Let me sum it up, is it a miracle worker? Nope, sorry.

If you want to try with us… click here and then you don’t have to read the rest of this page!!

Ok still with me? Great let’s dive right in.

Let’s go a really have a hard look at the science and evidence behind this.

Based on extensive scientific research spanning over two decades, Cogmed represents both a promising intervention and a contentious topic in cognitive training. While marketed as a transformative “brain gym” that can enhance working memory and attention, the accumulated evidence reveals a more nuanced picture of its effectiveness and limitations.

Really Understanding Cogmed: The Digital Brain Training Program

Cogmed Working Memory Training operates as a comprehensive, digitally-delivered intervention designed around the principle of neuroplasticity, the brain’s capacity to reorganize and strengthen neural connections through targeted practice. The program consists of 11 distinct computerized exercises that challenge different aspects of working memory, including verbal, visuospatial, and auditory components.

The core training protocol requires participants to complete 25 sessions over 6-7 weeks, with each session lasting 30-45 minutes and performed 5 days per week. What distinguishes Cogmed from casual brain training apps is its adaptive algorithm that automatically adjusts task difficulty in real-time based on individual performance, ensuring users consistently work at the limits of their working memory capacity.

The metaphor of Cogmed as a brain gym effectively captures the program’s theoretical foundation. Just as physical exercise strengthens muscles through progressive overload, Cogmed aims to enhance the working memory muscle through increasingly challenging cognitive tasks.

This conceptual framework suggests that regular “cognitive workouts” should lead to improvements that transfer beyond the training tasks to everyday cognitive functioning.

However, the gym metaphor also illuminates the program’s fundamental limitation. While physical exercise demonstrably improves overall fitness and health, the evidence for Cogmed’s broader cognitive benefits tells a different story.

Research consistently shows that Cogmed training produces improvements that are largely specific to the trained tasks, much like practicing a specific sport improves performance in that sport but may not enhance general athleticism.

The most comprehensive meta-analysis specifically examining Cogmed, conducted by Aksayli et al., (2019), analyzed 50 studies encompassing 637 effect sizes. The findings revealed a stark dichotomy between near transfer (improvements on similar working memory tasks) and far transfer (improvements on real-world cognitive skills).

Near transfer effects were consistently documented, with small to medium effect sizes (Cohen’s d = 0.4-0.6) on trained working memory tasks. These improvements indicate that participants genuinely enhance their performance on the specific types of working memory challenges presented in the training program.

Neuroimaging studies investigating Cogmed’s effects on brain structure and function have produced mixed findings. While some studies report changes in brain activation patterns following training, these neural changes often don’t correspond to meaningful improvements in real-world cognitive performance.

A particularly rigorous neuroimaging study by Caeyenberghs et al. (2019) found that while some structural and functional brain changes occurred, there was little evidence these changes were specific to Cogmed training. Many of the observed neural modifications appeared in both the Cogmed and placebo groups, suggesting they reflected general engagement with cognitive tasks rather than specific training-induced neuroplasticity.

Established Applications

Cogmed has demonstrated modest benefits in several specific populations. Post-cancer treatment cognitive rehabilitation represents one of the most promising applications, with studies showing improvements in attention and working memory that persist for several months.

Can personally attest to this!

An intriguing new application involves Long COVID brain fog, a condition characterized by persistent cognitive difficulties following COVID-19 infection. While Cogmed hasn’t been specifically studied for this population, the cognitive symptoms, including poor working memory, difficulty concentrating, and attention problems, align with the program’s theoretical targets.

Does this also then apply for women going through menopause who are facing brain fog? Our experience has shown that yes this can really help!

Can personally attest to this too!

Just a quick aside from Stephanie!

In fact we have a whole program and support designed around this very personal issue, which is a very serious problem for many of us going into perimenopause and menopause.

The fundamental limitation of Cogmed, and working memory training generally, lies in the failure of transfer. Despite decades of research, there remains no convincing evidence that improvements on computerized working memory tasks translate to enhanced performance in real-world cognitive demands such as reading comprehension, mathematical reasoning, or academic achievement.

This limitation reflects a broader challenge in cognitive training: the human brain appears to develop highly specific skills rather than general cognitive capacities. Practicing digit span tasks makes individuals better at remembering digit sequences, but this skill doesn’t necessarily improve their ability to follow multi-step instructions or maintain attention during lectures.

🧠 This is where the Smith Clinic expertise comes in! We work alongside the Cogmed program to help cement the transfer of the skills learnt within real-world cognitive demands. Stephanie