The developmental influence of primary memory capacity on working memory and academic achievement.

This study is intended to examine the correlation between working memory of students and their academic performance in Mathematics. Specifically, it was aimed to determine the degree of relationship between working memory capacity and academic achievement of students in mathematics studying at secondary school. A sample of 800 students studying in grade 10 was randomly selected from forty government and private secondary schools (girls and boys) situated in Hazara division, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Both Urdu and English mediums of instruction schools were included in the sample. The researcher used digits span backwards test (DSBT) to find out the working memory capacity of the students associated with their academic performance in mathematics. This study revealed that girls have outperformed boys very markedly in examination scores of mathematics at secondary level. Contrarily, boys have performed well in working memory capacity than girls at the secondary level. However a very small gender difference is observed in this study. It is also noticed that private secondary schools showed higher performance in examination scores of mathematics and in working memory capacity than government secondary schoolsl.

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The Cognitive and Academic Benefits of Cogmed: A Meta-Analysis

10.31234/osf.io/ygrh3 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

N Deniz Aksayli ◽

Giovanni Sala ◽

Fernand Gobet

Keyword(s):

Academic Achievement ◽

Working Memory ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Working Memory Capacity ◽

Memory Capacity ◽

Memory Training ◽

Far Transfer ◽

Near Transfer ◽

Academic Benefits ◽

And Mathematics

Cogmed Working Memory Training (CWMT) is a commercial cognitive-training program designed to foster working-memory capacity. Enhanced working-memory capacity is then supposed to increase one’s overall cognitive function and academic achievement. This meta-analysis investigates the effects of CWMT on cognitive and academic outcomes. The inclusion criteria were met by 50 studies (637 effect sizes).Highly consistent near-zero effects were estimated in far-transfer measures of cognitive ability (e.g., attention and intelligence) and academic achievement (language ability and mathematics). By contrast, slightly heterogeneous small to medium effects were observed in memory tasks (i.e., near transfer). Moderator analysis showed that this effect was weaker for near-transfer measures not directly related to the trained tasks. These results highlight that while near transfer occurs regularly, far transfer is rare or, possibly, nonexistent. Transfer thus appears to be a function of the degree of overlap between trained tasks and outcome tasks.

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171. Is working memory capacity diminished in students with low academic achievement?

Clinical Neurophysiology ◽

10.1016/j.clinph.2008.04.187 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 119 (9) ◽

pp. e141

Author(s):

D.M. Aguirre Pérez ◽

G.A. Otero Ojeda ◽

F.B. Pliego Rivero ◽

A.A. Ferreyra Martínez ◽

H.H. Manjarrez Dolores

Keyword(s):

Academic Achievement ◽

Working Memory ◽

Working Memory Capacity ◽

Memory Capacity

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Differential Effects of Executive Processes on Working Memory

Journal of Individual Differences ◽

10.1027/1614-0001/a000211 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 37 (4) ◽

pp. 239-249

Author(s):

Xuezhu Ren ◽

Tengfei Wang ◽

Karl Schweizer ◽

Jing Guo

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Cognitive Processes ◽

Latent Variable ◽

Working Memory Capacity ◽

Memory Capacity ◽

Attention Control ◽

Executive Processes ◽

Differential Effects ◽

Prepotent Response ◽

Two Measures

Abstract. Although attention control accounts for a unique portion of the variance in working memory capacity (WMC), the way in which attention control contributes to WMC has not been thoroughly specified. The current work focused on fractionating attention control into distinctly different executive processes and examined to what extent key processes of attention control including updating, shifting, and prepotent response inhibition were related to WMC and whether these relations were different. A number of 216 university students completed experimental tasks of attention control and two measures of WMC. Latent variable analyses were employed for separating and modeling each process and their effects on WMC. The results showed that both the accuracy of updating and shifting were substantially related to WMC while the link from the accuracy of inhibition to WMC was insignificant; on the other hand, only the speed of shifting had a moderate effect on WMC while neither the speed of updating nor the speed of inhibition showed significant effect on WMC. The results suggest that these key processes of attention control exhibit differential effects on individual differences in WMC. The approach that combined experimental manipulations and statistical modeling constitutes a promising way of investigating cognitive processes.

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