Effectiveness of N-Back Working Memory Training: An Evidence from Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Abstract: A systematic review was conducted to study the transfer effects of n-back working memory training in healthy adults aged 18~50 years and the factors affecting the transfer effects. Thirty-two studies and 69 independent effect sizes together with 1820 participants which met the inclusion criteria of meta-analysis were selected. The meta-analysis results revealed that n-back training had a significant medium effect size on the untrained n-back task (nearest transfer effect: g=0.54), while the transfer effects on both other working memory tasks (near transfer effect: g=0.20) and cognitive control tasks (far transfer effect: g=0.20) showed small effect size. The moderator analysis showed that the number of training sessions could influence nearest transfer effect. The current study indicats that a substantial part of transfer effect following n-back training is task-specific; in other words, the transfer effect is large in nearest transfer, while both near transfer effect and far transfer effect are small. Moreover, the number of training sessions influences the nearest transfer effect.

Key words: n-back training, meta-analysis, transfer effect

摘要： 采用元分析技术探究18～50岁健康成年被试进行n-back任务训练的迁移效果及其影响因素。通过文献检索，共获得32篇文献和69个独立效应量，包含1820名被试。元分析结果发现，n-back任务训练在未经训练的n-back任务（最近迁移）上有中等程度大小的迁移效果（g=0.54）；而在n-back任务以外的其他工作记忆任务（近迁移）和认知控制任务（远迁移）上的迁移效果较小（近迁移: g=0.20; 远迁移: g=0.20）。调节效应分析发现，训练次数会影响n-back任务训练的最近迁移效果。结果表明n-back任务训练的迁移效果有很大的任务特异性，即最近迁移效果最大，而近迁移效果和远迁移效果都较小；而且训练次数对最近迁移效果有影响。

关键词: n-back任务训练, 元分析, 迁移效果

CLC Number:

B849

YOU Xuqun, LI Qianqin, ZHANG Zhenyu, HUANG Pujiang, LIU Zhiyuan. Effectiveness of N-Back Working Memory Training: An Evidence from Meta-Analysis[J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2021, 19(6): 794-801.

游旭群, 李倩钦, 张桢堉, 黄浦江, 刘志远. N-back任务训练迁移效果及其影响因素：来自元分析的证据[J]. 心理与行为研究, 2021, 19(6): 794-801.

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