Lack of conceptual clarity impedes progress in cognitive intervention research: Reply to Kira (2023)

In a commentary on Moreau (2022), Kira (2023) emphasizes the importance of clarifying the conceptual basis of cognitive interventions and discusses a number of adverse circumstances known to impair cognitive function. In this reply, I focus on three points of clarification. First, I contend that one needs to make a distinction between interventions focusing on healthy individuals and those targeting clinical populations, as the postulated mechanisms of improvement in typical settings may differ from those underlying impairment. I further argue that with this conceptual distinction in mind, evidence still suggests no plausible mechanistic explanation for the improvements discussed in Moreau (2022) and that the appeal of more holistic approaches remains. Finally, I propose that a lack of clarity around issues such as construct validity and measurement impedes progress in this research area and that important insight could be gained from a more systematic exploration of the mechanisms underlying cognitive improvement. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).