一项研究发现，针对儿童的工作记忆的认知训练可能有助于改善他们的抽象推理和问题解决的能力。通称为流体智力的这些能力被认为可以预测教育的成功，但是科研人员长久以来在争论流体智力是否能够通过训练而得到持续性的改善。Susanne M. Jaeggi及其同事通过一项62名小学和中学生参与的实验测试了致力于提升所谓“工作”记忆（在短时间内人们储存并回忆起少量信息的心智能力）的训练是否能够帮助改善流体智力，从而试图解决这个争论。这组作者把这些儿童分配到了两个组，接受一个月的类似于电子游戏的计算机化任务训练，每周5次，每次15分钟。一个组的训练任务涉及工作记忆，而另一个组练习一般知识和词汇。这组作者报告说，即便在训练结束3个月之后，与那些工作记忆训练得不好的儿童以及训练一般知识和词汇的儿童相比，那些工作记忆训练得好的儿童在流体智力测试上的成绩更好。此外，训练中的个体差异影响了儿童在这些智力测试上的表现。这组作者说，还需要额外的研究，从而确定哪些儿童有可能从训练中获得最大的收益，并确立最佳训练方案。
生物探索推荐英文报道：
Cognitive training can boost kids' intelligence
Cognitive training that engages children's working memory may help improve their abilities for abstract reasoning and problem solving, a study finds. Those abilities, collectively called fluid intelligence, are thought to predict educational success, but researchers have long debated whether fluid intelligence can be sustainably improved by training. Susanne M. Jaeggi and colleagues attempted to settle the debate by testing whether training aimed at boosting so-called "working" memory, the mental faculty that allows people to store and retrieve small amounts of information over brief periods, can help improve fluid intelligence in an experiment involving 62 elementary and middle school children. The authors assigned the children to one of two groups that trained for a month - 5 times a week and 15 minutes per session - on computerized tasks resembling video games. While one group trained on a task that engaged working memory, the other group exercised general knowledge and vocabulary. Even 3 months after the training ended, the authors report, children who trained well on the working memory task performed better on tests of fluid intelligence, compared with those who did not train well on that task and those who trained on general knowledge and vocabulary. Further, individual differences in training influenced the children's performance on the intelligence tests. Additional studies are required to determine which children are likely to best benefit from training, and to establish optimal training regimens, according to the authors.
生物探索推荐英文论文摘要：
Short- and long-term benefits of cognitive training
Abstract
Does cognitive training work? There are numerous commercial training interventions claiming to improve general mental capacity; however, the scientific evidence for such claims is sparse. Nevertheless, there is accumulating evidence that certain cognitive interventions are effective. Here we provide evidence for the effectiveness of cognitive (often called “brain”) training. However, we demonstrate that there are important individual differences that determine training and transfer. We trained elementary and middle school children by means of a videogame-like working memory task. We found that only children who considerably improved on the training task showed a performance increase on untrained fluid intelligence tasks. This improvement was larger than the improvement of a control group who trained on a knowledge-based task that did not engage working memory; further, this differential pattern remained intact even after a 3-mo hiatus from training. We conclude that cognitive training can be effective and long-lasting, but that there are limiting factors that must be considered to evaluate the effects of this training, one of which is individual differences in training performance. We propose that future research should not investigate whether cognitive training works, but rather should determine what training regimens and what training conditions result in the best transfer effects, investigate the underlying neural and cognitive mechanisms, and finally, investigate for whom cognitive training is most useful.
