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Cogmed

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Cogmed
IndustryCognitive training
Founded2001; 23 years ago (2001) in Stockholm, Sweden[1]
ProductsCogmed Working Memory Training
ParentNeural Assembly Int AB
Websitecogmed.com

Cogmed is a cognitive training software program created in the lab of Torkel Klingberg, a neuroscientist at the Karolinska Institute. Torkel Klingberg was using it to present working memory challenges to people while he studied their brains using fMRI, to try to learn about neuroplasticity.[1][2] When the studies appeared to show that the challenges improved working memory, Klingberg founded Cogmed in 2001, with financial backing from the Karolinska Institute and venture capitalists.[2][3]

Cogmed's initial marketing was focused on helping people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and expanded to other impairments of working memory, such as persons with learning disabilities, and people who had a stroke or other traumatic brain injury.[1][3][4]

In 2010, Cogmed was purchased by Pearson Education and became a part of the Pearson Clinical Assessment Group.[5][6] Karolinska received 22 m SEK and double-digit royalties as part of the transaction.[7] In 2019, Cogmed was transferred back to the original founders.[8]

Effectiveness

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A 2012 meta-analysis of 23 research studies on seven different commercial and non-commercial working memory training techniques (including Cogmed) found that "working memory training programs give only near-transfer effects, and there is no convincing evidence that even such near-transfer effects are durable."[9] Another 2012 review of Cogmed found that many of the problem-solving or training tasks presented in Cogmed are not related to working memory, that many of the attention tasks are unrelated to ADHD, and that there is limited transfer to real-life manifestations of attention deficits, concluding "The only unequivocal statement that can be made is that Cogmed will improve performance on tasks that resemble Cogmed training."[10]

In the years following, several independent research groups have published studies supporting the original findings, and showing that Cogmed improves working memory and attention in children with ADHD,[11][12] children post cancer treatment,[13][14][15] and stroke patients.[16][17]

The largest Cogmed study to date(a randomized, controlled trial by independent researchers, including close to 600 typically developing children) found that Cogmed training led to improvements in "geometry skills, reading skills, Raven’s fluid IQ measure, the ability to inhibit prepotent impulses and self-regulation abilities".[18] The study also found that, "3–4 years after the intervention, the children who received training [had] a roughly 16 percentage points higher probability of entering the academic track in secondary school".[18]

The company's marketing efforts have been described in popular media.[19] A 2013 article in The New Yorker magazine said that brain training games are "bogus."[6] A later review in PNAS argued that the question "does cognitive training work" is similar to asking "does medicine cure disease", and suggested that in order to determine the validity of the question, one needs to specify which type of cognitive training, for which group and for which purpose.[20]

