Computerized Training of Working Memory in Children With ADHD-A Randomized, Controlled Trial

Abstract

Working memory (WM) capacity is the ability to retain and manipulate information during a short period of time. This ability underlies complex reasoning and has generally been regarded as a ®xed trait of the individual. Children with attention de®cit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) represent one group of subjects with a WM de®cit, attributed to an impairment of the frontal lobe. In the present study, we used a new training paradigm with intensive and adaptive training of WM tasks and evaluated the effect of training with a double blind, placebo controlled design. Training signi®cantly enhanced performance on the trained WM tasks. More importantly, the training signi®cantly improved performance on a nontrained visuo-spatial WM task and on Raven's Progressive Matrices, which is a nonverbal complex reasoning task. In addition, motor activity ± as measured by the number of head movements during a computerized test ± was signi®cantly reduced in the treatment group. A second experiment showed that similar training-induced improvements on cognitive tasks are also possible in young adults without ADHD. These results demonstrate that performance on WM tasks can be signi®cantly improved by training, and that the training effect also generalizes to nontrained tasks requiring WM. Training improved performance on tasks related to prefrontal functioning and had also a signi®cant effect on motor activity in children with ADHD. The results thus suggest that WM training potentially could be of clinical use for ameliorating the symptoms in ADHD.

Moment-to-moment dynamics of ADHD behaviour

“…For the present analysis, it is not critical if a shorter delay gradient in ADHD is caused by reduced WM capacity or if both are expressions of underlying dysfunctioning dopamine systems. Further, WM capacity is not necessarily a fixed entity and may also be modified by learning: a recent study reports that WM was improved in ADHD children by computerized training [27]. The present findings indicate that the delayed learning of a new task is related to reduced predictability in consecutive responding of ADHD individuals and not, for instance, to increased activity in general [14] or to increased perseveration, which would be the opposite of low predictability.…”

Changes in behavior and salivary cortisol after targeted cognitive training in typical 12-month-old infants.

“…To examine the effects of the training intervention on the different tasks, we conducted a set of ANOVAs with the factor Group (trained vs control), postassessment scores as the dependent variable and pre-assessment scores as the covariate (following Klingberg et al, 2005). Outliers were first excluded according to the +/-1.5 Inter-Quartile Range (IQR) criterion.…”

“…Comparable studies with older children have generally found that training effects, where detectable, tend to be maintained at intervals ranging from two months to a year (Dunning et al, 2013;Klingberg et al, 2005;Rueda, Rothbart, McCandliss, Saccomanno, & Posner, 2005). However, it is unknown whether training effects are as persistent in infants.…”

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

“…Extant research has demonstrated support for the efficacy of cognitive training programs in improving individual cognitive skills (Holmes, Gathercole, & Dunning, 2009; Klingberg et al, 2005; Melby‐Lervag & Hulme, 2013; Sonuga‐Barke et al, 2013; Wegrzyn, Hearrington, Martin, & Randolph, 2012). However, because each training program described in the literature targets different cognitive skills, the results are as diverse and varied as the programs themselves.…”