Improving working memory won't help ADHD

Children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder or dyslexia are unlikely to be helped by working memory training, researchers in Norway said. Lead author Monica Melby-Lervag of the University of Oslo and colleagues at the University College London said memory training tasks appeared to have limited effect on healthy adults and children looking to do better in school or improve their cognitive skills. Several commercial, computer-based working memory training programs have been developed and purport to benefit students suffering from ADHD, dyslexia, language disorders, poor academic performance or other issues, Melby-Lervag said. "The success of working memory training programs is often based on the idea that you can train your brain to perform better, using repetitive memory trials, much like lifting weights builds muscle mass," Melby-Lervag said in a statement. "However, this analysis shows that simply loading up the brain with training exercises will not lead to better performance outside of the tasks presented within these tests." The meta-analysis involved 23 peer-reviewed studies with 30 different comparisons of groups. The analysis, published online in Developmental Psychology, said the training might help one improve short-term memory when it's related to the task implemented in training but it won't improve reading difficulties or help a person pay more attention in school.