Sala Giovanni
(Osaka University Graduate School of Human Sciences)
To date, the attempt to boost cognitive skills in the general population has failed. However, it is still possible that some cognitive training regimens exert a positive influence on specific populations, such as older adults. In this meta-analysis, we investigated the effects of working memory training on older adults’ cognitive skills. Three meta-analyses were run. While large effects were found for the trained tasks, only moderate and near-zero effects were obtained in the near-transfer and far-transfer meta-analyses, respectively. While confirming the difficulty in obtaining transfer effects with cognitive training, these results cast serious doubts about the practical utility of near-transfer effects for older adults’ everyday life too.