Cognitive plasticity across the lifespan

In our daily lives, we are constantly required to adapt to the demands of changing developmental contexts and dynamic social environments. The potential modifiability of a person’s cognitive and neural processes resulting from these adaptations has been referred to as plasticity. One way to understand plasticity is to apply training interventions and to measure their effects in trained and untrained tasks. The work of our lab is focused on the effects of executive control training and working memory training in children, younger adults and older adults. Recently, we have been particularly interested in the effects of cognitive training in clinical populations (e.g., children suffering from ADHD) as well as on the effects of cognitive training on activities of daily living outside of the lab (e.g., academic achievement).

Selected relevant publications:

Karbach, J., Koenen, J., & Spengler, M. (2017). Who benefits the most? Individual differences in the transfer of executive control training across the lifespan. Journal of Cognitive Enhancement, 4, 394-405.

Karbach, J., Strobach, T., & Schubert, T. (2015). Adaptive working-memory training benefits reading, but not mathematics in middle childhood. Child Neuropsychology, 21, 285-301.

Könen T., & Karbach, J. (2015). The benefits of looking at intraindividual dynamics in cognitive training data. Frontiers in Psychology, 6: 615.

Karbach, J. & Verhaeghen, P. (2014). Making working memory work: A meta-analysis of executive control and working memory training in younger and older adults. Psychological Science, 25, 2027–2037.

Titz, C. & Karbach, J. (2014). Working memory and executive functions: Effects of training on academic abilities. Psychological Research, 78, 852-868.

Karbach, J. & Unger, K. (2014). Executive control training from middle childhood to adolescence. Frontiers in Psychology, 5:390.

KarbachJ. & Kray, J. (2009). How useful is executive control training? Age differences in near and far transfer of task-switching training. Developmental Science, 12, 978-990.

Karbach, J., Mang, S., & Kray, J. (2010). Transfer of verbal self-instruction training in older age: Evidence from task switching. Psychology & Aging, 25, 677-683.

Lifespan development of executive functions

We are interested in the lifespan development of cognitive functions, particularly in the domain of executive control that includes abilities such as maintenance and selection of task relevant information, inhibition of prepotent response tendencies, and switching between tasks. Previous studies have shown that these control functions develop multidimensionally and multidirectionally across the human lifespan. Our lab investigates whether age-differences in executive control can be modulated, for instance by means of verbal strategies or task practice.

Selected relevant publications:

Morey, C.M., Hadley, L.V., Buttelmann, F., Könen, T., Meaney, J.-A., Auyeung, B.,
Karbach, J., & Chevalier, N. (in press). The effects of verbal and spatial memory load on children’s processing speed. Annals of the New York Academic of Sciences.

Buttelmann, F. & Karbach, J.(2017). Development and plasticity of cognitive flexibility in early and middle childhood. Frontiers in Psychology, 8: 1040.

Kray, J., Gaspard, H., Karbach, J., & Blaye, A. (2013). Developmental changes in using verbal self-cueing in task-switching situations: The impact of task practice and task sequencing demands. Frontiers in Psychology, 4:940.

Karbach, J.,  Kray, J., & Hommel, B. (2011). Action-effect learning in childhood: Does language matter? Psychological Research, 75, 334-340.

Kray, J., Kipp, K., & Karbach,J. (2009). The development of selective inhibitory control: The influence of verbal labeling. Acta Psychologia, 130, 48-57.

Kray, J., Eber, J., & Karbach, J. (2008). Verbal self-instructions in task switching: A compensatory tool for action-control deficits in childhood and old age? Developmental Science, 11, 223-236.

Psychocardiology

Patients with chronic heart failure not only suffer from physical symptoms but also display distinct cognitive deficits, particularly in the domains of executive function, memory, and processing speed. These deficits can seriously impair compliance and health management. In our research we investigate the extent of cognitive deficits, the potential of cognitive training to compensate them as well as the psychological well being of patients suffering from chronic heart failure.

Selected relevant publications:

Bunz, M., Lenski, D., Wedegärtner, S., Ukena, C., Karbach, J., Böhm, M. & Kindermann, I. (2016). Heart-focused Anxiety in patients with Chronic Heart Failure before implantation of an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator – Baseline findings of the Anxiety-CHF Study. Clinical Research in Cardiology, 105, 216-224.

Bunz, M., Kindermann, I., Karbach, J., Wedegärtner, S., Böhm, M., & Lenski, D. (2015). Psychokardiologie: Wie Herz und Psyche zusammenhängen. Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift, 140, 117-124.

Fischer, D., Kindermann, I., Karbach, J., Einsle, F., Bley, S., Herzberg, P.Y., Köllner, V., & Böhm, M. (2012). Heart-focused anxiety in the German general population. Clinical Research in Cardiology, 101, 109-116.

Kindermann, I., Fischer, D., Karbach, J., Link, A., Barth, C., Ukena, C., Mahfoud, F., Köllner, V, Kindermann, M., Böhm, M. (2012). Cognitive functions in patients with decompensated heart failure – The Cognitive Impairment in Heart Failure (CogImpair-HF) study. European Journal of Heart Failure, 14, 404-413.

Teacher education

In a longitudinal approach, we investigate the role of individual and organizational variables on academic success in teacher candidates. Our focus is on multiple criteria of success, among them knowledge in educational science, didactics, and teaching competence.

Selected relevant publications:

Biermann, A., Karbach, J., Spinath, F., & Brünken, R. (2015). Investigating effects of the quality of field experiences and personality on perceived teaching skills in German pre-service teachers for secondary schools. Teaching and Teacher Education, 51, 77-87.

Kaub, K., Karbach, J., Spinath, F.M., & Brünken, R. (2016). Person-job fit in the field of teacher education - An analysis of vocational interests and requirements among novice and professional science and language teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 55, 217-227.

Ruffing, S., Hahn, E., Spinath, F.M., Brünken, R. & Karbach, J. (2015). Predicting students' learning strategies: The contribution of chronotype over personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 85, 199-204.

Reichl, C., Wach, F.-S., Spinath, F.M., Brünken, R., & Karbach, J. (2014). Burnout risk among first-year teacher students: The roles of personality and motivation. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 85, 85-92.

Kaub, K., Karbach, J., Biermann, A., Friedrich, A., Bedersdorfer, H.-W., Spinath, F.M., & Brünken, R. (2012). Berufliche Interessensorientierungen und kognitive Leistungsprofile von Lehramtsstudierenden mit unterschiedlichen Fachkombinationen. Zeitschrift für Pädagogische Psychologie, 26, 233-249.