The effectiveness of working memory training with individuals with intellectual disabilities – a meta-analytic review

Abstract

Working memory (WM) training has been increasingly popular in the last years. Previous studies have shown that individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) have low WM capacity and therefore would benefit by this type of intervention. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of WM and cognitive training for individuals with ID. The effects reported in previous studies have varied and therefore a meta-analysis of articles in the major databases was conducted. Inclusion criteria included to have a pretest–posttest design with a training group and a control group and to have measures of WM or short-term memory. Ten studies with 28 comparisons were included. The results reveal a significant, but small, overall pretest–posttest effect size (ES) for WM training for individuals with ID compared to controls. A mixed WM approach, including both verbal and visuo-spatial components working mainly on strategies, was the only significant training type with a medium ES. The most commonly reported training type, visuo-spatial WM training, was performed in 60 percent of the included comparisons and had a non-significant ES close to zero. We conclude that even if there is an overall effect of WM training, a mixed WM approach appears to cause this effect. Given the few studies included and the different characteristics of the included studies, interpretations should be done with caution. However, different types of interventions appear to have different effects. Even if the results were promising, more studies are needed to better understand how to design an effective WM intervention for this group and to understand if, and how, these short-term effects remain over time and transfer to everyday activities.

Evidence for the contribution of COMT gene Val158/108Met polymorphism (rs4680) to working memory training‐related prefrontal plasticity

“…Working memory, an ability to maintain and manipulate information for a short period of time (Miyake & Shah, ), has been reported to be trainable (Danielsson, Zottarel, Palmqvist, & Lanfranchi, ). However, only a limited number of studies have explored the neural mechanism for working memory training effect (Beatty et al, ; Dahlin, Neely, Larsson, Bäckman, & Nyberg, ; Schweizer, Grahn, Hampshire, Mobbs, & Dalgleish, ).…”

Working memory training in children with neuropsychiatric disorders and mild to borderline intellectual functioning, the role of coaching; a double-blind randomized controlled trial

“…Studies on the MBID-group report improvements in short-term memory (STM) and working memory (WM) as well as in academic achievements [4, 5]. A recent meta-analytic review revealed a significant overall pretest-posttest effect size for WMT for individuals with intellectual disabilities compared to controls [6]. On the other hand, 2 previous meta-analyses on non-pharmacological interventions suggest better evidence for the efficacy of cognitive training is required before these interventions may be labelled as effective interventions for ADHD [7, 8].…”

Causal modeling for relationships among quality of life, fear of (COVID-19), psychological resilience, social anxiety, religiosity, and the big five factors of personality in the Arabian community

“…LD are normally associated with working memory (WM) impairment, most commonly time executive functioning (the function of the central system in WM) (Baddeley, 1986). In fact, several studies have attempted to examine the effect that training WM has on the achievement of students with LD (Gropper, Gotlieb, Kronitz & Tannock, 2014) and any intellectual disabilities they exhibit (Danielsson, Zottarel, Palmqvist & Lanfranchi, 2015). Both of these studies sought to ascertain whether providing specific training on WM tasks improved students' performance in these tasks, and whether any improvement that was identified could be transferred to other WM tasks and to other executive functioning tasks such as reading comprehension tests and students' exam scores.…”