Recently, there has been increasing interest in techniques for enhancing working memory (WM), casting a new light on the classical picture of a rigid system. One reason is that WM performance has been associated with intelligence and reasoning, while its impairment showed correlations with cognitive deficits, hence the possibility of training it is highly appealing. However, results on WM changes following training are controversial, leaving it unclear whether it can really be potentiated. This study aims at assessing changes in WM performance by comparing it with and without training by a professional mnemonist. Two groups, experimental and control, participated in the study, organized in two phases. In the morning, both groups were familiarized with stimuli through an N-back task, and then attended a 2-hour lecture. For the experimental group, the lecture, given by the mnemonist, introduced memory encoding techniques; for the control group, it was a standard academic lecture about memory systems. In the afternoon, both groups were administered five tests, in which they had to remember the position of 16 items, when asked in random order. The results show much better performance in trained subjects, indicating the need to consider such possibility of enhancement, alongside general information-theoretic constraints, when theorizing about WM span.

中文翻译：

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工作记忆训练：评估助记策略的效率

最近，人们对增强工作记忆（WM）的技术越来越感兴趣，为刚性系统的经典图景带来了新的视角。原因之一是，WM 表现与智力和推理有关，而其损伤则与认知缺陷相关，因此对其进行训练的可能性非常有吸引力。然而，训练后 WM 变化的结果存在争议，因此尚不清楚它是否真的可以增强。本研究旨在通过比较有和没有接受专业记忆术训练的情况来评估记忆记忆表现的变化。实验组和对照组两组参加了这项研究，分两个阶段进行。早上，两组人都通过 N-back 任务熟悉刺激，然后参加 2 小时的讲座。对于实验组来说，由助记师进行的讲座介绍了记忆编码技术；对于对照组来说，这是一场关于记忆系统的标准学术讲座。下午，两组人都接受了五次测试，其中当随机询问时，他们必须记住 16 个项目的位置。结果显示，受过训练的受试者的表现要好得多，这表明在对 WM 跨度进行理论化时，需要考虑这种增强的可能性以及一般信息论约束。