Cognitive Training Webinar Series

Starting July 10, 2024, the Division of Behavioral and Social Research at NIA, along with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) hosted the Cognitive Training Webinar Series.

The webinar series explored key issues in cognitive training with the goal of identifying research gaps and opportunities to advance the field. For the series, cognitive training is defined as interventions using cognitive tasks, games, and/or cognitively demanding activities with the goal to enhance specific cognitive function, general cognitive ability, and/or functioning in the real world (Sala & Gobet, 2017, 2019). The webinar series addressed high priority research questions developed by our planning committee.

Key questions included:

  • What are the mechanisms for near- and far-transfer?
  • How do we design interventions that target these mechanisms to improve transfer?
  • For whom is cognitive training most effective and under what conditions?

Each webinar had an opportunity for questions and discussion.

On this page:

Past Webinars

View past recordings and other information for past webinars below.

Nov. 6, 2024 | The Future of Cognitive Training

View a recording of the fifth Cognitive Training webinar below.

Agenda

1:00 p.m.–1:03 p.m. Welcome and Introductory Remarks from NIA

1:03 p.m.–1:48 p.m. Future of Cognitive Training

Moderator: Liz Phelps, Ph.D., Harvard University

  • The Future of Cognitive Training, Closed-Loop Experiences, Adam Gazzaley, M.D., Ph.D., University of California San Francisco
  • Intervention Optimization: A New Paradigm for Cognitive Training Research, Linda Collins, Ph.D., New York University
  • Cognitive Training: Experiences from FINGER and World-Wide FINGERS Miia Kivipelto, M.D., Ph.D., University of Eastern Finland and Karolinksa Institute in Stockholm

1:48 p.m.–2:09 p.m. Moderated discussion and Q&A

2:09 p.m.–2:29 p.m. General Discussion

2:29 p.m.–2:30 p.m. Closing

Oct. 18, 2024 | Moderators and Mediators

View a recording of the fourth Cognitive Training webinar below.

Agenda

1:00 p.m.–1:04 p.m. Welcome and Introductory Remarks from NIA

1:04 p.m.–2:04 p.m. Moderators and Mediators: For whom does it work? And why? And in what context?

Moderator: Tia Powell, M.D., Albert Einstein College of Medicine

  • Social Determinants of Health as Moderators and Mediators of Cognitive Training Effects: Does Where You Live, Work, Play, and Age Matter? George Rebok, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
  • Mediators and Moderators of Working Memory Training, Anja Pahor, Ph.D., Northeastern University & University of Maribor
  • Moderators and Mediators of Cognitive Training: From Brain Plasticity to Contributors of Prevention of AD, Chandramallika Basak, Ph.D., University of Texas, Dallas
  • More Than Just an Intervention? What Moderators of Cognitive Training Might Tell Us About Cognitive Plasticity, Benjamin Katz, Ph.D., Virginia Tech

2:04 p.m.–2:19 p.m. Moderated discussion and Q&A

2:19 p.m.–2:29 p.m. General Discussion

2:29 p.m.–2:30 p.m. Closing

Oct. 4, 2024 | Outcomes

View a recording of the third Cognitive Training webinar below.

Agenda

1:00 p.m.–1:02 p.m. Welcome and Introductory Remarks from NIA

1:02 p.m.–1:55 p.m. Outcomes: What are the outcomes for cognitive training? What are outcomes that are responsive to intervention and are meaningful to participants and their families?

Moderator: Karlene Ball, Ph.D., University of Alabama at Birmingham 5 minutes (will speak after presenters)

  • Ecological Approaches to Cognitive Enrichment: Rethinking Transfer, Elizabeth Stine Morrow, Ph.D., University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 18 minutes
  • Defining Meaningful Outcomes in Cognitive Training: From Mechanisms to Implementation, Sylvie Belleville, Ph.D., University of Montreal 15 minutes
  • Functional Outcomes of Cognitive Training on Emotional Vulnerability in Breast Cancer: Implications for Well-Being, Nazanin Derakhshan, Ph.D., University of Reading, UK 15 minutes

1:55 p.m.–2:15 p.m. Moderated discussion and Q&A

2:15 p.m.–2:29 p.m. General Discussion

2:29 p.m.–2:30 p.m. Closing

Sept. 30, 2024 | Underlying Mechanisms

View a recording of the second Cognitive Training webinar below.

