Working memory refers to a mental workspace, involved in controlling, regulating, and actively maintaining relevant information to accomplish complex cognitive tasks (e.g. mathematical processing). ...Despite the potential relevance of a relation between working memory and math for understanding developmental and individual differences in mathematical skills, the nature of this relationship is not well-understood. This paper reviews four approaches that address the relation of working memory and math: 1) dual task studies establishing the role of working memory during on-line math performance; 2) individual difference studies examining working memory in children with math difficulties; 3) studies of working memory as a predictor of mathematical outcomes; and 4) longitudinal studies of working memory and math. The goal of this review is to evaluate current information on the nature of the relationship between working memory and math provided by these four approaches, and to present some of the outstanding questions for future research.
ABSTRACT
Because deficits in executive functions (EFs) characterize most neurodevelopmental disorders, it is appropriate to question the value of EFs for understanding learning disabilities. Two ...types of studies—those testing whether EFs moderate treatment effects and those testing the direction of effects between EFs and academic skills—are presented to support the idea that EFs are useful for the study of learning disabilities in the context of intervention. Moderator effects in reading and math intervention studies suggest that considering EFs to be properties of not only persons, but also interventions is important for understanding treatment effects and for designing more effective interventions. An experimental study comparing math word problem solving interventions and EF interventions provides evidence for bidirectional development of working memory and math word problem solving. Directions for future experimental research that systematically and more rapidly investigate growth in EFs and academic skills in individuals with learning disabilities are presented.
LAY ABSTRACT
Executive functioning involves focusing attention, ignoring distractions, and taking in and storing new information. Studies of children with learning disabilities suggest that academic interventions are most effective if their designs take into account children's level of executive functioning. Although executive functions aid learning, math and reading interventions may also promote the development of executive functions. Findings suggest that it is important to understand the role executive functions play in interventions for children with learning disabilities.
•This is an introduction to the special issue on Reading Comprehension•We provide an orientation to the importance of reading comprehension and the challenges in both research and practice for ...individuals with reading comprehension disabilities•Each paper is introduced in relation to progress and challenges for the field of intervention and assessment research in reading comprehension disabilities
The focus of this article is the well documented association between low working memory capacity and difficulty with mathematical word-problem solving. We begin by describing a model that specifies ...how various cognitive resources, including working memory, contribute to individual differences in word-problem solving and by then summarizing findings on the relation between working memory and word-problem solving. This sets the context for the article’s main purpose and major section: to describe the findings of research studies that take one of two approaches for addressing the needs of students with low working memory within word-problem solving intervention. One approach focuses on
compensating
for working memory limitations; the other on
building
working memory capacity. We then suggest the need for research on integrating the two approaches by embedding working memory training within explicit word-problem solving intervention.
This study evaluated the factor structure of attention, considering internal and external attention, and juxtaposed alongside processing speed (PS) and working memory (WM). We expected the ...hypothesized model to fit better than unitary or method factors. We included 27 measures with 212 Hispanic middle schoolers from Spanish-speaking backgrounds, where a substantial proportion were at risk for learning difficulties. Confirmatory factor analytic models separated factors of PS and WM, but the final model did not align with theoretical predictions; rather only measurement factors emerged. Findings extend and refine our understanding of the structure of attention in adolescents.
Executive function (EF) is related to reading. However, there is a lack of clarity around (a) the relative contribution of different components of EF to different reading components (word reading, ...fluency, comprehension), and (b) how EF operates in the context of known strong language predictors (e.g., components of the simple view of reading or SVR), and other skills theoretically related to reading (e.g., vocabulary, processing speed) and/or to EF (e.g., short-term memory, motor function). In a large sample of 3rd to 5th graders oversampled for struggling readers, this paper evaluates the impact of EF derived from a bifactor model (Cirino, Ahmed, Miciak, Taylor, Gerst, & Barnes,
2018
) in the context of well-known covariates and demographics. Beyond common EF, five specific factors (two related to working memory, and factors of fluency, self-regulated learning, and behavioral inattention/metacognition) were addressed. EF consistently showed a unique contribution to already-strong predictive models for all reading outcomes; for reading comprehension, EF interacted with SVR indices (word reading and listening comprehension). The findings extend and refine our understanding of the contribution of EF to reading skill.
