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Training counting skills and working memory in preschool
Author(s) -
Kyttälä Minna,
Kanerva Kaisa,
Kroesbergen Evelyn
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.743
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1467-9450
pISSN - 0036-5564
DOI - 10.1111/sjop.12221
Subject(s) - numeracy , working memory training , psychology , working memory , cognitive training , training (meteorology) , cognition , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , pedagogy , literacy , physics , neuroscience , meteorology
Previous studies have shown that early numeracy skills predict later mathematics learning and that they can be improved by training. Cognitive abilities, especially working memory ( WM ), play an important role in early numeracy, as well. Several studies have shown that working memory is related to early numeracy. So far, existing literature offers a good few examples of studies in which WM training has led to improvements in early numerical performance as well. In this study, we aim at investigating the effects of two different training conditions: (1) counting training; and (2) simultaneous training of WM and counting on five‐ to six‐year‐old preschoolers' (N = 61) counting skills. The results show that domain‐specific training in mathematical skills is more effective in improving early numerical performance than WM and counting training combined. Based on our results, preschool‐aged children do not seem to benefit from short period group training of WM skills. However, because of several intervening factors, one should not conclude that young children's WM training is ineffectual. Instead, future studies should be conducted to further investigate the issue.