Far transfer to language and math of a short software-based gaming intervention

GOLDIN, A.; HERMIDA M.J.; SHALOM, D.E.; COSTA, M.E.; LÓPEZ-ROSENFELD, M.; SEGRETÍN M.S.; FERNÁNDEZ SLEZAK, D.; LIPINA S.J.; SIGMAN, M.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

National Academy of Sciences

Lugar: Washington DC, USA; Año: 2014 vol. 111 p. 6443 - 6448

1091-6490

Executive functions (EF) in children can be trained, but it remainsunknown whether training-related benefits elicit far transfer toreal-life situations. Here, we investigate whether a set of comput-erized games might yield near and far transfer on an experimentaland an active control group of low-SES otherwise typically devel-oping 6-y-olds in a 3-mo pretest?training?posttest design thatwas ecologically deployed (at school). The intervention elicits trans-fer to some (but not all) facets of executive function. These changescascade to real-world measures of school performance. The inter-vention equalizes academic outcomes across children who regu-larly attend school and those who do not because of social andfamiliar circumstances.