Perrig, Walter J.; Everts, Regula; Kohlen, Tanja; Ritter, Barbara; Steinlin, Maja; Mürner-Lavanchy, Ines M. (2012). Improving children’s cognitive performance – Effect of a memory strategy training in children born very preterm (Unpublished). In: 8th Annual Meeting of the Clinical Neuroscience Berne. University Hospital of Psychiatry, Bern. 04.12.2012..
Aims: To examine the effect of memory strategy training on different aspects of memory in children born very preterm and to determine whether there is a generalization of the training effect to non-trained functions. The influence of individual factors such as age and performance level on the training success will be determined.
Methods: In a randomized, controlled and blinded clinical trial, 46 children born very preterm (aged 7-12 years) were allocated to a memory strategy training (MEMO-Training, n=23) or a control group (n=23). Neuropsychological assessment was performed before, immediately after the training and at a 6-month follow-up. In the MEMO-Training, five different memory strategies were introduced and practiced in a one-to-one setting (4 hour-long training sessions over 4 weeks, 20 homework sessions).
Results: A significant training-related improvement occurred in trained aspects of memory (verbal and visual learning and recall, verbal working memory) and in non-trained functions (inhibition, mental arithmetic). No performance increase was observed in the control group. At six months follow-up, there was a significant training-related improvement of visual working memory. Age and performance level before the training predicted the training success significantly.
Conclusion: Teaching memory strategies is an effective way to improve different aspects of memory but also non-trained functions such as inhibition and mental arithmetic in children born very preterm. Age and performance level influence the success of memory strategy training. These results highlight the importance of teaching children memory strategies to reduce scholastic problems.
Item Type: |
Conference or Workshop Item (Poster) |
|---|---|
Division/Institute: |
04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Gynaecology, Paediatrics and Endocrinology (DFKE) > Clinic of Paediatric Medicine 04 Faculty of Medicine > University Psychiatric Services > University Hospital of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy > Psychiatric Neurophysiology [discontinued] 04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Radiology, Neuroradiology and Nuclear Medicine (DRNN) > Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology 07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Psychology > Psychological and Behavioral Health |
UniBE Contributor: |
Perrig, Walter, Everts, Regula, Ritter, Barbara, Steinlin, Maja |
Subjects: |
600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health 100 Philosophy > 150 Psychology |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
Anette van Dorland |
Date Deposited: |
12 Aug 2014 08:51 |
Last Modified: |
05 Dec 2022 14:36 |
URI: |
https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/57876 |
Actions (login required)
 |
Edit item |