A metanalysis published in 2023 by European ADHD Guidelines Group (EAGG) suggests that Cogmed training can lead to improvement in ADHD-related attention symptoms, however the authors state that "clinical effects were limited to small, setting specific, short-term effects".[21]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Michael Fitzgerald (2014-10-09). "Do brain games work?". The Boston Globe.
  2. ^ a b Kenward, Michael (5 December 2007). "Torkel Klingberg: More than just a computer game". ScienceBusiness.
  3. ^ a b Sinha, Gunjan (2005-07-11). "Training the Brain". Scientific American.
  4. ^ "Cogmed Claims and Evidence" (PDF). cogmed.com. Pearson Education. 2014-06-18. Retrieved 26 May 2015.: 5 
  5. ^ "Press release: PsychCorp Announces Acquisition of Cogmed". Pearson. July 14, 2010.
  6. ^ a b Gareth Cook (2013-04-05). "Brain Games are Bogus". The New Yorker.
  7. ^ "Annual Report 2010" (PDF). Karolinska Development. p. 59.
  8. ^ admin. "Torkel Klingberg". Klingberg lab. Retrieved 2022-04-05.
  9. ^ Melby-Lervag M, Hulme C; Hulme (2012). "Is Working Memory Training Effective? A Meta-Analytic Review" (PDF). Developmental Psychology. 49 (2): 270–291. doi:10.1037/a0028228. PMID 22612437.
  10. ^ Shipstead, Z; Hicks, K; Engle, RW (2012). "Cogmed working memory training: Does the evidence support the claims?". Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition. 1 (3): 185–193. doi:10.1016/j.jarmac.2012.06.003.
  11. ^ Egeland, Jens; Aarlien, Anne Kristine; Saunes, Brit-Kari (2013). "Few effects of far transfer of working memory training in ADHD: a randomized controlled trial". PLOS ONE. 8 (10): e75660. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...875660E. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0075660. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3790857. PMID 24124503.
  12. ^ Bigorra, Aitana; Garolera, Maite; Guijarro, Silvina; Hervás, Amaia (2016). "Long-term far-transfer effects of working memory training in children with ADHD: a randomized controlled trial". European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 25 (8): 853–867. doi:10.1007/s00787-015-0804-3. ISSN 1435-165X. PMID 26669692. S2CID 22989315.
  13. ^ Conklin, Heather M.; Ashford, Jason M.; Clark, Kellie N.; Martin-Elbahesh, Karen; Hardy, Kristina K.; Merchant, Thomas E.; Ogg, Robert J.; Jeha, Sima; Huang, Lu; Zhang, Hui (2016-06-24). "Long-Term Efficacy of Computerized Cognitive Training Among Survivors of Childhood Cancer: A Single-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial". Journal of Pediatric Psychology. 42 (2): 220–231. doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsw057. ISSN 0146-8693. PMC 5896595. PMID 27342301.
  14. ^ Conklin, Heather M.; Ogg, Robert J.; Ashford, Jason M.; Scoggins, Matthew A.; Zou, Ping; Clark, Kellie N.; Martin-Elbahesh, Karen; Hardy, Kristina K.; Merchant, Thomas E.; Jeha, Sima; Huang, Lu (2015-11-20). "Computerized Cognitive Training for Amelioration of Cognitive Late Effects Among Childhood Cancer Survivors: A Randomized Controlled Trial". Journal of Clinical Oncology. 33 (33): 3894–3902. doi:10.1200/JCO.2015.61.6672. ISSN 0732-183X. PMC 4652013. PMID 26460306.
  15. ^ Carlson-Green, Bonnie; Puig, Jennifer; Bendel, Anne (2017-06-01). "Feasibility and efficacy of an extended trial of home-based working memory training for pediatric brain tumor survivors: a pilot study". Neuro-Oncology Practice. 4 (2): 111–120. doi:10.1093/nop/npw015. ISSN 2054-2577. PMC 6655366. PMID 31385985.
  16. ^ Åkerlund, Elisabeth; Esbjörnsson, Eva; Sunnerhagen, Katharina S.; Björkdahl, Ann (2013). "Can computerized working memory training improve impaired working memory, cognition and psychological health?". Brain Injury. 27 (13–14): 1649–1657. doi:10.3109/02699052.2013.830195. ISSN 0269-9052. PMID 24087909. S2CID 24676863.
  17. ^ Peers, Polly V.; Astle, Duncan E.; Duncan, John; Murphy, Fionnuala C.; Hampshire, Adam; Das, Tilak; Manly, Tom (2020). "Dissociable effects of attention vs working memory training on cognitive performance and everyday functioning following fronto-parietal strokes". Neuropsychological Rehabilitation. 30 (6): 1092–1114. doi:10.1080/09602011.2018.1554534. ISSN 1464-0694. PMC 7266670. PMID 30569816.
  18. ^ a b Berger, Eva M.; Fehr, Ernst; Hermes, Henning; Schunk, Daniel; Winkel, Kirsten (2020-06-09). "The Impact of Working Memory Training on Children's Cognitive and Noncognitive Skills". NHH Dept. of Economics Discussion. Rochester, NY. SSRN 3622985.
  19. ^ Hurley, Dan (31 October 2012). "The Brain Trainers". New York Times.
  20. ^ Katz, Benjamin; Shah, Priti; Meyer, David E. (2018-10-02). "How to play 20 questions with nature and lose: Reflections on 100 years of brain-training research". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 115 (40): 9897–9904. doi:10.1073/pnas.1617102114. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 6176639. PMID 30275315.
  21. ^ Samuel J. Westwood, Valeria Parlatini, Katya Rubia, Samuele Cortese, Edmund J. S. Sonuga-Barke (2023-03-29). "Computerized cognitive training in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials with blinded and objective outcomes". Nature.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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