Can Mogul Skiing Lead to Better Academic Test Scores?
Dynamic Proprioception Training to Build Working Memory
Preliminary research is suggesting that physical training sometimes builds more than muscles. It just might build substantial strength in a key brain function called working memory. And working memory has been closely linked to cognitive performance such as academic test taking. But it appears that perhaps only specific types of physical training have this benefit.
What is Working Memory?
Whether we're solving a math problem, for example, or planning a route skiing through moguls, we "keep items in mind" and process them using our working memory. Some neuroscience researchers use the term synonymously with short term memory. Others feel the processing aspect sets working memory apart. Working memory is closely related to brain executive function. This doesn't mean corporate management but rather how our brain manages its thinking.
Different people have different working memory capacity, ie, how many items they can keep in mind without forgetting some. This capacity can be measured by a span test in which a person is told a string of items to be remembered. At first it is only a few items and the number of items is increased until it becomes too difficult. In many forms of the test, the person must process the items, or remember while being distracted with other tasks.
Despite individual differences, working memory capacity for most people appears roughly similar to "the magical number seven plus or minus two" suggested by a classic paper on short term memory (Miller 1956). It is said that USA local telephone numbers were initially seven digits and could be easily remembered.
Working Memory and Cognitive Performance
Since working memory allows us to "keep items in mind", it's not surprising that researchers have found strong association between working memory capacity and ability in mental tasks like reading comprehension, problem solving and so on. One meta-analysis supporting this association considered 77 peer-reviewed journal-published studies comprising 6,179 participants (Daneman 1996). The conclusion was that correlation between working memory capacity and comprehension tests ranged from 0.25 to 0.55, depending on the type of test.
In another example, research studied correlations to Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores, widely used for USA college admission. Based on a variety of span tests, the 133 participants' working memory capacity was modeled to have correlations of 0.40 and 0.43 with verbal and math SAT scores (Engle 1999).
There are many other research studies in this area. Most though not all find significant correlation between working memory capacity and cognitive performance like academic test scores.
Working Memory and Physical Performance
Not only does working memory capacity correlate to academic performance, research suggests relationships to various kinds of physical performances. For a few of many examples in tests of general brain executive function, High Division soccer players outscore Low Division ones who in turn outscore the general population (Vestberg 2012). And importantly for older adults, brain executive function was found correlated with fall-risk tests of physical ability (Blackwood 2015).
Preliminary Alloway (2015) Research
So... if working memory capacity correlates to physical performance, does one cause the other? Specifically, could physical training increase working memory capacity? Can we build muscles and working memory capacity at the same time?
Exactly that, to an astonishing degree, is suggested by brain researchers' blog posts (Alloway 2016). They describe a study of three groups of adult volunteers, ages 18-59. All were tested for working memory capacity, then performed an activity, and tested again to see if the capacity improved. The activity for the control group was attending a classroom lecture to learn new information, the second group yoga, and the third performed unique MovNat exercises.
The MovNat group experienced "a dramatic increase of 50%" in working memory capacity. The lecture and yoga groups did not show significant improvement.
What were these unique MovNat exercises? They were a wide variety that our more nature-dwelling ancestors likely performed. Things like crawling on the ground in a proper way, or walking along the top of a fence. More details below.
Checking the Original Journal Article
Wow! "A dramatic increase of 50%" in working memory according to the blog posts. And after only a few hours of MovNat exercise. Is that magic? Those are pretty ambitious claims, and we can't always believe what we read on the web.
Some digging revealed that the authors are well-respected researchers with strong background in working memory. One source indicates they have published 113 journal article and been cited by about 5,800 other articles. Their scientific journal article (Alloway 2015) gives additional information.
Their analysis (ANOVA) found
- no statistically significant differences in working memory capacity between groups at Baseline
- statistically significant improvement after activity for the MovNat group but not the classroom lecture or yoga groups.
For the MovNat group, working memory capacity was tested in three Sessions. Session 1 established a baseline prior to MovNat activity. Session 2 followed about 2 hours of MovNat activity, and Session 3 followed an additional about 2.5 hours of MovNat.
The working memory WM Span test results for the MovNat training group are
| Session | Comment | Mean | Std Dev |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baseline | 6.50 | 2.01 |
| 2 | After 2 hrs | 7.50 | 1.15 |
| 3 | After 2.5 more | 7.67 | 0.97 |
The "Mean" is the WM Span test score of working memory capacity averaged over all participants in the MovNat group. It shows an increase with each MovNat training, and is roughly consistent with the classic 7 +/- 2 items.
The "Std Dev" or Standard Deviation indicates the variability between participants. Going from Baseline tests to Session 3 tests, it decreases from 2.01 to 0.97 items.
It appears that working memory capacity was tested immediately after the exercise activities. That would mean this research studied only a temporary improvement in working memory capacity. It's possible there is a permanent improvement, but this research didn't test for that.
The MovNat exercises are described in the section below on What Kind of Training.
How Substantial is the Effect in the Alloway Research?
How to interpret that table? How substantial was the (temporary) effect of the MovNat training on working memory capacity? Anyone who bears with the detailed step by step explanation that follows can garner an understanding, even with no statistics background.
These kind of studies almost always assume the test scores for participants are distributed within the famous bell curve (ie normal distribution). Let's go along with that assumption.
