Working Memory Training Software
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What is our working memory training
software for?
The term "working memory" refers to the capacity to store and manipulate information for short periods of time. Learners with dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD and other learning difficulties often have poor working memory. Our software is designed to train working memory and improve concentration and is user-friendly for learners, trainers and parents.
We sell three programs to train working memory. Each program
employs a comprehensive teacher/parent-led training course that has
been shown to improve working
memory.
Software comparison chart
| Memory Quest Flex |
Memory Games
Junior |
Memory Games
Senior |
|
| age |
4
- adult |
4
- 11 |
10
- adult |
| exercises |
80 |
40 |
40 |
| reward system |
yes |
yes |
yes |
| statistics, reports
and evaluations |
yes |
yes |
yes |
| book: Working Memory
Training - theory and practice |
yes |
- |
- |
| work book/log-book |
yes |
yes |
yes |
Each program has its own product page where you can find more details:
You can upgrade to Memory Quest Flex from either Memory Games program. Please contact us for details.
How is the training implemented?
| Preparation | Learners, parents and their trainers plan a simple, motivational reward system that will encourage the learner to persevere with their training and improve their working memory. |
| Training | Play the fun auditory and visual activities five days a week for five weeks. The games allow the learner to achieve yet be continually challenged, thus increasing their working memory capacity. |
| Rewards | Learners enjoy their weekly rewards for continuing training, along with the rewards within the software. |
| Assessment | Learners and trainers use the work book to record/discuss how the course is progressing. |
| Results | Review results in the software daily, weekly and at the end of the course. |
Key features
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Memory Games customer areaCustomers who have purchased a copy of Memory Games may wish to download extra files and resources for parents and trainers. These files are available in our Memory Games customer area. |
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Background and research
Below is a translation of a page from www.minneslek.se, reproduced here by kind permission of LäraMera AB, Leripa AB and Cognitive Kompaniet. (Translation originally generated by Google.)
Working memory
Working memory is a fundamental cognitive function that is
necessary for us to implement a series of mental activities, such as
reading, counting and solving problems. With the help of working
memory, we can keep and use a limited amount of information in our
heads for a short time. For example, we use working memory when we
remember a phone number, or when we follow an instruction. With a
good working memory we can concentrate and manage distractions
better. Previously it was thought that it was impossible to train
working memory. Today, research indicates that it is possible.
Training of attention and working
memory
A study by Semrud-Clikeman, Nielsen, Clinton, Sylvester, Parle &
Connor (1999) examined the effects of attention training in children
with ADHD. The training lasted for one hour per week for a total of
18 weeks. The results of the study showed that children who were
placed in a training group improved significantly on a visual and an
auditive attention test, compared with children who were placed in a
control group.
A randomized controlled study by Klingberg et al (2005) explored the
effects of working memory training on children aged 7-12 years with
ADHD. Children in both treatment and control group trained about 40
minutes a day, 5 days a week, for a total of 5 weeks. The treatment
group used a version of the intervention where the severity and
ongoing training is automatically adjusted according to the user's
performance, while the control group was working the same exercises
at a constant low difficulty level. The study showed that treatment
significantly improved their performance, in comparison with the
control group, on tests measuring visual and verbal working memory,
response inhibition and problem solving ability.
Rueda et al. (2005), in a number of studies, have shown how children
aged between 4 and 6 years old improved on the test measuring
controlled attention, followed by computerized attention training.
The training lasted only for five days and consisted of attention
exercises with increasing difficulty, followed by the correct
answer.
A study by Jaeggi et al. (2008) has shown that working memory
training can improve adults' performance on a test of non-verbal
intelligence. In the study, it also appears that the participants'
improvement on the intelligence test appears to be dose-dependent,
i.e. more days (19 days) of ongoing training gave greater
improvement on the intelligence test than those that had fewer days'
training (8 days).
References
Jaeggi, S.M., Buschkuehl, M., Jonides, J., Perra, WJ (2008)
Improving fluid intelligence with training working memory.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States
of America, 105 (19), 6829-6833
Klingberg, T., Fernell, E., Olesen, P., Johnson, M., Gustafsson, P.,
Dahlström, K., Gillberg, CG, Forsberg, H., Westerberg, H. (2005)
computerized training of working memory in children with ADHD - a
randomized, controlled trial. Journal of the American Academy of
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 44 (2): 177-186.
