Evaluating the electronic training programs designed to enhance children’s working memory capacity Elvira Masoura School of Psychology Department of Experimental Cognitive psychology Aristotle university of Thessaloniki

Working memory With the term “working memory” we refer to a mental mechanism responsible for holding and processing information over short periods of time. example: the cognitive process we are engaged when we try mental arithmetic.

Models for working memory A very popular model that describes working memory in detail has been suggested by Baddeley and Hitch (1974). It describes working memory mechanism as a storage mental space with four sub-components, each one responsible for a specific function.

Visuo-spatial sketchpad Working memory Central executive Episodic buffer Visuo-spatial sketchpad Phonological loop Visual semantics episodic memory language

Working memory plays a crucial role in: Language development (MacDonald, Just & Carpenter, 1992). Vocabulary acquisition (Baddeley, Gathercole & Papagno, 1998). Arithmetic (Gathercole & Pickering, 2000; Wilson & Swanson, 2001). Reading and listening comprehension (De Jong, 1998). Working memory contributes significantly to learning process in school environments. (Gathercole, 2007; Gathercole, Lamont, & Alloway, 2006).

Working memory and learning difficulties Children with learning difficulties in reading, writing (Pickering, 2006) and in arithmetic (Hitch, 1991) perform low in working memory tasks. Children with low working memory capacity experience great difficulty into following instructions and monitoring sequential actions. Such activities are reading and coping form the board, performing mental arithmetic and listening to instructions in a classroom.

Working memory impairments Low performances on working memory task attract the attention of several scientists. Why; because low working memory capacity can seriously prevent learning.

Can we do something to improve working memory capacity? Given the important role working memory plays in the process of learning, a possibility to improve working memory could have beneficial effects on learning and in education. Working memory training programmes: 1. Intervention techniques (Gathercole & Alloway, 2008). 2. Computerized activities (Klingberg, Forssberg, & Westerberg, 2002).

2. Computerized applications for working memory enhancement Computer based activities that aim to train directly working memory function by employing tasks that engage and activate working memory. The result of such attempts is the RoboMemo, developed by COGMED (Klingberg, Forssberg, & Westerberg, 2002; Martinussen & Tannock, 2006; Olesen, Westetberg & Klinberg, 2004).

2. Working memory training programs The program RoboMemo includes tasks similar with those used to assess working memory: serial recall of lists of digits, words, nonwords, blocks and backward recall of same material. The RoboMemo includes levels of increasing difficulty.

Training working memory with RoboMemo Klingberg, Forssberg, & Westerberg, 2002. Initially a small group of 7 children with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADHD) participated in the training. Children trained for 5-6 weeks with everyday sessions. The session lasted for 20-25 minutes. By the end of the training their visuospatial memory span increased by 1.72 items and their verbal span by 1.96 digits.

Training working memory with RoboMemo The same training programme was used with a larger group of 44 children with Attention Deficit (Klingberg, Fernell, Olesen, Johnson, Gustafsson, Dahlstrom, Gillberg, Forssberg, Westerberg, 2005). Half of those children were training with RoboMemo for 5 weeks, with everyday session lasting for less than half an hour. The researchers observed improvement on children’s digit span but also on their ability to perform reasoning tasks. Most importantly, some of their attention deficit symptoms moved away.

Training working memory with RoboMemo Recently, the same programme was used with 9 adults who suffered brain stroke (Westerberg, Jacobaeus, Hirvikoski, Clevberger, Ostensson, Bartfat, & Klingberg, 2007). The training took place 1-3 years after the stroke and lasted for 5 weeks. The researchers observed an improvement on their ability to hold verbal information by 1.5 items.

Evaluating the programme. Does it work? Generally speaking, the 80% of the children who were trained with the RoboMemo improved their working memory capacity. Furthermore, the 79% of those children retained the improvement 1 year after their completion of their training.

1st study: training children with verbal and visual tasks Training with a verbal computer game A small group of 12 children aged 7 years (mean age = 6.89 years, S.D. = 0.40) participated. They were trained for 5 weeks with everyday session of 15-20 minutes each. The game consisted of a task were children asked to repeat forwards and backwards lists of two-syllable words.

