Can Brain Training Improve ACT Scores?
Open Letter to College Admission Offices: The Contribution of Cognitive Training to Improved College Entrance Exam Performance Research has shown us again and again that cognitive skills correlate with standardized math and language arts test scores, and that IQ scores are significant predictors of performance on college entrance exams. Thus, it is not only plausible but probable that strengthening the individual cognitive skills that comprise the composite IQ score can contribute to increased performance on standardized tests. Cognitive skill deficits—especially deficits in working memory, processing speed, and executive functions—are common among struggling students. Because cognitive skills are significant predictors of academic performance, interventions that remediate cognitive deficits are critical to maximizing a student’s academic success. Cognitive training programs like those offered at LearningRx brain training centers are a prime example of how an intervention can target and remediate weak cognitive skills through repeated engagement in intense mental tasks. By isolating weaknesses in cognition and exposing a student to concentrated remediation exercises targeting those weak skills, cognitive training can improve not only the trained skills but related ones as well. Unlike tutoring, cognitive training does not re-teach content but, instead, enhances the individual underlying learning skills such as working memory, long-term memory, processing speed, reasoning, attention, and visual and auditory processing—all skills that contribute to an individual’s ability to think and learn efficiently. What evidence do we have that cognitive training can help improve achievement test scores? Thanks to the amazing plasticity of the brain, we can document the malleability of cognition with changes on standardized measures of intelligence and by using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging to illustrate changes in neural connectivity following an intervention. What’s more, those neural changes have been shown to correlate with changes on cognitive test scores. LearningRx measures student progress by administering both cognitive and achievement tests prior to beginning cognitive training and immediately after completing a cognitive training program. Among the 9,959 cognitive training clients who completed a reading intervention program between 2010 and 2018, the average gain in reading skills was 3.5 years, with the largest gain of 6.3 years in Sound Awareness following training. All changes were statistically significant. Among the 3,521 cognitive training clients who completed a math intervention between 2010 and 2018, the average gain in math skills was 3.2 years, with the largest gain of 3.6 years in Quantitative Concepts following training. All of those changes were also statistically significant. These same clients averaged a 15-point gain in overall IQ score along with statistically significant changes in individual cognitive skills—changes that have also been documented in multiple controlled trials and published peer-reviewed studies. How, then, can cognitive training improve scores on tests that measure knowledge of content? The need for multiple strong cognitive skills for effective test-taking applies across content areas and is independent from the content except for the ability to encode and recall prior knowledge. For example, a student needs strong sustained attention skills to focus on a test, particularly a lengthy one. He also needs strong memory skills. Not only must he be able to recall prior knowledge, he must have the working memory capacity to keep information in mind while using it to answer test questions. The Math section of the ACT requires recall and application of memorized mathematical formulas, without which a student cannot perform well. A student must also have strong reasoning skills, both inductive and deductive, as well as rapid processing speed. Tests like the ACT and SAT are notoriously fast-paced. He must be able to quickly but effectively read each question and the answer choices while using reasoning skills to determine...
Read MoreLearningRx Research: One-on-One Brain Training Improves Cognition and Daily Functioning for Adults over Age 50
New Research Shows LearningRx Cognitive Training Provides Hope for Older Adults with Memory Problems COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO., February 8, 2019 – The results of a study just published in the APA journal Psychology and Neuroscience highlight the benefits of human-delivered brain training for adults over age 50, including better cognition as well as improved mood and life skills. In the study with 292 adults between the ages of 50 and 94 with memory or attention problems, researchers found statistically significant changes in long-term memory, processing speed, auditory processing, fluid reasoning, working memory, and visual processing for both treatment groups following 79 hours of one-on-one cognitive training. In addition, they noted improvements in mood, including bolstered confidence, hope, perseverance, reduced anxiety, and overall outlook. Participants also reported changes in work performance, hobbies and sports, driving, and managing daily responsibilities. The study was led by Amy Lawson Moore, PhD at Gibson Institute of Cognitive Research along with Dick Carpenter, PhD from University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Christina Ledbetter, PhD from LSU Health Sciences Center, and Terissa Miller, MS Psy also of Gibson Institute. “This is the first study on LearningRx cognitive training to evaluate changes in cognition plus the transfer of training to real life benefits for older adults,” explains Dr. Moore. “Many studies on brain training have shown improvements in the trained skills, but this is the Holy Grail of cognitive training—transfer to life improvements. We think the human element of delivery is the secret to achieving this transfer. That will be our next research focus.” The study adds to the growing convergence of evidence on the benefits of LearningRx clinician-delivered cognitive training which continues to distinguish it from the “brain games” industry. Dr. Ledbetter, a clinical neuroscientist, states, “The intensity in which a human being can deliver the training tasks is not something that can be replicated by a computer game. We believe it is that intensity coupled with the motivation of working with a personal trainer that drives the changes we are seeing.” The training program used in the study included 35 training procedures with more than 1000 variations that are sequenced in order of difficulty. A metronome and timer are added to the tasks to increase intensity and prevent mental breaks. Each training session lasts 60-90 minutes and participants either attended all training sessions in the clinic or split the sessions with caregivers trained to deliver part of the training at home. In the current study, both delivery methods resulted in similar positive outcomes. The study abstract, “ThinkRx Cognitive Training for Adults Over Age 50: Clinician-Caregiver Partners in Delivery as Effective as Clinician-Only Delivery” is available at https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fpne0000162 The full article can be accessed on the corresponding author’s website: https://www.gibsonresearchinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/ThinkRx-for-Adults-Over-50_Psy-and-Neuroscience_2019.pdf About Gibson Institute of Cognitive Research Gibson Institute of Cognitive Research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is the nonprofit research laboratory at LearningRx World Headquarters. The mission of the Gibson Institute is to conduct empirical research on cognitive training programs and assessments, to communicate the latest research findings to the education and cognitive science communities, and to inform the practices of cognitive trainers through rigorous testing of training programs and procedures in both the laboratory and ecologically-valid training environments. To learn more about the Gibson Institute, visit www.gibsonresearchinstitute.org #### For more information, contact: Amy Lawson Moore, PhD (Corresponding author) 719-955-6716 [email protected] www.GibsonResearch.org...
