Meta-Analysis
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025.
World J Psychiatry. Sep 19, 2025; 15(9): 107754
Published online Sep 19, 2025. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i9.107754
Table 1 Characteristics of the included studies
Ref.
Study design
Target region
Duration
Frequency
Concurrent task
Task
Task modality
Alekseichuk et al[49], 2017Within subjectFrontoparietal186OnlineN-backSpatial
Bender et al[35], 2019Within subjectParietal4OnlineDelayed match-to-sample taskSpatial
Biel et al[24], 2022Between-subject, within subjectFrontoparietal146OnlineDelayed letter recognition taskVerbal
Chander et al[50], 2016Between-subjectFrontoparietal4PersonalizedOnlineN-backVerbal
Debnath et al[36], 2024Within subjectFrontal205OnlineDelayed match-to-sample taskObjective
Draaisma et al[34], 2022Within subjectFrontoparietal30PersonalizedOnlineN-backObjective
Jaušovec and Jaušovec[25], 2014Within subjectFrontal, parietal15PersonalizedOnlineVisual-array comparison taskObjective
Jaušovec et al[33], 2014Within subjectFrontal, parietal15PersonalizedOnlineN-backVerbal
Jones et al[51], 2019Within subjectFrontoparietal154.5OnlineN-backObjective
Kleinert et al[40], 2017Within subjectFrontoparietal265OnlineDelayed match-to-sample taskSpatial
Ociepka et al[42], 2024Within subjectParietal205.5OnlineAntisaccade, recall, graph mapping taskSpatial
Pahor and Jaušovec[32], 2017Within subjectParietal, frontoparietal, frontal15PersonalizedOfflineN-backVerbal
Röhner et al[37], 2018Within subjectFrontoparietal156OfflineN-backVerbal
Tseng et al[41], 2018Within subjectParietal226OnlineChange detection taskSpatial
Violante et al[30], 2017Within subjectFrontoparietal26.56OnlineN-backVerbal
Wolinski et al[31], 2018Within subjectParietal124OnlineDelayed match-to-sample taskObjective
Xiao et al[29], 2023Within subjectFrontoparietal206OfflineDelayed match-to-sample taskSpatial
Yang et al[28], 2024Within subjectFrontal165OfflineN-backSpatial
Zeng et al[52], 2022Between-subjectFrontal208OfflineN-backVerbal
Zhang et al[53], 2022Within subjectFrontoparietal25PersonalizedOnlineSpatial forward span taskSpatial
Zhang et al[38], 2022Between-subjectFrontoparietal156OfflineN-backVerbal
Table 2 N-back subgroup analyses
Covariables
Subgroups
Number of effect sizes
Hedges’ g
95%CI
(%)
τ²
P value
Study design0.296
Within-subject330.2600.136-0.38657.200.079
Between-subject80.5040.064-0.94564.800.268
Target region0.681
Frontoparietal180.3240.096-0.55272.500.181
Parietal90.200-0.012 to 0.41239.300.039
Frontal140.3060.128-0.48541.200.035
Frequency0.001
Fixed150.6080.336-0.88172.300.204
Personalized260.1330.039-0.22711.70< 0.001
Concurrent task0.014
Online150.4900.239-0.74267.30.167
Offline200.1530.057-0.25036.800.004
Load0.726
140.532-0.032 to 1.09769.800.227
2180.2740.041-0.50873.600.192
3150.2510.131-0.37126.50< 0.001
420.5490.005-1.09421.600.033
520.187-0.283 to 0.6570.000.000
Task modality0.005
Spatial31.1680.529-1.80777.900.245
Verbal360.1890.096-0.28135.400.014
Objective20.4050.143-0.6660.000.000
Table 3 Delayed match-to-sample task subgroup analyses
Covariables
Subgroups
Number of effect sizes
Hedges’ g
95%CI
(%)
τ²
P value
Study design0.564
Within-subject150.092-0.197 to 0.38076.000.255
Between-subject2-0.090-0.636 to 0.4560.000
Target region0.012
Frontoparietal10-0.082-0.490 to 0.32678.100.346
Parietal30.5740.277-0.8710.000
Frontal40.077-0.173 to 0.3280.000
Concurrent task0.295
Online150.105-0.185 to 0.39575.400.252
Offline2-0.168-0.588 to 0.2530.000
Task modality0.433
Spatial70.005-0.642 to 0.65287.600.680
Verbal40.020-0.241 to 0.2800.000
Objective60.2260.022-0.4300.000