ERIC Number: EJ1461444
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Mar
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0009-3920
EISSN: EISSN-1467-8624
Available Date: 2024-10-23
Does Working Memory Training in Children Need to Be Adaptive? A Randomized Controlled Trial
Regine Cassandra Lau1; Peter J. Anderson1,2,3,4; Susan Gathercole5,6; Joshua F. Wiley1,7; Megan Spencer-Smith1
Child Development, v96 n2 p508-526 2025
Most cognitive training programs are adaptive, despite limited direct evidence that this maximizes children's outcomes. This randomized controlled trial evaluated working memory training with difficulty of activities presented using adaptive, self-select, or stepwise compared with an active control. At baseline, immediately, and 6-months post-intervention, 201 Australian primary school children (101 males, 7-11 years) completed working memory tests (near and intermediate transfer) and the Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices, and caregivers completed the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder-Rating Scale-5 (far transfer). The intervention comprised ten 20-min sessions delivered in class. For each training condition, compared with the active control, there was no evidence of transfer immediately or 6-months post-intervention (negligible to small effects). This trial provides no evidence that adaptive working memory training maximizes children's outcomes.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Short Term Memory, Children, Thinking Skills, Skill Development, Intervention
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; 2Victorian Infant Brain Studies (VIBeS), Clinical Sciences, Murdoch Children‘s Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; 3Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California, USA; 4Center for Newborn Research, Children‘s Hospital of Orange County, Orange, California, USA; 5MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; 6Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; 7Psychosocial Oncology, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia