School based working memory training: Preliminary finding of improvement in children's mathematical performance

Abstract

Working memory is a complex cognitive system responsible for the concurrent storage and processing of information. Ggiven that a complex cognitive task like mental arithmetic clearly places demands on working memory (e.g., in remembering partial results, monitoring progress through a multi-step calculation), there is surprisingly little research exploring the possibility of increasing young children’s working memory capacity through systematic school-based training. Tthis study reports the preliminary results of a working memory training programme, targeting executive processes such as inhibiting unwanted information, monitoring processes, and the concurrent storage and processing of information. Tthe findings suggest that children who received working memory training made significantly greater gains in the trained working memory task, and in a non-trained visual-spatial working memory task, than a matched control group. Moreover, the training group made significant improvements in their mathematical functioning as measured by the number of errors made in an addition task compared to the control group. Tthese findings, although preliminary, suggest that school-based measures to train working memory could have benefits in terms of improved performance in mathematics.

Metacognitive interventions in text production and working memory in students with ADHD

“…However, few have reported transfer effects on academic performance (Holmes et al, 2010;Klingberg, 2010;Gray et al, 2012;Gropper, Gotlieb, Kronitz, & Tannock, 2014). Moreover, the few studies that presented positive effects on WM capacity with transfer to school performance (Klingberg et al, 2005;Witt, 2011) have been criticized for focusing on WM training while neglecting central executive training (Morrison & Chein, 2011;Rapport, Orban, Kofler, & Friedman, 2013). Another criticism refers to the fact that the beneficial effects were specific and momentary, i.e., they were neither maintained in the long term nor generalized to other contexts, suggesting the need for broader programs or for the combination of general and specific interventions in the skills to be improved (Melby-Lervåg & Hulme, 2013;Rapport et al, 2013).…”

Impact of Working Memory Training Targeting the Central Executive on Kindergarteners’ Numerical Skills

“…With children and adolescents, some studies showed a training-related effect on mathematics, measured by an academic test (Bergman-Nutley & Klingberg, 2014;Holmes & Gathercole, 2014) and on arithmetic (Witt, 2011). However, in other studies (Alloway et al, 2013;Dunning et al, 2013;Karbach et al, 2015;St Clair-Thompson, Stevens, Hunt, & Bolder, 2010), improvement in working memory did not transfer to mathematics.…”

LearningRx Cognitive Training Effects in Children Ages 8–14: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Given the growing research base on the associations among working memory and intelligence (Cornoldi & Giofre, 2014), and working memory and learning (Alloway & Copello, 2013), it is easy to see why a majority of the cognitive training programs target working memory. Certainly, most of the studies do cite improvements in working memory (Beck, Hanson, & Puffenberger, 2010; Dunning et al, 2013; Gray et al, 2012; Holmes & Gathercole, 2014; Wiest, Wong, Minero, & Pumaccahua, 2014), but pretest to post‐test gains have also been documented in fluid reasoning (Barkl, Porter, & Ginns, 2012; Jaeggi et al, 2008; Mackey, Hill, Stone, & Bunge, 2011), processing speed (Mackey et al, 2011), reading (Loosli, Buschkuehl, Perrig, & Jaeggi, 2012; Shalev, Tsal, & Mevorach, 2007), computational accuracy (Witt, 2011), and attention (Rabiner, Murray, Skinner, & Malone, 2010; Tamm, Epstein, Peugh, Nakonezny, & Hughes, 2013). …”