Adaptive Cognitive Training Enhances Executive Control and Visuospatial and Verbal Working Memory in Beginning Readers

In this study we examined whether children’s working memory could be enhanced by adaptive cognitive training (ACT) and whether training outcomes would relate to behavioral self-regulation, a measure of executive control (EC) and certain pre-reading outcomes (phoneme awareness and letter knowledge). Children from economically disadvantaged communities were randomly assigned to an ACT (n = 23) or a wait-list control (n = 27) group. ACT consisted of an average of 20 minutes per day of adaptive visuospatial working memory training (Cogmed-JM) for up to 25 days at the beginning of the school year. ACT significantly improved performance in near-transfer (untrained visuospatial test) and far-transfer (tests of verbal working memory and behavioral self-regulation). However, ACT had no direct effects on either measure of pre-reading skill. Our findings suggest that ACT may indirectly help children at risk for later reading problems to benefit from instruction opportunities by developing self-regulation and memory skills.