Table 2 Mean values (standard deviations) for the pre-post measures per group at pre- and posttest.

From: The early effects of external and internal strategies on working memory updating training

 

Strategy training group (n = 40)c

Active control group (n = 37)a,c

Passive control group (n = 39)b,c

Pre

Post

r

d

Pre

Post

r

d

Pre

Post

r

d

Trained n-back with digits

Maximum level

3.73 (1.26)

6.05 (1.38)

0.45

1.76

3.57 (0.73)

4.70 (1.51)

0.41

0.89

3.87 (1.17)

4.51 (1.59)

0.63

0.44

Average level

2.44 (0.74)

3.80 (0.92)

0.39

1.61

2.38 (0.54)

3.21 (0.91)

0.33

1.08

2.61 (0.82)

3.01 (0.96)

0.74

0.44

Task-specific near transfer

2-back with letters (d-prime)

2.36 (0.82)

3.04 (0.98)

0.34

0.75

2.08 (0.70)

2.81 (0.61)

0.09

1.11

2.41 (0.81)

2.68 (0.79)

0.46

0.34

3-back with letters (d-prime)

0.98 (0.71)

2.58 (0.97)

0.45

2.07

1.14 (0.51)

1.72 (1.08)

0.14

0.67

1.11 (0.82)

1.78 (1.04)

0.62

0.69

2-back with colors (d-prime)

2.35 (0.77)

2.87 (1.29)

0.56

0.45

2.33 (0.82)

2.75 (0.82)

0.35

0.50

2.46 (0.86)

2.82 (0.88)

0.54

0.42

3-back with colors (d-prime)

1.06 (0.74)

2.44 (1.12)

0.43

1.41

1.06 (0.54)

1.73 (0.94)

0.24

0.83

1.10 (0.74)

1.59 (0.98)

0.56

0.55

2-back with letters (RT in msec)

873 (145)

695 (156)

0.38

1.18

849 (121)

720 (114)

0.62

1.09

845 (137)

710 (124)

0.49

1.07

3-back with letters (RT in msec)

918 (169)

702 (156)

0.41

1.33

897 (117)

747 (151)

0.39

1.10

858 (144)

747 (138)

0.54

0.78

2-back with colors (RT in msec)

848 (148)

719 (167)

0.60

0.81

872 (149)

724 (123)

0.71

1.07

829 (131)

714 (130)

0.57

0.88

3-back with colors (RT in msec)

903 (167)

737 (185)

0.67

0.94

917 (146)

785 (150)

0.59

0.90

854 (162)

790 (157)

0.56

0.40

Task-general near transfer (% accuracy)

Selective updating of digits

59.70 (15.07)

65.10 (14.80)

0.66

0.36

54.70 (11.04)

60.65 (12.69)

0.53

0.49

57.59 (13.27)

63.90 (13.51)

0.82

0.47

Forward digit span (correct items)

62.50 (17.19)

67.30 (17.58)

0.57

0.28

59.85 (18.01)

61.39 (15.23)

0.54

0.09

61.33 (16.47)

63.32 (19.73)

0.70

0.11

Forward digit span (maximum span)

61.25 (22.44)

67.50 (16.13)

0.39

0.32

56.49 (21.76)

59.46 (17.15)

0.72

0.15

61.79 (17.60)

63.59 (18.42)

0.51

0.10

Running memory

74.84 (20.23)

80.23 (16.03)

0.58

0.29

74.66 (16.43)

82.18 (12.28)

0.46

0.51

72.52 (16.85)

80.37 (16.28)

0.65

0.47

  1. Values in parentheses are standard deviations. r = correlation between pre- and posttest.
  2. Cohen’s d represents effect sizes for correlated samples.
  3. aOne extreme outlier in the active control group in 2-back with letters (both d-prime and RT) (n = 36).
  4. bOne extreme outlier in the passive control group in 3-back with letters (d-prime) (n = 38).
  5. cTwo participants with verified color blindness were excluded from the color n-back task (strategy group n = 39, active control group n = 36).
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