Cognitive Training

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Tilo Strobach, Julia Karbach

   Pages 1-5

3. Basic Concepts and Methodology

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 7-7

      PDF

   2. Methods and Designs

      • Florian Schmiedek

      Pages 9-18

   3. Theoretical Models of Training and Transfer Effects

      • Niels A. Taatgen

      Pages 19-29

4. Plasticity in Different Age Groups

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 31-31

      PDF

   2. Childhood and Adolescence

      • M. Rosario Rueda, Lina M. Cómbita, Joan P. Pozuelos

      Pages 33-44

   3. Adult Lifespan

      • Sabrina Guye, Christina Röcke, Susan Mérillat, Claudia C. von Bastian, Mike Martin

      Pages 45-55

5. Plasticity of Different Cognitive Domains

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 57-57

      PDF

   2. Working Memory

      • Tanja Könen, Tilo Strobach, Julia Karbach

      Pages 59-68

   3. Episodic Memory

      • Elisabeth Wenger, Yee Lee Shing

      Pages 69-80

   4. Prospective Memory

      • Sharda Umanath, Joan Toglia, Mark A. McDaniel

      Pages 81-91

   5. Executive Functions

      • Julia Karbach, Jutta Kray

      Pages 93-103

6. Multidomain Trainings

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 105-105

      PDF

   2. Action Video-Game Training and Its Effects on Perception and Attentional Control

      • C. Shawn Green, Thomas Gorman, Daphne Bavelier

      Pages 107-116

   3. Video Game Training and Effects on Executive Functions

      • Tilo Strobach, Torsten Schubert

      Pages 117-125

   4. Mindfulness and Meditation Training

      • Paul Verhaeghen

      Pages 127-136

   5. Music Training

      • Swathi Swaminathan, E. Glenn Schellenberg

      Pages 137-144

   6. Physical Training

      • Kristell Pothier, Louis Bherer

      Pages 145-153

7. Cognitive Training in Applied Contexts

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 155-155

      PDF

This book brings together a cutting edge international team of contributors to critically review the current knowledge regarding the effectiveness of training interventions designed to improve cognitive functions in different target populations. There is substantial evidence that cognitive and physical training can improve cognitive performance, but these benefits seem to vary as a function of the type and the intensity of interventions and the way training-induced gains are measured and analyzed. This book further fulfills the need for clarification of the mechanisms underlying cognitive and neural changes occurring after training.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of empirical findings and methodological approaches of cognitive training research in different cognitive domains (memory, executive functions, etc.), types of training (working memory training, video game training, physical training, etc.), age groups (from children to young and older adults), target populations (children with developmental disorders, aging workers, MCI patients etc.), settings (laboratory-based studies, applied studies in clinical and educational settings), and methodological approaches (behavioral studies, neuroscientific studies). Chapters feature theoretical models that describe the mechanisms underlying training-induced cognitive and neural changes.


Cognitive Training: An Overview of Features and Applications will be of interest to researchers, practitioners, students, and professors in the fields of psychology and neuroscience.

• Clinical application of cognitive training
• Educational application of cognitive training
• Individual differences in training-induced benefits
• Mechanisms of cognitive training effects
• Motivational effects on cognitive training benefits
• Replicability of cognitive training studies

• Department of Psychology, Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

  Tilo Strobach

• Department of Psychology, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Frankfurt/Main, Germany

  Julia Karbach

Tilo Strobach finished his doctoral degree at Humboldt University Berlin. After that he held post-doc positions at this university and at LMU Munich. Currently, Tilo Strobach is full professor for cognitive psychology at the Medical School Hamburg. His research focuses on the analysis of cognitive plasticity as a result of training (e.g., video-game, dual-task, working memory, and task switching training) and cognitive aging. Furthermore, he aims at specifying the cognitive processing architecture in situations that demand executive functions as well as the perception of complex objects.


Julia Karbach is a developmental cognitive psychologist holding a PhD in Psychology from Saarland University. She currently serves as full professor at Goethe-University Frankfurt. Her research interests include neurocognitive development and plasticity across the lifespan, psychocardiology, and the prediction of academic achievement from primary to tertiary education. Her work has been published in numerous leading peer-reviewed international journals.

Policies and ethics