Existing studies have demonstrated the usefulness of dynamic training in developing children’s various cognitive abilities, such as cognitive flexibility and reasoning. Additionally, research has...Show moreExisting studies have demonstrated the usefulness of dynamic training in developing children’s various cognitive abilities, such as cognitive flexibility and reasoning. Additionally, research has also shown dynamic measures, such as posttest performance and the amount of training prompts to be significant predictors for children’s academic performance in reading and mathematics. However, there is little information about the effectiveness of dynamic training on the working memory performance of typically developing and younger primary school children. The current study was performed using a dynamic task of working memory with a pretest-training-posttest design. The participants of this study were 103 typically developing Dutch children between the ages of 8 and 9 years old (mean age = 8.55 years, 50.50% girls). Children were allocated into a control and experimental group, where the experimental group received dynamic training following the pretest using a graduated prompts approach, while the control group did not receive training. Our study found a statistically significant difference between the children’s performance at the pretest and posttest measures of the dynamic working memory task in both experimental groups. Inconsistent with previous research, children’s working memory performance regressed from pretest to posttest in both groups. Furthermore, in-line with previous research, we found that higher performance at posttest predicted higher academic performance in reading and mathematics for the experimental group. However, the number of prompts children received during dynamic training was not a significant predictor for their academic performance. Our findings indicated that the dynamic task for working memory profited children in both experimental groups to a limited extent. Additionally, dynamic measures of working memory, such as posttest score, had a predictive effect on children’s reading and mathematical performance in school. Future research should evaluate the effectiveness of a shorter dynamic training procedure and the specific type of prompts that are most useful for children’s performance progression. Another implication for future research is to examine children’s concentration during dynamic testing. Practical implications include the application of dynamic testing along with static testing for a more comprehensive understanding about children’s learning needs and cognitive abilities.Show less
In the past, research has shown that visual working memory plays a crucial role in cognitive tasks like reasoning and learning. And play an important role in academic performance like reading and...Show moreIn the past, research has shown that visual working memory plays a crucial role in cognitive tasks like reasoning and learning. And play an important role in academic performance like reading and mathematics. Traditionally, static testing methods have been used to assess visual working memory, but static tests do not fully capture the dynamic nature of cognitive development. This study investigated the effectiveness of dynamic testing compared to static testing, involving primary school children. The research was done using a pretest-training- posttest experimental design with 84 Dutch primary school children aged 8-9 years (M = 8.51, SD = 0.50, 46.6% boys, 53.4% girls). The participating children were divided into a control group and an experimental group. The experimental group receives a dynamic training between the pre- and posttest, while the control group receives it after the posttest. There was no significant improvement in visual working memory from pretest to posttest for both groups, as was revealed by a repeated measures ANOVA. Linear regression analyses showed that pretest visual working memory scores significantly predicted reading comprehension (R² = 0.157, p = 0.002). For the post-test, only the visual working memory scores from the control group where able to significantly predict reading comprehension (R² = 0.195, p = 0.011). The experimental group’s post-test visual working memory scores did not significantly predict reading comprehension. The pre-test visual working memory scores did not significantly predict mathematics scores. And for the post-test visual working memory scores, both the control group and the experimental group only marginally predicted mathematics scores. Overall, these findings indicated that dynamic testing did not show significant advantages over static testing in improving visual work memory or predicting academic success. Highlighting the difficulty of showing the effectiveness of dynamic testing, particularly when dealing with younger children. While dynamic testing holds clear theoretical advantages compared to static testing, like its focus on learning potential and cognitive processes, 4 demonstrating these advantages empirically present challenges. To help combat those challenges, future research should involve larger, more diverse samples of children and take in account the cognitive load of the included training.Show less
The Information Sampling Trust Game (ISTG) is an updated model of the classic trust game – a paradigm originally designed to assess the perceived benefit of information acquisition prior to making...Show moreThe Information Sampling Trust Game (ISTG) is an updated model of the classic trust game – a paradigm originally designed to assess the perceived benefit of information acquisition prior to making a decision in comparison to the potential cost; financial, social, or otherwise. Previous studies have suggested that narcissistic traits may also influence the decision to invest socially in another individual; that is, whether or not to place one’s trust in another person (Franken, 2016). In addition, previous studies have suggested that both narcissistic traits and information sampling behaviours develop throughout adolescence (Jenkins, 2019; Ma, Westhoff, et al., 2020). Results from the ISTG - in terms of information sampled and proportion of investments - in a group of 157 adolescent participants (10-24) were investigated in relation to the narcissistic traits of the participants; the effects of age on this relationship were also investigated. A significant relationship was found between N-R trait scores and proportion of investments. Results also suggested that this relationship varied between age groups; with younger age groups (10-14 and 15-18 year olds) showing a positive relationship between N-R traits and proportion of investments, while adults (19-24 year olds) showed an inverse relationship. Neither a significant relationship between N-A and trust decisions nor significant effects on sampling were found. These findings indicate that N-R traits in particular have a relationship with social decision-making behaviours, and that this relationship between narcissism and social behaviour may change throughout adolescent development.Show less
