Working memory is a complex cognitive system responsible for the concurrent storage and
processing of information. Ggiven that a complex cognitive task like mental arithmetic
clearly places demands on working memory (e.g., in remembering partial results, monitoring
progress through a multi-step calculation), there is surprisingly little research
exploring the possibility of increasing young children’s working memory capacity
through systematic school-based training. Tthis study reports the preliminary results of a
working memory training programme, targeting executive processes such as inhibiting
unwanted information, monitoring processes, and the concurrent storage and processing of
information. Tthe findings suggest that children who received working memory training made
significantly greater gains in the trained working memory task, and in a non-trained
visual-spatial working memory task, than a matched control group. Moreover, the training
group made significant improvements in their mathematical functioning as measured by the
number of errors made in an addition task compared to the control group. Tthese findings,
although preliminary, suggest that school-based measures to train working memory could
have benefits in terms of improved performance in mathematics.