None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Cognitive training ("brain training") programs are now mainstream among the community, education and health systems, promising to improve cognitive functioning. The potential of cognitive training to improve core cognitive abilities, such as working memory, has been acknowledged by many education and health experts, however these programs are designed based on common untested assumptions of training methods that are conventions in the field. A key assumption is that the difficulty level of a training activity should be adapted to the trainee’s performance. This is assumed to appropriately challenge the trainee, inducing plasticity and resulting in improved cognitive performance. However, this assumption has only been tested once in adults. The assumed benefit of adaptive training has not been systematically evaluated in children. This trial aims to test the common assumption that cognitive training in children should be adaptive. It will compare the outcomes of working memory training using adaptive, stepwise and self-selected approaches to setting difficulty level of training activities, to an active control. Given the lack of research evaluating common assumptions of cognitive training, our aim is exploratory. Training outcome will be evaluated immediately and 6-months post-training using: 1) working memory tests similar in structure to the training activities (near transfer), 2) working memory tests different in structure to the training activities (intermediate transfer), and 3) tests of non-verbal reasoning, inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity behaviours (far transfer).
Interventions
The COMET project evaluates common assumptions of working memory training interventions using an experimental working memory training intervention designed and developed specifically for the project. The intervention and its delivery were co-designed with developmental cognitive scientists with input from teachers, parents and primary school children. This approach ensures the design of the intervention is scientifically rigorous, including common design features of current cognitive training interventions considered effective at improving children's working memory, and also ensures both the intervention and its delivery are acceptable and feasible to teachers, caregivers and primary school children so that it is engaging and can be used in the classroom. In this trial the working memory training intervention comprises two experimental working memory activities that are gamified and involve the temporary storage and manipulation of verbally presented target information: a backward span task and a following instructions task. The child completes both activities in each session. Motivating features of the intervention include the story line across the training sessions, and collecting experience points while completing the activities which can be used at the end of each session to build in the worlds. For each participating child, the data for each training session will be uploaded and will enable researchers to monitor adherence to the intervention. The intervention schedule will involve completing a total of 10 sessions of 20 minutes duration, performed each school day for 2 consecutive weeks. It will be delivered by the teacher in class. Each child will individually perform the intervention on an iPad with headphones provided by the researchers. All teachers will be provided a handout summarising key information about the intervention and its delivery, including the storyline, schedule, how to log in, instructions such as students watch the information video on their iPad at the start of session 1, and contact details for any questions. In this trial the working memory training intervention has three arms, which differ in their approach to adjusting the difficulty level of the training activities: Arm 1 - Adaptive, where the difficulty level of the training activities is adapted to the trainee's performance within the training sessions. Arm 2 - Stepwise, where the difficulty level of the training activities increases incrementally across the training sessions. Arm 3 - Self-selected, where the difficulty level of the training activities is selected by the trainee on a session by session basis. Participants will be randomly allocated to one of the three arms based on a randomisation scheme that will be generated in advance and set up in REDCap. To randomise a participant, an authorised research team member will login to REDCap, enter eligibility and stratification data on the participant, and will receive the group allocation. User access restrictions will prevent anyone outside of the trial statistician from setting up or viewing the allocation sequence prior to a participant being randomised.
Sponsors
Monash University
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Subject, Caregiver, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
7 Years to 11 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Children aged 7 to 11 years (Grade 2, 3, 4 and 5 classes) at the participating primary school (within 20km of Monash University) whose caregiver consents for their child to participate in baseline and outcome testing.
Exclusion criteria
Vision impairment that can not be corrected by glasses, hearing impairment that can not be corrected by hearing aid, fine motor impairment, and/or intellectual disability based on parent report, which would prevent participation in the working memory training intervention, control or cognitive testing.
Outcome results
None listed