Muons penetrate much further than X-rays, they do essentially zero damage, and they are provided for free by the cosmos.
Image credit: Science Source/Digital Globe.
Edited* by Michael I. Posner, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, and approved March 12, 2014 (received for review October 28, 2013)
Significance
Executive functions (EF) imply processes critical for purposeful, goal-directed behavior. In children, evidence derived from laboratory measures indicates that training can improve EF. However, this hypothesis has never been explicitly examined based on real-world measures, especially of educational achievement. Here, we investigate whether a set of computerized games might yield transfer on low-socioeconomic status otherwise typically developing 6-y-olds in an intervention deployed at their own school. The games elicit transfer of some EF, which cascades to real-world measures of school performance. More importantly, the intervention equalizes academic outcomes across children who regularly attend school and those who do not because of social and familiar circumstances.
Abstract
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.
Footnotes
- ↵1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: apgoldin{at}gmail.com.
Author contributions: A.P.G., M.J.H., M.E.C., M.S.S., D.F.-S., S.J.L., and M.S. designed research; A.P.G., M.J.H., and M.L.-R. performed research; A.P.G., D.E.S., and M.S. analyzed data; A.P.G., S.J.L., and M.S. wrote the paper; and M.E.C., M.L.-R., and D.F.-S. programmed software.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
↵*This Direct Submission article had a prearranged editor.
This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1320217111/-/DCSupplemental.
Far transfer to language and math
Article Classifications
- Biological Sciences
- Neuroscience
- Social Sciences
- Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
Sign up for Article Alerts
Jump to section
You May Also be Interested in
Researchers are exploring whether these ubiquitous fluorinated molecules might worsen infections or hamper vaccine effectiveness.
Image credit: Shutterstock/Dmitry Naumov.
One protein seems to play a key role in touch sensitivity for flytraps and other meat-eating plants.
Image credit: Shutterstock/Kuttelvaserova Stuchelova.
Adam Mastroianni and Daniel Gilbert explore why conversations almost never end when people want them to.
A study finds that giant pandas roll in horse manure to increase their cold tolerance.
Image credit: Fuwen Wei.