A Systematic Review of Working Memory Applications for Children with Learning Difficulties: Transfer Outcomes and Design Principles

Abstract

Working memory (WM) is a crucial cognitive function, and a deficit in this function is a critical factor in learning difficulties (LDs). As a result, there is growing interest in exploring different approaches to training WM to support students with LDs. Following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines, this systematic review aims to identify current computer-based WM training applications and their theoretical foundations, explore their effects on improving WM capacity and other cognitive/academic abilities, and extract design principles for creating an effective WM application for children with LDs. The 22 studies selected for this review provide strong evidence that children with LDs have low WM capacity and that their WM functions can be trained. The findings revealed four commercial WM training applications—COGMED, Jungle, BrainWare Safari, and N-back—that were utilized in 16 studies. However, these studies focused on suggesting different types of WM tasks and examining their effects rather than making those tasks user-friendly or providing practical guidelines for the end-user. To address this gap, the principles of the Human–Computer Interaction, with a focus on usability and user experience as well as relevant cognitive theories, and the design recommendations from the selected studies have been reviewed to extract a set of proposed guidelines. A total of 15 guidelines have been extracted that can be utilized to design WM training programs specifically for children with LDs.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14111260
Divisions: College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School > Operations & Information Management
College of Business and Social Sciences
College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School
Additional Information: Copyright © 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Uncontrolled Keywords: WM training applications,cognitive load theory,design principles,learning difficulties (LDs),systematic review,user-centered design,working memory (WM),Computer Science (miscellaneous),Education,Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation,Developmental and Educational Psychology,Public Administration,Computer Science Applications
Publication ISSN: 2227-7102
Last Modified: 31 Mar 2025 07:27
Date Deposited: 06 Dec 2024 16:34
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: https://www.mdp ... 7102/14/11/1260 (Publisher URL)
http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
PURE Output Type: Review article
Published Date: 2024-11
Published Online Date: 2024-11-18
Accepted Date: 2024-11-10
Authors: Shaban, Adel
Chang, Victor (ORCID Profile 0000-0002-8012-5852)
Amodu, Onikepo D.
Attia, Mohamed Ramadan
Abdelhamid, Gomaa Said Mohamed

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