Agenda

1:00 p.m.–1:03 p.m. Welcome and Introductory Remarks from NIA

1:03 p.m.–2:03 p.m. Underlying Mechanisms: Does cognitive training generalize (i.e., transfer)? How? Which functions mediate transfer (mechanisms)?

Moderator: Judy Pa, Ph.D., University of California, San Diego

  • Mechanisms of Cognitive Training and Transfer: Capacity and Efficiency, Claudia Von Bastian, Ph.D., The University of Sheffield
  • Mediators and Moderators of Cognitive Training: Ingredients and Design Matter, Aaron Seitz, Ph.D., Northeastern University
  • Commercial Video Games as Cognitive Training, Shawn Green, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Neural Correlates of Cognitive Training, Alex Iordan, Ph.D., University of Michigan

2:03 p.m.–2:13 p.m. Moderated discussion and Q&A

2:13 p.m.–2:28 p.m. General Discussion

2:28 p.m.–2:30 p.m. Closing

July 10, 2024 | Setting the Stage

View a recording of the first Cognitive Training webinar below.

Agenda

1:00 p.m.–1:10 p.m. Welcome and Introductory Remarks from NIA

1:10 p.m.–2:10 p.m. Does Cognitive Training Work? And why that’s the wrong question. What have we learned from cognitive training in the past decade?

5 min. moderated discussion and Q&A follow each presenter.

2:10 p.m.–2:25 p.m. General Discussion

2:25 p.m.–2:30 p.m. Closing

Summary

Summaries of the workshops are forthcoming.

Contact Information

Please contact Melissa Treviño and Marianna Molina for questions you may have about the webinar series.

Reasonable Accommodation: If you need reasonable accommodation to participate in this event, please contact the meeting organizer listed under Contact information. Please make your request no later than 1 week before the event.

References

Bonnechère, B., & Klass, M. (2023). Cognitive Computerized Training for Older Adults and Patients with Neurological Disorders: Do the Amount and Training Modality Count? An Umbrella Meta-Regression Analysis . Games for Health Journal, 12(2), 100–117. doi: 10.1089/g4h.2022.0120

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2017). Preventing Cognitive Decline and Dementia: A Way Forward . Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24782

Nguyen, L., Murphy, K., & Andrews, G. (2022). A Game a Day Keeps Cognitive Decline Away? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Commercially-Available Brain Training Programs in Healthy and Cognitively Impaired Older Adults . Neuropsychology Review, 32(3), 601–630. doi: 10.1007/s11065-021-09515-2

Rebok, G. W., Ball, K., Guey, L. T., Jones, R. N., Kim, H. Y., King, J. W., ... & Willis, S. L. (2014). Ten-year effects of the ACTIVE cognitive training trial on cognition and everyday functioning in older adults . Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 62(1), 16. doi: 10.1111/jgs.12607

Sala, G., & Gobet, F. (2017). Does far transfer exist? Negative evidence from chess, music, and working memory training . Current directions in psychological science, 26(6), 515-520. doi: 10.1177/0963721417712760

Sala, G., & Gobet, F. (2019). Cognitive training does not enhance general cognition . Trends in cognitive sciences, 23(1), 9-20. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2018.10.004

Shawn Green, C., Bavelier, D., Kramer, A. F., Vinogradov, S., Ansorge, U., Ball, K. K., Bingel, U., Chein, J. M., Colzato, L. S., Edwards, J. D., Facoetti, A., Gazzaley, A., Gathercole, S. E., Ghisletta, P., Gori, S., Granic, I., Hillman, C. H., Hommel, B., Jaeggi, S. M., … Witt, C. M. (2019). Improving Methodological Standards in Behavioral Interventions for Cognitive Enhancement . Journal of Cognitive Enhancement, 3(1), 2–29. doi: 10.1007/s41465-018-0115-y