Tackling Depression and Anxiety: A Working Memory Intervention

The WM consisted of two tasks; the Number-letter task (Rogers \& Monsell, 1995) and an Updating task. The Number-letter task trains the ability to shift between task relevant stimuli. Participants need to shift between four categories. In the Updating task participants receive a set of three words in which they have to compare the two consecutive words on emotional valence (positive or negative) to train their updating skills. Participants executed the training three times a week during four weeks.

Both the WM and the placebo training consisted of two tasks; the Number-letter task (Rogers \& Monsell, 1995) and an Updating task. To prevent training WM the placebo training was a simplified version of the Number-letter task in which shifting was not required. In the Updating task the placebo group only had to count the number of positive or negative words. Participants executed the training three times a week during four weeks.