Can a Few Minutes of Cognitive Training Help Children Read More Fluently in the Classroom?
We all know that warming up before physical activity prepares the body for exertion, but can we also “warm up” the brain before learning? In our study, we followed children from first through third grade to examine whether a brief cognitive warm-up, consisting of games that engage attention, working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control in first grade, and again before a computerized reading intervention in third grade, could improve their reading abilities. Over the course of eight weeks, the children participated in training sessions three times a week, and their reading skills and executive functions were assessed before and after the intervention.
We found that children’s reading fluency improved significantly following the training program. Moreover, children who began the intervention with weaker executive functioning skills benefited the most from the program. Our findings highlight the important role that abilities such as attention, working memory, and cognitive flexibility play in the development of reading fluency, and suggest that targeted executive function activities before reading may help prepare the brain for learning and make the learning process more effective. This approach may contribute to the development of more personalized educational programs, particularly for children who experience difficulties in learning to read.
Link to the full article: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/16/6/957
Authors: Sanaa Dahamshy, Rola Farah, Yoav Nahshon and Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus
Research group’s website: https://neuroimaging-center.technion.ac.il/
