Understanding the mechanisms underlying cognitive training effects

Can the repetitive practice of cognitive tasks – as in ’brain training’ programs – effectively enhance cognitive abilities such as reasoning? After more than 20 years of intensive research efforts, this question is still highly controversial, with prior studies and meta-analyses yielding inconsistent results. However, one robust and replicable finding is that trainees strongly improve in the tasks they practiced. In this project, the PhD student will investigate the mechanisms underlying those improvements during training and examine whether and how they can explain the presence or absence of gains in novel tasks. There will also be the opportunity to investigate this topic within the context of a larger-scale cognitive training study across the adult lifespan conducted with collaborators in Germany and Canada.

Please also see our website for more information about our lab: http://www.claudiavonbastian.com