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Increasing Working Memory in Young Healthy Adults: a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial of a Multifaceted Brain Training Intervention

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Abstract

A cluster randomized controlled trial enrolled 2389 healthy students with the objective to test the effectiveness of a commercially developed multifaceted brain training intervention. Students were recruited from 17 Danish upper secondary education schools and were enrolled in one of three conditions: (1) multifaceted brain training intervention (MBT), (2) active control assigned to dual-n-back combined with light physical activity (AC), and (3) passive control (PC). Randomization was completed at class level, and number of classes was 99. The training volume was matched between the two active groups of the study and amounted to 1 h per week for 12 weeks. Hierarchical mixed regression models were used to analyze the data. No significant effects of MBT were found on the primary outcome measures of visual and verbal working memory. On secondary outcome measures including sustained attention, well-being, mindset, and sleep quality, no significant effects were observed. Supplementary, sensitivity analyses including only the classes, where the implementation was deemed successful, were conducted, revealing a single significant finding in relation to sleep quality, but not leading to a change in the overall results. Planned subgroup analysis did not show convincing differential effects of students with high versus low intelligence, with or without ADHD, growth mindset versus fixed mindset.

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Acknowledgments

The authors want to thank the students, teachers, and schools participating in the Young Brain Project. Great thanks to Mick Foldager Hartwig for his work as a project manager.

Funding

This study was funded by Nordea-fonden, www.nordeafonden.dk, grant number: 02-2015-1925.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Language and Communication, Faculty of Humanities, University of Southern Denmark, Slagelse, Denmark

    Per Trads Ørskov & Erin L. Beatty

  2. Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

    Anne Norup

  3. Department of Neurorehabilitation/TBI unit, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Anne Norup

  4. Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Biodemography, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

    Birgit Debrabant

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  1. Per Trads Ørskov
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  2. Anne Norup
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Correspondence to Per Trads Ørskov.

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The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

Ethics Approval

According to Danish law, surveys using questionnaires and interviews that do not involve human biological material (section 14(2) of the Danish Committee Act) should not be notified to research ethics committee. Therefore, no ethical approval was obtained before initiating this research project. The research project obeys Danish law since no ethical approval is demanded for this kind of project. No Danish authority exists where the responsible researcher can obtain approval.

The study was approved by Danish Data Protection Agency (Journal number 2015-57-0008 and 2015-57-0047).

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Ørskov, P.T., Norup, A., Debrabant, B. et al. Increasing Working Memory in Young Healthy Adults: a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial of a Multifaceted Brain Training Intervention. J Cogn Enhanc 5, 188–203 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41465-020-00191-3

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