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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 2, 2025

Working Memory Training for Older Participants: A Control Group Training Regimen and Initial Intellectual Functioning Assessment
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Asymmetric negative transfer effects of working memory training.

Nan Ni1, Susan E Gathercole2,3, Dennis Norris3

  • 1Graduate School of Education, Kyoto University, Yoshida-honmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan. nanni.kyt@gmail.com.

Memory & Cognition
|April 21, 2023
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Summary

Working memory (WM) training can sometimes hinder performance due to learned routines. This study shows negative transfer is asymmetric, with spatial training negatively impacting verbal tasks, but not vice versa.

Keywords:
Cognitive routineTransfer effectWorking memory training

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Human Behavior

Background:

  • The cognitive routine framework explains working memory (WM) training by viewing changes as skill acquisition.
  • Previously learned routines may interfere with new task performance, potentially leading to negative outcomes in WM training.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate and demonstrate the negative effects of working memory training.
  • To examine the asymmetry of negative transfer in WM training tasks.

Main Methods:

  • Two experiments were conducted using a two-phase training paradigm.
  • Experiment 1 involved online training on a backward circle span task followed by a backward letter span task.
  • Experiment 2 used a reversed task order: backward letter span training followed by backward circle span training.

Main Results:

  • Training on a spatial task (backward circle span) negatively transferred to a verbal task (backward letter span).
  • Conversely, training on the verbal task showed a weakly positive transfer to the spatial task, indicating asymmetric negative transfer.
  • The findings suggest that the direction of negative transfer depends on the specific tasks and the routines acquired.

Conclusions:

  • Negative transfer effects can occur in specific working memory training designs.
  • The asymmetric nature of this effect highlights differences in optimal routine acquisition between spatial and verbal tasks.
  • The acquisition process of optimal cognitive routines is a potential locus for negative transfer in WM training.