Tracy Packiam Alloway, PhD

Brain training is a growing and exciting new area in scientific research. In particular, there is a lot of evidence of the brain’s plasticity: that it can actually change-shrink or grow-depending on what we do.  I wanted to investigate whether students with learning disabilities can also benefit from brain training.

I recently completed a study together with Dyslexia Scotland and the Autistic Treatment Trust on the impact of brain training. A group of students aged between 8 to 16 years old took part. They completed some tests of IQ and working memory and then participated in an 8-week training programme called Jungle Memory.
The findings were very exciting! The students who used the Jungle Memory training programme regularly (4x a week for 30 minutes) had higher IQ and working memory scores, compared to those who only trained 1x a week and those who didn’t train at all. By training your brain you will be able to improve your child’s prospects in classroom and beyond.

If you would like further details on this study, please contact me.

Here is a link to an article on my research that appeared in the Sunday Post, UK.

There is exciting research emerging on the benefit of brain training. The question is: what works? Is it enough to memorize numbers in backwards order? Previous research outlines programs where students remember number sequences for a few weeks. Although improvements in working memory were reported, there are clear limitations. Most notably, there was no transfer effect: training working memory did not improve academic attainment. This leads to the possibility that some brain training programs are just ‘training for the test’, which means you are just getting better at playing the training games.

In order to address this issue, I recently conducted a clinical trial with two groups of students: the Training group participated in a working memory training program (www.JungleMemory.com) and the Control group received targeted educational support (IEP). The two groups did not differ in their IQ, working memory, or academic scores pre-training.

Both the Training and the Control groups underwent 8-weeks of their respective training programs and then were retested on the IQ, working memory, and academic tests.

The results were dramatic. The Control group did not perform much better without intervention, and in some instances they performed even worse in math and working memory.

In contrast, the Training group demonstrated a clear improvement not only in IQ and working memory tests, but crucially in learning outcomes as well. Students on the working memory training program went from a C to a B, or a B to an A after just 8 weeks of training! This is an exciting step in demonstrating that the right brain training can significantly boost academic attainment.

We have all heard it before: the brain is a muscle and we need to exercise it. But is all mental exercise equal?

Before you spend your time and money, there are two important questions you need to ask yourself about the evidence of a brain training product.

1. Are you just getting better at the game?

Let’s say you play PacMan every day for a month. Sure, you’ll have a better score than when you first started out, but that doesn’t mean that you’ve actually trained your brain. All you’ve done is just improve your score in PacMan. A better assessment of whether the game is actually training your brain is to use a ‘benchmark’ test to measure improvement. For example, some psychologists test IQ before and after using a brain training game. If IQ improves, you can reasonably attribute this to playing the training program (presuming all other factors remain constant). I’ve looked at the benefits of Brain Gym*. Their claim is that it improves learning. However, when I looked at reading and math scores before and after using Brain Gym for 13 weeks, there was no improvement.

This leads us to the second question you need to ask yourself:

2. Is my improvement better than someone playing a non brain training game?

It is crucial to have a ‘control’ group. Ideally the control group should be doing something other than brain training. For example, if you want to investigate the benefits of brain training compared to doing crosswords, then the control group should do crosswords for the same amount of time as the group using the brain training program. This allows psychologists to accurately compare the results from the two groups and see if any improvements genuinely reflect the brain training program. In education, one school tried out a brain training program and suggested that learning improved. However, without a control group, we don’t know if this is because the students simply liked playing computer games instead of sitting in a classroom.

*Alloway & Warner (2008) Perceptual & Motor Skills READ

Read more about how Brain Training improves IQ, grades, and memory.

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I will be speaking at the British Science Festival this year on ‘Working Memory: The New IQ’ and thought I would give you a little preview of some of the topics that I will cover:

*The Genetics of Working Memory
What makes Gordon Ramsay, chef extraordinaire and owner of multiple restaurants around the globe, so successful, while his brother ended up in a jail for drug dealing and then homeless on the streets of London? Is Gordon Ramsay’s success in life related to his working memory? Do the genes we inherit play a role? Identical twins have identical genes, whereas fraternal twins share about half their genes. I have conducted one of the few scientific studies on identical and fraternal twins to understand the role of family in determining our working memory.

*The Spiral of Working Memory
It may come as a surprise to find out that working memory is linked to clenched fists and uncontrollable rage. In fact, boys with poor working memory are at greater risk of physical aggression and juvenile delinquency. I am working with juvenile delinquents and we will learn how their poor working memory led them down an increasingly dangerous path of crime. Evidence from my research demonstrates this spiral effect: young boys with poor working memory make criminal choices which damage their working memory (e.g., through alcohol, drugs, etc), which lead to worse decisions and more extreme criminal behavior.

* Tyranny of Technology?
With our ever-increasing reliance on word processing to help us write grammatically correct sentences, Blackberries to remind us of our appointments, speed-dial so we don’t have to remember the phone numbers, a universe of information available with a few keystrokes, are we impairing our working memory? What is the trade-off: what we do give up when we rely on new technology? Do Twitter-driven brevity and YouTube clips reduce our ability to engage in everyday life? In fact, technology can dramatically improve our working memory. There have been an influx of computer games and programs that promise to train your working memory muscle to Olympian proportions. But do they deliver? We have devised the world’s first working memory game that is clinically proven to improve grades for students as well as IQ. We look at the science behind different programs to find out what works and what doesn’t.

