A Randomized-Controlled Trial of Working Memory Training in Youth with ADHD

The present study investigated whether working memory training (WMT) would improve working memory (WM), planning/organization, executive functioning, attention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, and reading comprehension in individuals with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Twenty-eight children and adolescents with ADHD completed WMT, which consisted of 25 sessions lasting 30-45 minutes completed over about 6 weeks. Participants were randomly assigned to either a difficult adaptive WMT program or a control program, which maintained a low-level of difficulty. We predicted that the experimental group would show greater improvements than the control group. The experimental group showed a trend towards improving more than the control group on nonverbal short-term memory (STM), one measure of verbal WM, parent-rated inattention, After WMT participants in both groups improved on verbal STM, nonverbal STM, nonverbal WM, one measure of verbal WM, parent-reported WM, a WM composite, parent-rated inattention, reading comprehension, one participant-administered measure of planning/organization, parent-rated planning/organization, and parent-rated executive functioning. Participants did not improve on one measure of verbal WM, parent-rated hyperactivity/impulsivity, and a participant-administered measure of attention, one participant-administered measure of planning/organization, and a participant-administered measure of executive functioning. There was not enough teacher-report data to come to any meaningful conclusions. This lends some support that WMT can lead to improvements in broad cognitive functions. It is unclear whether the training needs to be difficult and adaptive in order to lead to improvements. Future studies need to investigate the necessary components of WMT and whether the improvements following WMT are clinically significant, stable over time, and not just due to practice effects, rater expectancy effects, or regression to the mean. Additional replication studies are needed showing improvements in cognitive and academic functions following WMT. Future studies should investigate whether certain WMT programs lead to improvements in certain cognitive and academic functions.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Grantor dc:publisher

The Ohio State University

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• Hanson, Christine

Contributors dc:contributor

• Beck, Steven

• Clinical Psychology
• ADHD
• Working Memory
• Cognitive Training
• Treatment
• Working Memory Training

Statement dc:rights

• unrestricted
• This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1363969480

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:osu1363969480