchers developed a particularly effective working-memory training protocol called "dual n-back." (I was so impressed by their study that I employ the dual n-back method in my company's brain training program, Mind Sparke Brain Fitness Pro.)
Unassuming, often overlooked, but critical to good thinking, working memory plays a pivotal role in every mental task from calculating the tip on a bill to choosing a life mate. With a small investment of time and some rewarding effort we can use brain training to help us do all of those things a whole lot better.
Working memory plays a critical role in thinking-we use it when we're solving problems, when we're listening and reacting, when we're reading, writing, planning, reflecting, and deciding. All mental tasks use working memory to some degree. But we reach our working memory capacity fairly quickly. Capacity varies a little depending upon the kind of information, digits being easier to remember than words, for instance, but most adults can hold in mind just five to seven pieces of information at once.
Just a few working memory points then can mean the difference between a so-so working memory and an excellent one, but this margin has a considerable impact on academic performance, career success, and emotional stability. People with poor working memory find it hard to process information, solve novel problems, focus attention, and follow directions. Research indicates that working memory provides an ever greater correlation to academic success than intelligence.
In one fascinating and ingeniously simple piece of research, participants were asked to choose between a healthy salad and a piece of cake. Overwhelmingly respondents opted for the healthy salad. But when given the task of remembering a set of words before being asked the question, respondents more often than not chose cake. When we overload our working memory, our emotional responses surface quickly.
With so much riding on this one facet of mental ability, it comes as a relief to discover that we can increase our working memory with just a short course of diligent training. Scientists from the Universities of Michigan and Bern designed a novel working memory training protocol to strengthen visual and aural working memory at the same time. Participant's working memory scores rose by about sixty percent in less than 20 days, and the training also transferred to fluid intelligence (the target of the study) producing a forty percent increase there, too.
To be able to stimulate the brain change necessary, this training must be demanding. A challenging task that demands extreme focus causes the brain to produce new nerve cells; these cells then bolster the parts of the brain that maintain our working memory. Using brain scans a team from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden recently recorded these changes with before and after scans that clearly show the generation of the new brain cells from working memory training.
If you're interested in investigating working memory training for yourself or someone you know, it's very important that the program uses an effective training protocol. The Michigan / Bern researchers developed a particularly effective working-memory training protocol called "dual n-back." (I was so impressed by their study that I employ the dual n-back method in my company's brain training program, Mind Sparke Brain Fitness Pro.)
Unassuming, often overlooked, but critical to good thinking, working memory plays a pivotal role in every mental task from calculating the tip on a bill to choosing a life mate. With a small investment of time and some rewarding effort we can use brain training to help us do all of those things a whole lot better.
About the Author:
Oxford-trained scientist, author, and technologist, Martin G. Walker is a member of The British Neuroscience Association, Learning and The Brain, and MENSA. His company Mind Evolve Software publishes free information on the field of neuroscience and brain training as well as effective and affordable brain fitness software under the brand name Mind Sparke.
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