Far transfer to language and math of a short software-based gaming intervention.
Open accessAbstract
Executive functions (EF) in children can be trained, but it remains unknown whether training-related benefits elicit far transfer to real-life situations. Here, we investigate whether a set of computerized games might yield near and far transfer on an experimental and an active control group of low-SES otherwise typically developing 6-y-olds in a 3-mo pretest-training-posttest design that was ecologically deployed (at school). The intervention elicits transfer to some (but not all) facets of executive function. These changes cascade to real-world measures of school performance. The intervention equalizes academic outcomes across children who regularly attend school and those who do not because of social and familiar circumstances.
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The active control group engaged in tasks essentially requiring processing speed in order to keep participants' motivation and engagement similar to those from the experimental groups.
“Thus, the active control group engaged in tasks essentially requiring processing speed (for related approaches see Goldin et al., 2014; Lawlor-Savage and Goghari, 2016), in order to keep participants’ motivation and engagement similar to those from the experimental groups.”
From Training on Working Memory and Inhibitory Control in Young Adults (2016) · cites this paper as Goldin et al., 2014
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- Authors
- Goldin, A. P., Hermida, M. J., Shalom, D. E., Elias Costa, M., Lopez-Rosenfeld, M., Segretin, M. S., Fernández-Slezak, D., Lipina, S. J., & Sigman, M.
- Affiliations
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (AR)
- Laboratorio de Neurociencia Integrativa, Departamento de Física, Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, C1428EGA Buenos Aires, Argentina;
- Laboratorio de Inteligencia Artificial Aplicada, Departamento de Computación, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, C1428EGA Buenos Aires, Argentina; and
- ORCID
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2014-04-07
- Volume
- 111
- Issue
- 17
- Pages
- 6443-6448
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC4035955
- OpenAlex
- W2135837977
- Cited by
- 131
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 4
- FWCI
- 18.04
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Conicet (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Developmental and Educational Neuropsychology
- Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
- Keywords
- executive function, far transfer, near transfer, language skills, mathematics achievement, academic performance, socioeconomic status, typically developing children, school attendance
- MeSH terms
- Attention, Child, Female, Humans, Language, Male, Mathematics, Neuropsychological Tests, Reaction Time, Schools, Social Class, Software, Students, Task Performance and Analysis, Video Games
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