This study's purpose was to investigate effects of 3 intervention approaches for building working memory (WM) and improving word-problem solving (WPS). Children with mathematics difficulties (n = ...240; 7.51 years SD = .33) were randomized to 4 conditions: a control group, general WM training with contiguous math practice, WPS intervention without WM training, and WPS intervention with domain-specific WM training. WM, WPS, and arithmetic were assessed before and 1-3 weeks after intervention; delayed WPS and arithmetic posttesting occurred 4-6 weeks later. Multilevel modeling of main effects and mediation effects were employed. Compared to control, general WM training with contiguous math practice and WPS intervention without WM training increased WM and WPS. The 3rd training condition, WPS intervention with domain-specific WM training, which minimized WM training time, improved WPS but without effects on WM. Both WPS intervention conditions outperformed general WM training on WPS. Conclusions are as follows. (a) General WM training with contiguous math practice improves WM and WPS. (b) WM training is not a substitute for WPS intervention when the goal is to strengthen WPS. (c) WPS intervention without WM training improves WM but is not a substitute for WM training when the goal is to strengthen WM. (d) For WM effects to accrue, WM training needs to occur with sufficient intensity. (e) WM plays a causal role in WPS, but not in arithmetic. Implications are drawn for research and practice, including assessing instructional supports in future research to build cognitive-academic bidirectionality.
Educational Impact and Implications StatementThis study provides the basis for the following conclusions about interventions to improve working memory and word-problem solving for second graders with mathematics difficulties. First, general working memory training with math practice (without word-problem solving intervention) improves working memory as well as word-problem solving. Yet, working memory training is not a substitute for word-problem solving intervention when the goal is to strengthen word-problem solving, because WPS outcome is stronger with WPS intervention. Conversely, word-problem solving intervention (without working memory training) improves working memory. Yet, word-problem solving intervention is not a substitute for working memory training when the goal is to strengthen working memory, because WM outcome is stronger with general WM training.
•Four visual attention paradigms were related to reading in 90 students considering language.•Three paradigms showed weak relations to reading, particularly considering language.•VAS tasks did relate ...to reading even with controls, though only for alphanumeric stimuli.•Results overall were weaker than expected, and reveal susceptibilities in this literature.•Findings extend and refine understanding of the contribution of attention to reading skill.
Relations of visual attention to reading have long been hypothesized; however, findings in this literature are quite mixed. These relations have been investigated using several different visual attention paradigms and with variable controls for other competing reading-related processes. We extended current knowledge by evaluating four of the key visual attention paradigms used in this research—visual attention span, attention blink, visual search, and visuospatial attention—in a single study. We tested the relations of these to reading in 90 middle schoolers at high risk for reading difficulties while considering their effect in the context of known language predictors. Performance on visual–spatial, visual search, and attentional blink paradigms showed weak nonsignificant relations to reading. Visual attention span tasks showed robust relations to reading even when controlling for language, but only when stimuli were alphanumeric. Although further exploration of visual attention in relation to reading may be warranted, the robustness of this relationship appears to be questionable, particularly beyond methodological factors associated with the measurement of visual attention. Findings extend and refine our understanding of the contribution of attention to reading skill and raise questions about the mechanism by which visual attention is purported to affect reading.
IQ scores are volatile indices of global functional outcome, the final common path of an individual's genes, biology, cognition, education, and experiences. In studying neurocognitive outcomes in ...children with neurodevelopmental disorders, it is commonly assumed that IQ can and should be partialed out of statistical relations or used as a covariate for specific measures of cognitive outcome. We propose that it is misguided and generally unjustified to attempt to control for IQ differences by matching procedures or, more commonly, by using IQ scores as covariates. We offer logical, statistical, and methodological arguments, with examples from three neurodevelopmental disorders (spina bifida meningomyelocele, learning disabilities, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) that: (1) a historical reification of general intelligence, g, as a causal construct that measures aptitude and potential rather than achievement and performance has fostered the idea that IQ has special status and that in studying neurocognitive function in neurodevelopmental disorders; (2) IQ does not meet the requirements for a covariate; and (3) using IQ as a matching variable or covariate has produced overcorrected, anomalous, and counterintuitive findings about neurocognitive function.
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