Near and far transfer effects of working memory training: A preregistered, double-blind, randomized-controlled study

Previous research indicates near transfer effects of working memory (WM) training on updating, shifting, and inhibition tasks, although findings vary. Regarding fluid intelligence (Gf), studies yield conflicting results on the far transfer effects of WM training. The current study investigates whether different styles of adaptive visuospatial N-back WM training produce near and far transfer effects and whether individual differences moderate these effects.

We conducted a preregistered, double-blind, randomized controlled trial to mitigate potential biases from both participants and researchers. Participants were assigned to either a training or active control group, with one of three training styles: long (20 × 30-min sessions), medium (5 × 30-min sessions), or intense (5 × 15-min sessions). Cognitive performance was assessed at three time points: pretest, posttest, and one-month follow-up.

The results showed that longer training led to greater gains, reflected by an increase in the N-level-that is, how many steps back participants had to remember and compare in the N-back task. However, the training group did not show near and far transfer effects after WM training. Moreover, individual differences in cognitive ability, need for cognition, and beliefs about intelligence malleability did not moderate the transfer effects.

While training gains increased with longer training, these improvements did not generalize to untrained cognitive tasks. These findings underscore the limited transferability of WM training effects despite increased training dosage.