Effects of game-based and standard executive control training on cognitive and academic abilities in elementary school children

• In Event: 2-215 - Training of executive functions in childhood: Moderators of training gains and individual differences in outcomes

Integrative Statement

Several studies have indicated that executive functions (EF), such as working memory (WM), inhibition or flexibility, can be improved by training. There is also first evidence indicating that training-related benefits in WM capacity generalize to reading and mathematical abilities in childhood. However, results of these studies are inconsistent and most of them focused on WM training in children with learning difficulties. Evidence for typically developing children is rare and no study has investigated inhibition training or flexibility training. There is also a lack of studies taking motivational factors into account.
Therefore, this study compared the effects of game-based and standard training regimens targeting WM, inhibition or flexibility in children. 153 typically developing elementary school students (mean age = 9.6 years, SD = 0.8) were investigated in an intervention design with a pretest, 21 sessions of training, a posttest and a follow-up after three months. They were randomized into one of six training groups or a control group.
Results showed training gains in all training groups and higher self-reported motivation in the game-based as compared to the standard training groups. Furthermore, there was domain-specific transfer to untrained EF tasks across all training groups. We found greater performance improvements in reading ability (but not mathematics) in the game-based flexibility training group and the game-based inhibition training group as compared to the control group. Transfer effects were still significant at follow-up. Analyses of individual differences indicated that training and transfer benefits were more pronounced in children with lower cognitive baseline abilities at pretest.
In sum, our findings provide first evidence for a systematic comparison of training on different domains of EF and their differential effects on academic abilities. The also indicate that game-based training benefits training motivation, which may improve adherence in multi-session training regimes.

Authors

• Verena Johann, Goethe-University Frankfurt
  Presenting Author

• Julia Karbach, University of Koblenz-Landau
  Non-Presenting Author