Cognitive Priming and Cognitive Training: Immediate and Far Transfer to Academic Skills in Children

Wexler, Bruce E.; Iseli, Markus; Leon, Seth; Zaggle, William; Rush, Cynthia; Goodman, Annette; Imal, Ahmet Esat; Bo, Emily

doi:10.1038/srep32859

Cited by 45 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…There are some limited areas in the literature where real-world outcome measures have been examined in the context of cognitive training interventions. Examples include the study of retention of driving skills (in older adults - Ross et al, 2016) or academic achievement (in children (Wexler et al, 2016) that have been measured in both experimental and control groups. Another example is psychiatric disorders (e.g., schizophrenia - Subramaniam et al, 2014), where real-world functional outcomes are often the key dependent variable.…”

Section: Outcome Assessments Across Study Typesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving Methodological Standards in Behavioral Interventions for Cognitive Enhancement

et al. 2019

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There is substantial interest in the possibility that cognitive skills can be improved by dedicated behavioral training. Yet despite the large amount of work being conducted in this domain, there is not an explicit and widely-agreed upon consensus around the best methodological practices. This document seeks to fill this gap. We start from the perspective that there are many types of studies that are important in this domain-e.g., feasibility, mechanistic, efficacy, effectiveness. These studies have fundamentally different goals, and, as such, the best-practice methods to meet those goals will also differ. We thus make suggestions in topics ranging from the design and implementation of control groups, to reporting of results, to dissemination and communication, taking the perspective that the best practices are not necessarily uniform across all study types. We also explicitly recognize that there are methodological issues around which we currently lack the theoretical and/or empirical foundation to determine best practices (e.g., as pertains to assessing participant expectations). For these we suggest important routes forward, including greater interdisciplinary collaboration with individuals from domains that face related concerns. Our hope is that these recommendations will greatly increase the rate at which science in this domain advances. I. INTRODUCTION: The past two decades have brought a great deal of attention to the possibility that certain core cognitive abilities, including those related to processing speed, working memory, perception, attention, and general intelligence, can be improved by dedicated behavioral training (

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Section: Outcome Assessments Across Study Typesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving Methodological Standards in Behavioral Interventions for Cognitive Enhancement

et al. 2019

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“…Furthermore, there are only very few studies that focus on training targeted IC, which develops markedly in early childhood and is also a key predictor of school readiness for preschoolers and school achievement in mathematics and reading (Blair & Razza, ; Davidson, Amso, Anderson, & Diamond, ; Willoughby, Kupersmidt, & Voegler‐Lee, ). Although there are some curriculum‐based interventions (e.g., Tools of the Mind, e.g., Blair & Raver, ; Diamond et al., ) and game‐like training programs (Wexler et al., ) that include aspects of IC which have been successful, there are almost no studies to date that used computerized interventions in early childhood, and furthermore, the reported training and transfer effects have been inconsistent. For instance, Rueda, Rothbart, McCandliss, Saccomanno, and Posner () trained 4‐year‐old and 6‐year‐old children with an attention training battery that included a Stroop‐like task.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…EF and the supporting brain structures, especially the pregrams (Wexler et al, 2016) that include aspects of IC which have been successful, there are almost no studies to date that used computerized interventions in early childhood, and furthermore, the reported training and transfer effects have been inconsistent. For instance, Rueda, Rothbart, McCandliss, Saccomanno, and Posner (2005) trained 4-year-old and 6-year-old children with an attention training battery that included a Stroop-like task.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The malleability of executive function in early childhood: Effects of schooling and targeted training

