Moderators of Cognitive Training: Individual Differences and Motivational Factors

cognitive training;motivation;individual differences;tDCS;brain training;working memory training;Education;Psychology;Social Sciences;Education & Psychology

Katz, BenjaminMorrison, Frederick J ;

University of Michigan

关键词: cognitive training;    motivation;    individual differences;    tDCS;    brain training;    working memory training;    Education;    Psychology;    Social Sciences;    Education & Psychology;   

Others  :  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/138651/benkatz_1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

Despite the potential benefits that improving executive function and working memory might have for performance at school and work, the use of cognitive training as a means to augment these capacities remains controversial. There is consensus that training leads to improvements on the tasks themselves, as well as limited near-transfer. However, there is little agreement regarding whether meaningful far transfer can be demonstrated. In the present work I consider the causes of these varied outcomes, first through a historical perspective, and then through a focus on the influence of individual-difference factors on the outcome of cognitive training. One particular factor that is known to influence the outcome of other interventions, motivation, has not been well-studied in the context of cognitive training. In three studies I examine the influence of motivation, broadly defined, on the outcome of training interventions. Study 1 explores how children might respond to different versions of a cognitive training program that include certain game-like features that are thought to be motivational. Contrary to my expectations, I found that children performed better on the versions of the training that did not include certain common ;;engagement” features. I interpret this finding as evidence that features that distract from the core task might actually reduce performance early in training. Study 2 examines the influence of extrinsic monetary reward on the outcome of a training program in young adults. Again, contrary to my expectations, I found that payment did not have an undermining effect on training or transfer performance, although it may have been responsible for some differences at baseline. Study 3 explores several individual difference factors, including motivation and baseline cognitive performance, on the outcome of a transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) augmented working memory training program in adults. I found that both baseline performance and motivation influenced the outcome of the intervention, but only among participants who did not receive active stimulation. From these studies I conclude that motivation may have a nuanced and multifaceted influence on the outcome of training interventions. Finally, I briefly discuss the implications of these findings and what might be done to improve future cognitive training research more generally.