Semrud-Clikeman, M., Nielsen, KH, Clinton, A., Sylvester, L., Parle,
N., & Connor, RT (1999). An intervention approach for children
with teacher-and parent-identified attentional difficulties. Journal
of Learning Disabilities, 32, 581-590.
Rueda, M.R., Roth Bart, M.K., McCandliss, BD, Saccomanno, L., &
Posner, M.I. (2005) Training, maturation, and genetic influences on
the development of executive attention. Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 102,
14931-14936.
Experience of Memory Games
Between Autumn 2007 and Spring 2008 an evaluation of Memory Games
took place with 55 school children aged between 7 and 9 years in
Lund and Stockholm. The children in the study were randomly divided
into control and taining groups based on performance on Ravens
matrices, a non-verbal intelligence test. Children in the training
group trained with Memory Games for about 5 weeks in groups of
varying size (between 2 and 8 children). All children were tested
with four tests: two verbal working memory tests (digit span
forwards and backwards), a visuo-spatial working memory test and an
impulse test. The results showed that children in the training group
improved on both the verbal test and the visuo-spatial test. The
study also showed that the children who were trained in pairs
improved to a greater extent than those trained in large groups. The
results of the study indicated, therefore, in summary, that the
children, after training with Memory Games, improved in working
memory tests. The tests also showed that the best improvements were
made where one or two children worked in a room alone rather than in
a normal classroom situation with many children present.
There have also been smaller evaluations of Memory Games in schools
and rehabilitation centres. A school in Avesta kommun used Memory
Games with six children aged between 7 and 9 in Autumn 2007 and
Spring 2008. After training all the children had improved their
performance on TVPS-3, a test which measures perceptual skills.
Staff at the school also saw a major improvement in school work in
the children: "They have learned the strategies, new ways to find
solutions, self-esteem is better also."
Working memory development
For most of us our development happens between 4 and 15 years of
age. A 4-year-old, for example, is relatively undeveloped and is
capable of repeating two digits backwards. However, there is also a
relatively large variation among individuals of the same age.
Working capacity is like many other skills normally distributed
which means that a 7-year-old with much reduced working memory
capacity may be on the same level as the average 4-year-old.
Children with working memory difficulties generally have low results
on all types of working memory test, regardless of whether the tests
are mainly visuo-spatial or verbal. However, there are exceptions.
Children with motor difficulties, for example, generally have
greater difficulty with the visuo-spatial test than with the verbal,
whereas the opposite is true for children with language
difficulties.
How working memory difficulties are
expressed
As a rule parents and teachers do not identify a child as having
memory problems but rather a lack of attention capacity. They are
easily distracted, have difficulty concentrating and do not listen
and day-dream a lot. Children with working memory difficulties can
often initiate a task in an adequate manner, but then forget the
information necessary to complete the task. These children find it
difficult to handle longer instructions which contain many steps.
Furthermore, children with working memory difficulties are often not
as involved in activities that occur in larger groups in school.
They find it difficult to keep up and become easily distracted. They
often have poor attention, difficulty in monitoring their own work
and low self-esteem.
Children with low working memory capacity are often overloaded. The
result is that it can be difficult for these children to complete a
task that has been initiated, which may lead them to believe that
they can not do anything at all. A working memory task not completed
with no new information stored in long term memory means that no new
knowledge can be obtained. To have a low working memory capacity can
create learning difficulties.
Further Reading
Fleisher, A.V. & Merland, J. (2008) Executive difficulties in
children: assessment and practical measures. Studentlitteratur.
Gathercole, S. E & Alloway, T. P (2008) Working Memory and
Learning. A Practical Guide for Teachers. London: SAGE Publications.
Baddeley, AD (2007) Working Memory, Thought, and Action. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Pickering, S. J. (2006). (Ed.) Working Memory and Education.
Academic Press.
Cowan, N. (2005). Working memory capacity. Hove: Psychology Press.
Andrade, J. (2001). Working memory in perspective. Hove: Psychology
Press.
LäraMera Software AB, Leripa AB,
Cognitive Kompaniet © 2008