*The Twilight of Working Memory
Most of us worry about losing our memory as we grow old. I know I do. Will I forget significant events, meaningful relationships, even or how to perform simple daily activities? Understanding what we can do to train our working memory can have a tremendous impact in preventing memory loss and delay the signs of dementia.

READ THE SCIENCE FESTIVAL BLOG

READ THE ARTICLE IN THE NEW STRAITS TIMES

Cutting-edge research has shown that working memory—the ability to store and manipulate information—is the most important learning skill a child can have. Working memory is the foundation of good grades and a successful life beyond the classroom. Without it, students would fail at every task, and with it they can dramatically improve their classroom performance.

How can you make working memory work for children?

Join me for a seminar sponsored by Pearson Education and the educational publishers Sage Press:

Working Memory: How to Give Children the Competitive Edge

Lift the grades of your children and come to the seminar. Find out if your children are gifted and help them achieve their full potential. I will discuss unique and proven methods to give children the competitive edge. In a recent UK-wide study, students using JUNGLE MEMORY, a brain-training program based on my research and promoted by Pearson Education, improved from a grade C to a B, and a B to an A after just 12 weeks! It is the only training program scientifically proven to raise grades.

People around the world have said:

‘Dr. Alloway is excellent! Every educator should hear her.’ Educator, Massachusetts, USA.

‘Your research is a light at the end of the tunnel. Thank you!’

Sandie, Parent in South Africa.

‘Your work has struck a chord with many people. The news coverage of the training day means that the rest of the staff and parents now more about working memory than if I’d led a dozen staff meetings on the subject.’ Chris, Headteacher, UK.

WHERE: 10th floor, Menara TA One, 22 Jln P. Ramlee, KL 50250.
WHEN: Saturday June 20, 2009; 9:30am to 1pm.
COST: RM$100, which includes 1 complimentary subscription to Jungle Memory (a value of RM$115!)

Payment can be made on the day, however to reserve your space, please do email your name to: admin@memoryandlearning.com

READ THE ARTICLE IN THE DAILY MIRROR

Susan Boyle’s break-down and odd behavior during the final is not surprising. Like her, many people who struggle with learning disabilities can find it very hard to cope in difficult situations. Susan’s learning disability came about because she was deprived of oxygen at birth.

Scientific studies have found that even minor oxygen deprivation during birth can cause serious damage. People find it hard to stay focused on the big picture, remember important information, even keep track of what they need to do. Their language skills may be worse compared to their friends and they can struggle to keep up with conversations. Difficulty in processing and integrating information can cause someone to over react or explode over a well-meaning comment. As a psychologist, I receive lots of emails from adults, like Susan, who are frustrated and have even lost their jobs because they can’t remember things.

At the core of these difficulties is working memory.  Working memory is our brain’s post-it note. We use those little yellow slips of paper not only to jot down important information, but also to work with it. Working memory has been found to be more important than IQ.

We use working memory in everyday situations, like staying focused during a meeting, solving a complex problem, responding to questions, even saying the right thing when we are distracted or feeling emotional. People with good working memory are able to make better decisions under stress and overcome frustration, and are less likely to be overwhelmed. As is clearly the case with Susan Boyle, working memory problems do not affect your ability to sing like an angel.

Imagine being in Susan’s position in front the whole world, and not having the ability to focus! What would you do? What would any of us do?

Can Susan improve her working memory to deal better with the stress of worldwide celebrity? Yes, she can. There is a lot of exciting evidence that shows that our brain can actually grow depending on what we do. The best way to grow our brain is through brain training.

Brain training has received a lot of interest lately and there is evidence that it works. One brain training program that I helped to develop to train working memory is JungleMemory(www.junglememory.com). In clinical trials, students go from a C to a B, or a B to an A in just 12 weeks! Just imagine what Susan can do with the right help. The sky’s the limit!

What’s the difference between having ADHD and poor working memory? Children with ADHD not only have trouble sitting still and are often acting out, teachers usually comment that their classroom performance is poor and they often forget vital information, such as instructions, the right books for their classes, where they need to be. Do they have poor working memory?

Yes. One of the most consistent findings in scientific studies is that children with ADHD have very poor working memory, particularly when they have to remember visual information, such as graphs or images. As part of a government-funded project that I lead, I found that children with ADHD were 4x more likely to have working memory problems compared to their peers without attention problems. This has serious impacts on their learning. As a result of their working memory problems, they will struggle in the classroom.

This doesn’t mean that all children with poor working memory have ADHD. In fact, as part of a different government-funded project, I found that children with poor working memory (that don’t have ADHD) are actually NOT impulsive or hyperactive. They aren’t disrupting the class, they aren’t bouncing off the walls. As a result, the teacher doesn’t notice there is a problem. At least not until it’s too late. Not until they start failing because they haven’t grasped key concepts in the lesson or can’t understand what to do and how to do it.

Ultimately, both students with ADHD and those with poor working memory need our help. Addressing their behavior won’t bring lasting change to learning.  Supporting their working memory is the only way to help make sense of what goes on in the classroom. Find out more about testing and supporting working memory.