Computerized training of inhibition in young children shows limited success, and a randomized trial found narrow, skill-specific transfer of working-memory and reasoning training in 4-year-olds¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · review r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2011 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Using CogMed-like dosage, improvements in 4- and 6-year-olds were found on only 2 of 3 practiced inhibition games, with no transfer to unpracticed tasks. → Diamond Adele 2011 q2 i? In a double-blind RCT, 4-year-olds trained on working memory improved on working-memory transfer tasks and those trained on reasoning improved on reasoning transfer tasks, but neither transferred to the unpracticed skill. → Diamond Adele 2011 (2)

Evidence¶

Diamond Adele 2011¶

Diamond Adele, Lee Kathleen. (2011). Interventions shown to Aid Executive Function Development in Children 4–12 Years Old. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1204529

q2 · i? · review · r3

The review reports a computerized inhibition-training study in which gains appeared on only 2 of 3 practiced games "with no transfers to un-practiced tasks."

"Using the same dosage, duration, and frequency as CogMed© studies, improvements in 4 and 6-year-olds were found on only 2 of the 3 inhibition games practiced, with no transfers to un-practiced tasks (13)."

Diamond Adele 2011 (2)¶

Diamond Adele, Lee Kathleen. (2011). Interventions shown to Aid Executive Function Development in Children 4–12 Years Old. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1204529

q2 · i? · review · r3

The review describes a double-blind randomized-control trial with multiple training- and transfer-tasks in 4-year-olds; transfer was skill-specific and "Transfers were narrow."

"Those trained on working memory improved more on working-memory transfer tasks than did controls and those trained in reasoning improved more on reasoning transfer tasks than controls (12). Neither group showed transfer to the un-practiced skill"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Computer-based training reliably improves children's working memory and reasoning, but computerized training has not succeeded in improving 4- to 6-year-olds' inhibitory control — reports the opposite
• CogMed computerized working-memory training improves practiced working-memory skills with narrow transfer, and controls playing the same games without increasing difficulty show no gains — a broader claim this one bears on
• Transfer from computer-based working-memory and reasoning training in children is narrow: gains stay within the trained domain — a broader claim this one bears on
• Explicit transfer instructions, in which trainees discuss how trained strategies could apply to a new task, produced reliable transfer of imagery and sentence-generation training to unpracticed text learning in older adults — related
• EF training demands must keep increasing as children improve, or few gains will be seen — related
• Digitalised task training shows highly inconsistent evidence, appearing particularly suited to improving working memory — related