Asymmetric negative transfer effects of working memory training

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.