“Working memory is the cognitive function responsible for keeping information online, manipulating it, and using it in your thinking. It is the way that you delegate the things you encounter to the parts of our brain that can take action. In this way, working memory is necessary for staying focused on a task, blocking out distractions, and keeping you updated and aware about what’s going on around you.” – Cogmed

What if there was one feature of your brain that was critical to:

• Your ability to control your attention?
• Your ability to concentrate in the face of distractions?
• Your ability to multi-task?
• Your general reasoning ability?
• Your ability to learn and comprehend what you read?
• Your overall performance on measures of intelligence?

Further, what if it is possible to improve the performance of that one feature and consequently improve all those other abilities that are dependent upon it?  There has recently been some tantalizing new evidence that working memory is that key feature and that in can be improved with training.

“At present, working memory capacity is the best predictor for intelligence that has yet been derived from theories and research on human cognition.” — Heinz-Martin Süß

I find it an intriguing possibility that we may be able to increase general working memory ability.   Historically it has been believed that working memory and fluid intelligence are fixed abilities that can’t be improved.  Even worse, tests unambiguously show that these abilities actually decline with age; something that affects virtually all of us that live long enough.  Your working memory and fluid intelligence peak at around age 25 and working memory declines significantly by age 50.

In 2010 a panel convened by the NIH reviewed the studies and literature available and concluded that cognitive training was the only method that had clearly been demonstrated to reduce the risk of cognitive decline in aging.

There have been numerous studies on whether practicing mental tasks might improve mental abilities.  While practicing a certain mental task usually shows an improvement in the performance of that particular task, there is seldom any transference to other abilities or to any kind of general ability.  That may be changing with some recent evidence on working memory training.

Simply using your working memory, which you do continually, doesn’t improve it any more than simply lifting a beer bottle to your lips is going to make your biceps stronger.  That requires focused and intense workouts with gradually increasing resistance.  So it goes with your working memory.  You don’t get something for nothing.  You have to work at it.  The more you work at it, the greater your improvement.  For me however, it is an investment that pays huge dividends and is more than worth the effort.

How to Improve Your Working Memory

What follows is the best information I have found on improving your working memory.

Dual N-Back Training

A study on dual N-back training garnered huge publicity a couple of years ago and may be the most effective training available for the improvement working memory.  In dual N-back training, you simultaneously keep track of the the locations of an object on the screen and the sequence of auditory letter sounds.  As you train, you progressively get better at holding more instances of both in working memory at the same time.  It is a very intense mental workout.   There is a free download called Brain Workshop that is based on the study is very well done.  I highly recommend it and use it myself.  It also has the option of triple, quadruple, and quintuple N-Back training.  I have been able to verify that using N-Back training has improved my working memory performance on working memory tests.  I know this anecdotal, but I have attempted to verify the improvement in the most objective way I can.  Here is an article in Wired about the N-back study: Forget Brain Age: Researchers Develop Software That Makes You Smarter

Chess

Chess may be another activity that stretches your working memory capacity.  As you play out move sequences in your mind, you must maintain them in working memory as you analyze the various options.  In one study of older people, chess was the single activity most predictive for a reduction in the risk of mental decline.

Reading

In order to comprehend what you read, you must maintain the beginning of the sentence in memory as you read through to the end of the sentence.  The more complex the material, the higher the load it puts on your working memory.

Dopamine

The drug Ritalin is often used by college students and I believe has been shown to improve working memory.  Instead of Ritalin, try increasing your brain’s dopamine levels by more natural or safer means.  Take L-Tyrosine and/or DL-Phenylalanine supplements to increase the levels of dopamine in your brain.  These are natural amino acids.   I recommend from 1.5 grams to 6 grams daily of each divided into three doses taken between meals.  These foods are also good sources.

• Wild game
• Cottage cheese
• Chicken
• Duck
• Ricotta
• Turkey
• Pork
• Wheat germ
• Walnuts
• Soybeans
• Dark chocolate
• Granola
• Milk
• Egg
• Yogurt
• Oats
• Sausage meat
• Low-fat cheese

Exercise

Exercise is such a proven benefit to brain health, it’s hard to believe it doesn’t help maintain the parts of the brain involved in working memory.  Even if it doesn’t, it helps other aspects of brain function so it should be a part of any program.

The best book I’ve read on the subject of working memory is The Overflowing Brain: Information Overload and the Limits of Working Memory by Torkel Klingberg.

What do YOU think?  Leave a comment and join the conversation.