Tuesday, July 8, 2025 7/8/2025

Understanding Mediating and Moderating Factors that Determine Transfer of Working Memory Training

Award Number: R01MH111742
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/26/2016
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 08/31/2028

Group Awards By:

View Award Description

Understanding Mediating and Moderating Factors that Determine Transfer of Working Memory Training - PROJECT SUMMARY This proposal aims to improve the rigor and reproducibility of research on plasticity in human working memory (WM), and related executive functions (EFs) in adolescent youth. We address a critical gap between research and practice that is characterized by a growing commercial space marketing cognitive training approaches (with WM being one of the most common targets), which are particularly catering to typically developing children and those diagnosed with ADHD to improve mental health and scholastic performance. However, despite expansive literature, there exists limited basic research on WM and EF training in adolescents, and both methods and findings are mixed across studies. Here, we address these significant gaps that pose obstacles to understanding interventions’ reliability and validity by collecting a large-scale open dataset that compares different training approaches on a common set of outcome measures. This is addressed through 4 aims, all based upon a large- scale study involving 720 adolescents, stratified across age, sex and ADHD status randomized across interventions: Aim 1 – What ingredients of cognitive training mediate training outcomes? We compare training conditions that represent some of the most common ingredients used across cognitive training studies (gamification, multiple domain training, and coaching) in comparison to basic non-gamified n-back training, using a common set of outcomes measures. Aim 2 – How do training ingredients differentially impact youth with ADHD? With ADHD being one of the most common targets of cognitive training, we examine whether and how youth with ADHD are differentially impacted by the training conditions. Aim 3 – What individual characteristics moderate training outcomes? We examine how cognitive training outcomes may differ across individuals, and whether this variability may explain differential effects across studies. Aim 4 - Promote open science through sharing of software tools and data. We will develop and share a cross-platform training and assessment app and a research portal that will promote data sharing, replication, and access to other groups using common individual difference variables and outcome measures. As a renewal, targeting adolescents with and without ADHD is a natural next step in this research program that started in typically functioning adults. This research is significant and timely as it addresses the limited basic research of cognitive training in adolescents with and without ADHD, whom are understudied, but at the same time, are common targets of commercial products in this space. This will lead to a more robust and representative understanding of factors that moderate and mediate cognitive training that will be impactful whether or not one hypothesizes near or far transfer from cognitive training. Further, findings could inform future research to understand broader age groups (younger children and older adults) as well as to address lifespan and developmental factors more broadly, mental health, disease, and brain damage, that interact with cognitive training to give rise to individualized outcomes.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $758,186 )
2024	2024	NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY	360 HUNTINGTON AVE	BOSTON	MA	02115	SUFFOLK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	002	7	8/28/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$758,186
2024	2023	NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY	360 HUNTINGTON AVE	BOSTON	MA	02115	SUFFOLK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	6	3/20/2024	COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
2024	2020	REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT RIVERSIDE	200 UNIVERSTY OFC BUILDING	RIVERSIDE	CA	92521	RIVERSIDE	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	001	5	8/16/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $758,186

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $765,775 )
2023	2023	NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY	360 HUNTINGTON AVE	BOSTON	MA	02115	SUFFOLK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	6	9/8/2023	COMPETING CONTINUATION	$765,775
														Subtotal = $765,775

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2022	2020	REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT RIVERSIDE	900 UNIVERSITY AVE	RIVERSIDE	CA	92521	RIVERSIDE	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	5	9/7/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2021 ( Subtotal = $130,620 )
2021	2021	REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT RIVERSIDE	200 UNIVERSTY OFFICE BLDG	RIVERSIDE	CA	92521	RIVERSIDE	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	5	7/21/2021	SUPPLEMENT FOR EXPANSION	$130,620
														Subtotal = $130,620

Issue Date FY: 2020 ( Subtotal = $386,841 )
2020	2020	REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT RIVERSIDE	200 UNIVERSTY OFFICE BLDG	RIVERSIDE	CA	92521	RIVERSIDE	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	5	9/4/2020	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$386,841
														Subtotal = $386,841

Issue Date FY: 2019 ( Subtotal = $383,855 )
2019	2019	REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT RIVERSIDE	200 UNIVERSTY OFFICE BLDG	RIVERSIDE	CA	92521	RIVERSIDE	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	001	4	8/29/2019	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
2019	2019	REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT RIVERSIDE	200 UNIVERSTY OFFICE BLDG	RIVERSIDE	CA	92521	RIVERSIDE	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	4	8/26/2019	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$383,855
														Subtotal = $383,855

Issue Date FY: 2018 ( Subtotal = $388,042 )
2018	2018	REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT RIVERSIDE	200 UNIVERSTY OFFICE BLDG	RIVERSIDE	CA	92521	RIVERSIDE	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	3	9/12/2018	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$388,042
														Subtotal = $388,042

Issue Date FY: 2017 ( Subtotal = $384,003 )
2017	2017	REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT RIVERSIDE	200 UNIVERSTY OFFICE BLDG	RIVERSIDE	CA	92521	RIVERSIDE	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	2	9/1/2017	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$384,003
														Subtotal = $384,003

Issue Date FY: 2016 ( Subtotal = $386,537 )
2016	2016	REGENTS, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA	POST OFFICE BOX 112	RIVERSIDE	CA	92521	RIVERSIDE	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	1	9/23/2016	NEW	$386,537
														Subtotal = $386,537

Grand Total All Awards = $3,583,859

Top

All Categories

About

Search

Reports

Data Submission

Award Information

Understanding Mediating and Moderating Factors that Determine Transfer of Working Memory Training

Award Number: R01MH111742

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/26/2016

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 08/31/2028

Federal Websites

Department of Health & Human Services

HHS Operating Divisions

HHS Staff Divisions

Download A Document Viewer