Werkgeheugen en getalbegrip: Effecten van domeinalgemene en domeinspecifieke werkgeheugentraining

Abstract

This research focused on the possibility to improve children’s working memory abilities, with a domain-general and a domain-specific training. The domain of the latter was preparatory math skills. The focus of this study was on the effects of the training on both working memory and early numeracy. Early numeracy and working memory measures were administerd to children in the second year of kindergarten who performed below the 50th precentile on a criterion-based mathematics test. All children attended one of five different schools in the Netherlands. After a pretest, four weeks of intervention took place, followed by a posttest. Both childen who received the domain-general workingmemory intervention and children who received the domain-specific working memory intervention showed improvement on working memory tasks. Also both the domain-specific workingmemory intervention and the domain-general workingmemory intervention had a significant positive effect on childrens’ early numeracy skills.