Then an Effect Size can be calculated as a change in the Mean relative to Standard Deviation. Since the Standard Deviations are significantly different for the various Sessions, we can follow Glass's Delta to calculate Effect Size based on the control group Standard Deviation of 2.01. The Mean increases from Session 1 (Baseline) to Session 3 (after both trainings) by 1.17 items. Therefor Effect Size is 0.58 Standard Deviations. This is apparently the basis of the claim of 50% improvement mentioned in the blog posts.
Let's make this more concrete. The 0.58 Effect Size means that the middle-of-the-pack participant in Session 3 (after both trainings) scored a working memory capacity that is above 72% of the Session 1 (baseline) participants. That's like moving ahead from middle, past 22% of the original participant's scores. Someone taking a college entrance exam wouldn't mind getting an advantage like that!
Caveats
As the Alloway researchers indicate, the MovNat study was preliminary in nature. Sample size was small, about 20 for each group. Participants volunteered for their group, likely according to their interests, which could well bias the results.
Larger studies by other researchers are needed to replicate these results before we can be confident this "magical" training works. And, of course, further studies to better understand exactly what it is about the MovNat group that gave such improvement. That will let us home in on optimal training.
Nonetheless, this research provides tantalizing suggestion for dramatically improving working memory capacity. And even if the improvement is only temporary, it might be just long enough to ace that critical exam!
Specifically What Kind of Training?
For those of us who might want to give something like this a try -- the activities are described more fully in the article (Alloway 2015) and summarized here
- balance activities -- performed on a 3 inch wide beam, including walking forward, backward and laterally, squatting and crawling, and combinations of those
- awareness of relative position of body parts -- attending to posture and base of support: shifting from rounded backs to military attention, pelvic tilt, and using feet, hands and shoulders to create new bases of support while laying prone
- locomotive awareness -- running barefoot landing on the ball of the foot with bent knees, crawling contra-laterally, navigating over and under 3 foot high bars
- strength awareness -- lifting and carrying with core bracing and CNS recruitment, especially with off-center weight
We can speculate that MovNat exercises target the human brain as it has evolved throughout human history, when people lived and moved continuously through a natural environment. Perhaps for that reason MovNat is potent?
Is Dynamic Proprioception the Key Factor?
Why didn't the yoga group show improvement? Yoga also puts a body through many unique positions. What's the key factor that MovNat provides and yoga doesn't? The Alloway researchers speculate that it's what they call dynamic proprioception.
Proprioception is a scientific term describing the body's ability to sense position and forces on muscles and body members. It is critically involved in balance and movement. It's decline in older age is a well-recognized factor leading to the huge health problem of seniors falling and subsequent hospitalization.
The Alloway researchers say dynamic proprioception refers to proprioception combined with locomotion or route-finding. During movement planning, the changing and re-arranging of spatial and body-mechanics items gives a workout to the processing aspect of working memory.
Hence, activities with dynamic proprioception might build working memory capacity while static proprioception in activities like yoga does not. The Alloway researchers also note that exertion might be an additional factor. No sweat, no gain. It's all speculation at this point, and very intriguing.
If those things are the key, then we can expect similar activities like mogul skiing to also lead to dramatic improvement in working memory capacity and exam scores! Or, as the author's post title suggests, climbing a tree.
Where Could this Lead?
In the modern cognitively-oriented world, academic performance and especially key final exam and SAT test scores can be literally life-changing. Many students spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars studying for such tests. Given the strong correlation between working memory capacity and academic performance, a working memory boost from "more primitive" physical activities might be something to look into.
To Dig Deeper
(Alloway 2016) Climb a Tree for Working Memory: Parts 1 & 2, Blog posts in The Huffington Post updated Aug 2016, Tracy Alloway, PhD and Ross Alloway, PhD. Accessed online at Part 1 and Part 2.
(Alloway 2015) Alloway, Ross & Alloway, Tracy. (2015). The working memory benefits of proprioceptively demanding training: A pilot study. Perceptual and motor skills. ISSN 0031-5125 DOI 10.2466/22.PMS.120v18x1. Accessed online here.
(Blackwood 2015) Blackwood PT, Ph.D, GCS, CEEAA, Jennifer & Shubert, Tiffany & Fogarty, Kieran & Chase, Carla. (2015). Relationships Between Performance on Assessments of Executive Function and Fall Risk Screening Measures in Community-Dwelling Older Adults. Journal of geriatric physical therapy(2001). 39. 10.1519/JPT.0000000000000056. Accessed online here.
(Daneman 1996) Daneman, M. & Merikle, P.M. "Working memory and language comprehension: A meta-analysis" Psychonomic Bulletin & Review (1996) 3: 422. Accessed online here.
(Engle 1999) Engle, R. W., Tuholski, S. W., Laughlin, J. E., & Conway, A. R. A. (1999). Working memory, short-term memory, and general fluid intelligence: A latent-variable approach. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 128(3), 309-331. Accessed online here.
(Miller 1956) Miller GA (March 1956). "The magical number seven plus or minus two: some limits on our capacity for processing information". Psychological Review. 63 (2): 81–97. doi:10.1037/h0043158. PMID 13310704. Accessed online here.
(Vestberg 2012) Vestberg T, Gustafson R, Maurex L, Ingvar M, Petrovic P (2012) Executive Functions Predict the Success of Top-Soccer Players. PLoS ONE 7(4): e34731. Accessed online here
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