1st study: training children with verbal and visual tasks Training with a visuospatial computer game A group of 12 children (7 year old) participated. They were trained for 5 weeks with short 15-10 minutes everyday sessions. The visuospatial training consisted of tasks were children asked to recall: positions of blocks, roots in a maze, visual patterns and position of a rotated figure. A control group also participated where 12 children of the same age were playing a commercial video game (mean age = 7. 3, S.D. = 0.5).

1st study: Materials Verbal game (training with verbal tasks). Visuospatial game (training with visuospatial tasks).

Children’s performance on working memory tasks before and after training with the verbal tasks. 1st week 5th week * Digit span Backwards Nonword Word Listening digit span list recall list recall recall

Children’s performance on working memory tasks before and after training with the visuospatial tasks. * * * * Block recall Backwards Mazes Mister X Visual block recall patterns

1st study : Conclusions Training with electronic task had significant improvements on children’s working memory performance. Their ability to hold and process visuospatial material significantly improved but their ability to hold and process verbal material did not improved significantly. The group participated here thought, was small.

Visuo-spatial sketchpad Working memory Central executive Episodic buffer Visuo-spatial sketchpad Phonological loop Visual semantics episodic memory language

Episodic buffer Binds together all information from working memory's subcomponents and is responsible for the contact with the long-term memory. Several of the functions thought to be performed by the central executive, are now attributed to the episodic buffer (Baddeley et al., 2002). Recall = shape + color + position

Visuo-spatial sketchpad Working memory Central executive Episodic buffer Visuo-spatial sketchpad Phonological loop Visual semantics episodic memory language

2nd study: training children with binding tasks. A small group of 15 children (9 boys) participated. Their mean age was nine and a half years (mean = 9.37 years, S.D. = 0.48). Children were trained for 2 weeks with everyday sessions of 15-20 minutes each. The game asked children to replace colored objects in specific positions. The game had progressive difficulty and children asked to memorize from 1 to 7 items in correct order. Each level of the game had 6 total trials.

Initial page scene selection 5 sec Procedure re-placement

1. Select a scene 2. Items 3. Levels

Assessment of working memory before and after the training with the game: Backwards blocks recall (visuo-spatial working memory) Counting recall (verbal working memory)

Children's performance at the beginning and by the end of the training. 1st week 2nd week * * Independent variable “week ”: F(1,11) = 87,82, p < .001, n2 = 889 Independent variable “scene”: F(4,44) = 5.152, p < .01, n2 = .319 Interaction: p > .05 * * * Street Park White Bedroom School

Children's performance at the beginning and by the end of the training. Block recall backwards t(14) = 2.34, p < .05 Listening recall t(14) = 1.44, p = ns Block recall backwards Listening recall

Children's performance according to their working memory ability level Participants were allocated into two working memory groups (high and low) according to their performance on working memory tasks. Group with high visuospatial working memory: Ν = 6, Mean = 18.83, S.D. = 2.31 Group with low visuospatial working memory: Ν = 7, Mean = 13.57, S.D. = 2.15) Group differences: t(11) = 4.25, p < .001

Children's performance according to working memory performance group. Low visuospatial working memory High visuospatial working memory Block Block Counting Counting Recall recall recall recall before after before after

Conclusions Children’s ability to hold and process bind visuospatial information increased significantly with training. This improvement was independent from the scene of the training. Children’s ability to hold visuospatial information in their working memory increased by 0.70 items (p < .05). Children’s ability to hold visuospatial information in their working memory did not increased. Children's improvement was independent from their initial capacity. Although it is difficult to increase the working memory space per se it is possible that training improves children’s abilities to use more “properly” this workspace.

Final conclusions and limitations There are some question that remained answered: Which is the exact function of working memory that increased among participants? Encoding, retention or retrieval of information? Further investigations: Possible role of affective factors. for example, anxiety may impose extra loads on working memory and occupy recourses, thus can leave less ‘space’ for information processing.