"It's a damn good thing for a brain to be able to manipulate information with such facility in fast time," Merzenich says. "But to say that it's far transfer is questionable."

Other experts are also skeptical. "It's a little shocking to me that this would be published without any caveats," says K. Anders Ericsson, a psychologist at Florida State University in Tallahassee who studies expert performance and memory and was also not involved in the study. "I would be one of the first to be really excited if this turned out to be a genuine reproducible effect, but the more I read, the more questions I have." Ericsson says he is troubled by the paper's lack of several details, among them, how the subjects and controls were recruited and how well matched they were.

Merzenich notes that the work challenges the long-standing and much-disputed idea that the core basis of intelligence is inherited and cannot be modified. "I think it's important that someone has demonstrated," he says, "that you can change measures of 'intelligence' by intensive training."

3 Comments

1. 1. harleycw 05:54 AM 4/30/08

   Somebody please create a website with a dual n-back test like the one mentioned. If somebody does or one is found that does it already let me know. I may have to build a tool myself for the mass population to use. I may create my own website for it or put it on my worldlearningtree dot com site. Reach me there if you are willing to help. - Harley

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2. 2. S Mitchell 12:59 AM 5/11/08

   My daughter was identified with a learning disability in 2nd grade. She had failed first and second grade. At that time, we enrolled her in an intensive cognitive training through a program at Marylhurst College in Portland, OR. She continued to struggle through 5th grade. In sixth grade, her cognitive skills opened up and she was able to benefit from instruction sufficiently to catch up to grade level. She is currently in High School, and on the honor rolls. I give great credit to the cognitive training she participated in, in addition to caring educators along the way who had great belief in her ability to succeed.

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3. 3. aryannatimothy 04:22 AM 5/11/12

   I must agree as this is really something not new to us anymore, still, the human brain is one of the many "unexplainable" things we have yet to explore.
   
   Aryanna of <a href="http://www.enlightenmentgateway.com/">meditation techniques for beginners</a>

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