Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List


case1301710207.pdf (579.12 KB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Improving Intelligence by Increasing Working Memory Capacity

Chooi, Weng Tink
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1301710207

Abstract Details

2011, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Psychology.
A study by Jaeggi and her colleagues (2008) claimed that they were able to improve fluid intelligence (gf) by training working memory. Subjects who trained their working memory on a dual n-back task for a period of time showed significant improvements in working memory span tasks and fluid intelligence tests such as the Raven’s Progressive Matrices and the Bochumer Matrices Test (BOMAT) after training compared to those without training. The current study aimed to replicate and extend the original study conducted by Jaeggi et al. (2008) in a well-controlled experiment that could explain the cause or causes of such transfer if indeed the case. There were a total of 93 participants who completed the study, and they were randomly assigned to one of three groups – a passive control group, active control group and experimental group. Half of the participants were randomly assigned to the 8-day condition and the other half to the 20-day condition. All participants completed a battery of tests at pre- and post-tests that consisted of short timed tests, a complex working memory span and a matrix reasoning task. Participants in the active control group practiced for either 8 days or 20 days on the same task as the one used in the experimental group, the dual n-back, but at the easiest level to control for Hawthorne effect. Results from the current study did not suggest any significant improvement in the mental abilities tested, especially fluid intelligence and working memory capacity, after training for 8 days or 20 days. This leads to the conclusion that increasing one’s working memory capacity by training and practice did not transfer to improvement on fluid intelligence as asserted by Jaeggi and her colleagues (2008, 2010).
Lee Thompson, PhD (Advisor)
Douglas Detterman, PhD (Committee Member)
TJ McCallum, PhD (Committee Member)
H. Gerry Taylor, PhD (Committee Member)
Experimental Psychology
working memory training; intelligence

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Chooi, W. T. (2011). Improving Intelligence by Increasing Working Memory Capacity [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1301710207

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Chooi, Weng Tink. Improving Intelligence by Increasing Working Memory Capacity. 2011. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1301710207.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Chooi, Weng Tink. "Improving Intelligence by Increasing Working Memory Capacity." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1301710207

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

case1301710207
3,653
© 2011, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies and OhioLINK.