Brain training programs like Lumosity increase general intelligence
Whether brain training programs increase general intelligence remains heavily contested, with some studies and meta-analyses reporting weak far-transfer effects while rigorous recent trials and broader reviews find no reliable improvement in fluid intelligence.
The retrieved literature is divided regarding whether cognitive and working memory training transfers to general fluid intelligence. Several smaller trials, combined stimulation studies, and older meta-analyses report small positive transfer effects. Conversely, more recent rigorous trials, active-control studies, long-term interventions, and comprehensive meta-analyses find that while training improves performance on practiced tasks, it fails to generalize to broader cognitive abilities like fluid intelligence. This ongoing debate and lack of consistent replication justify a CONTESTED verdict.
Ludmiła Zając-Lamparska, Janusz Trempała. Effects of working memory and attentional control training and their transfer onto fluid intelligence in early and late adulthood. 2016. https://doi.org/10.5114/hpr.2016.56846
The study found a weak but significant positive transfer effect from basic cognitive training onto fluid intelligence.
Zhao Xin, Zhou‐Ren Lai, Fu. Li, Joseph H. R. Maes. Near‐ and Far‐Transfer Effects of Working Memory Updating Training in Elderly Adults. 2014. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3011
Working memory updating training improved task-specific performance but failed to show transfer effects to non-verbal reasoning tests in elderly adults.
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Radosław Wujcik, Michał Nowak, Edward Nęcka. Enhancement of Executive Control through Short-term Cognitive Training: Far-transfer Effects on General Fluid Intelligence. 2017. https://doi.org/10.1515/ppb-2017-0009
Short-term executive control training significantly improved cognitive control and general fluid intelligence scores.
Anna-Katharine Brem, Jessamy Norton-Ford Almquist, Karen Mansfield, Franziska Plessow, Francesco Sella, Emiliano Santarnecchi, Umut Orhan, James McKanna, Misha Pavel, Santosh Mathan, Nick Yeung, Alvaro Pascual-Leone, Roi Cohen Kadosh. Modulating fluid intelligence performance through combined cognitive training and brain stimulation.. 2018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.04.008
Combined cognitive training and brain stimulation led to measurable transfer effects and improvements in fluid intelligence.
Jacky Au, Ellen Sheehan, Nancy Tsai, Greg J Duncan, Martin Buschkuehl, Susanne M Jaeggi. Improving fluid intelligence with training on working memory: a meta-analysis.. 2015. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-014-0699-x
A meta-analysis of n-back working memory training studies identified a small but significant positive effect on fluid intelligence.
Stefanie Lange, Heinz‐Martin Süß. Experimental Evaluation of Near‐ and Far‐Transfer Effects of an Adaptive Multicomponent Working Memory Training. 2015. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3126
An experimental evaluation found no far-transfer effects to reasoning or other untrained abilities from adaptive working memory training.
Jose A. Rodas, Ciara Greene. Small Improvements in Working Memory After Cognitive Training do not Transfer to Fluid Intelligence: Evidence From a Meta-analysis. 2020. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/9j64y
A meta-analysis concluded that working memory improvements from cognitive training do not generalize to fluid intelligence.
Luc Watrin, Gizem Hülür, Oliver Wilhelm. Training working memory for two years-No evidence of transfer to intelligence.. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0001135
A two-year longitudinal working memory training study found no transfer of training effects to fluid or crystallized intelligence.
Jose A Rodas, Ciara M Greene. Working memory training does not improve executive functioning or fluid intelligence.. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1177/17470218211039502
A well-controlled study found that working memory training improved practiced tasks but failed to produce transferable effects on fluid intelligence.
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