Zhang

Wang

Zhao³

et al. 2018

Developmental Science

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Executive function (EF), its importance for scholastic achievement and the question of whether or not EF is malleable, have become a topic of intense interest. Education or schooling is often seen as effective approaches to enhance EF due to the specific school-related requirements as compared to kindergarten or pre-school. However, no study to date has investigated whether targeted training focusing on those domains might be comparable with regular schooling in improving EF and fluid intelligence (Gf). The aim of the present study was to replicate and extend the previously demonstrated schooling effects on EF by using a school-cutoff design, and to further investigate whether a theoretically motivated intervention targeting specific EF, i.e., working memory (WM) or inhibitory control (IC), could achieve comparable effects with schooling in both, WM and IC, as well as Gf. 91 6-year-old kindergarteners and first-graders with similar chronological age participated the study. We compared the performance of a first-grade schooling group with that of two kindergarten training groups as well as a business-as-usual kindergarten control group. Participants were assessed in WM, IC and Gf at baseline, immediately after the intervention (posttest), as well as 3 months after training completion (follow-up). The results showed that the schooling group indeed outperformed the kindergarten groups at baseline in several cognitive tasks. Furthermore, both the WM and IC training showed pronounced gains in the trained tasks, as well as varying degrees of improvement in non-trained outcome measures. Most importantly, both training groups achieved comparable performance with the schooling group, which was especially apparent in Gf at follow-up. Our findings provide further evidence for the malleability of EF demonstrating that both, long-term and short-term interventions can facilitate the acquisition of those important skills, and as such, our work has important implications for educational practice.

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“…A controlled study involving 759 children in 79 classrooms trained teachers to use special games and pedagogic techniques to enhance EF and found broad EF gains in children in low SES schools (Blair & Raver, 2014). Studies in 500 to 1000 children of low-cost, easily scaled, web-based EF training games for classroom use found increases in EF (Kavanaugh et al, 2018) and far-transfer to improved performance on school-administered reading and math achievement tests (Wexler et al, 2016). As Luby wrote (Luby, 2015), "In developmental science and medicine, it is not often that aspects of a public health problem's etiology and solution become clearly elucidated.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Executive Function Deficits Mediate Poverty’s Effects on Academic Achievement: Target for Intervention in At-Risk Children

Wexler¹,

Imal²,

Pittman³

et al. 2020

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Aim: Determine whether effects of poverty on academic achievement are mediated by effects of poverty on executive cognitive functions. Methods: Web-based classroom-administered tests assessed executive function in 5717 children grades k-8 in 40 schools, and poverty level and academic achievement for each school were drawn from US Department of Education data. Boot-strapping procedures were used to evaluate mediation by executive function of the association between poverty and academic proficiency. Results: Executive function and academic achievement were both related to school poverty (pearson r −0.50 to −0.65, p = 0.0009 to <0.0001). Estimated indirect effects of poverty on reading (−0.26, 95% CI: −0.47, −0.07) and math (−0.23, 95% CI: −0.44, −0.06) through effects on executive function were significant. Controlling for executive function, effects of poverty on reading (−0.58 to −0.31) and math (−0.59 to −0.35) were diminished, indicating partial mediation of effects of poverty on reading and math via effects on executive function. Conclusion: Interventions that enhance executive function in children in impoverished and/or violent environments could mitigate damaging effects of these environments on neurocognitive and associated life and health outcomes. Without intervention, many young adults in troubled areas of the world will be ill-prepared for productive function in society. Key Notes: Analysis in 5717 children shows that poverty compromises academic proficiency in large part by compromising executive cognitive skills necessary for learning, health and work. Worldwide nearly 400 million children live in impoverished circumstances that often include high levels of violence and domestic instability. Without interventions to improve executive functions, a large number of young adults are likely to have health problems and be ill-prepared for productive function in their communities.

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Cognitive Priming and Cognitive Training: Immediate and Far Transfer to Academic Skills in Children

Cited by 45 publications

References 29 publications

Improving Methodological Standards in Behavioral Interventions for Cognitive Enhancement

Improving Methodological Standards in Behavioral Interventions for Cognitive Enhancement

The malleability of executive function in early childhood: Effects of schooling and targeted training

Executive Function Deficits Mediate Poverty’s Effects on Academic Achievement: Target for Intervention in At-Risk Children

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