Working memory training (source code)

= Working memory training

<Working memory training> repeatedly practices tasks requiring temporary maintenance and manipulation of information, often adjusting difficulty as performance changes. Improving a practiced task, improving a different <working memory> task and improving classroom learning are separate outcomes.

A study using <randomization> of children with low <working memory> compared adaptive <working memory training> with comparison conditions and tested outcomes beyond the practiced exercises. Gains extended to some untrained <working memory> measures but did not establish improved academic progress or nonverbal reasoning.<Does working memory training lead to generalized improvements in children with low working memory? by Darren L. Dunning and others>[Developmental Science 16, pp. 915–925; randomized groups, transfer measures and follow-up]{ref} This distinction motivates controls for practice and expectations, independent outcome tasks and follow-up measurements. A higher training score alone cannot show that a general cognitive capacity has increased; the claim depends on which additional tasks improve and for how long.