Read MoreLearningRx Research: Gibson Research Reviews LearningRx Brain Training
Moore, A.L., Carpenter, D.M., Miller, T.M., & Ledbetter, C., (2018). Comparing Two Methods of Delivering ThinkRx Cognitive Training to Children Ages 8-14: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Equivalency. Journal of Cognitive Enhancement. (Online first version). doi.org/10.1007/s41465-018-0094-z In a randomized controlled trial assessing equivalence of parallel groups of children ages 8-14, we compared cognitive outcomes between a group who received 60 hours of ThinkRx cognitive training delivered one-on-one by a clinician (n = 20) versus a group of children who received 30 hours of ThinkRx delivered by a clinician and the remaining 30 hours through supervised digital training procedures in a computer lab (n = 18). Results showed no significant differences between groups on tests of working memory, logic and reasoning, auditory processing, visual processing, processing speed, or overall IQ score. Results were significantly different on the test of long-term memory. These results suggest that both delivery models are equivalent cognitive training interventions for children. Read the article (Link to results...
Read MoreLearningRx Research: MCI Study Presented at 2018 APA Convention
MRI and Neuropsychological Outcomes following a Functional Medicine Intervention with Cognitive Training in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI): A Multiple Case Study. Using a multiple case study design, we examined neural connectivity with fMRI, executive function, memory, attention, reasoning, everyday functioning, and overall IQ score for 5 clients with varying levels of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) before the intervention, after 12 weeks on functional medicine (FM) protocols (grain-free/sugar-free diet, nutritional supplements, aerobic activity, optimized sleep & stress reduction) without cognitive training, and again following the addition and completion of 72 hours of cognitive training. In all five cases, improvement in both cognitive and life skills was achieved with a functional medicine protocol that included cognitive training. Normalization of the Default Mode Network (DMN) was evident along with the appearance of anti-correlations and decreased hyperconnectivity. A multidisciplinary approach to slowing or reversing cognitive decline appears to be promising. Link to presentation Reference: Moore, A.L., James, R., Carpenter, D., Miller, T., & Ledbetter, C. (2018). MRI and Neuropsychological Outcomes following a Functional Medicine Intervention with Cognitive Training in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI): A Multiple Case Study. Presentation at American Psychological Association Annual Convention, August 2018, San Francisco,...
Read MoreLearningRx Research: Brain Training for ADHD
In a randomized controlled trial, children with ADHD who completed 60 hours of ThinkRx cognitive training realized significant clinical cognitive change AND behavioral improvements. Moore, A.L., Carpenter, D.M., Ledbetter, C., & Miller, T.M. (2018). Clinician-delivered cognitive training for children with attention problems: Transfer effects on cognitive and behavior from the ThinkRx randomized controlled trial. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 14, 1671-1683. doi: 10.2147/NDT.S165418 Read the article https://www.dovepress.com/articles.php?article_id=39028 Link to video abstract: https://youtu.be/Tso9xhKRkao Purpose: The impact of attention problems on academic and social functioning coupled with the large number of children failing to respond to stimulant medication or behavioral therapy makes adjunctive therapies such as cognitive training appealing for families and clinicians of children with attention difficulties or childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. However, the results of cognitive training studies have failed to find far transfer effects with this population. This study examined the quantitative cognitive effects and parent-reported behavioral effects of a clinician-delivered cognitive training program with children who have attention problems. Patients and methods: Using a randomized controlled study design, we examined the impact of a clinician-delivered cognitive training program on processing speed, fluid reasoning, memory, visual processing, auditory processing, attention, overall intelligence quotient score, and behavior of students (n=13) aged 8–14 years with attention problems. Participants were randomly assigned to either a waitlist control group or a treatment group for 60 hours of cognitive training with ThinkRx, a clinician-delivered intervention that targets multiple cognitive skills with game-like, but rigorous mental tasks in 60–90-minute training sessions at least 3 days per week. Results: Results included greater mean pretest to posttest change scores on all variables for the treatment group versus the control group with statistically significant differences noted in working memory, long-term memory, logic and reasoning, auditory processing, and intelligence quotient score. Qualitative outcomes included parent-reported changes in confidence, cooperation, and self-discipline. Conclusion: Children with attention problems who completed 60 hours of clinician-delivered ThinkRx cognitive training realized both cognitive and behavioral...
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