Working memory, attention and maths in preterm children
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Working memory, attentional control and mathematics performance in moderate to late preterm children – implications for intervention
IRAS ID
142559
Contact name
Emma Matthews
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Exeter
Research summary
Working memory (WM, e.g. a cognitive system used for short-term storage and manipulation of information) ability and short term memory capacity (STM, e.g. the amount of information that can be stored for short amount of time) has been linked to school performance in children. Children with poor WM and low STM capacity do not achieve as well academically as their peers and are at risk of developing specific difficulties with mathematics and reading. Mathematics particularly draws on WM resources and research has shown that early mathematical skills are more important predictors of later academic achievement than early language or reading skills. Children born moderate to late preterm (i.e. between 32 and 36 weeks gestation) do not receive any formal follow-up from medical professionals but they have been found to have difficulties in a variety of areas including WM and STM. Therefore, given the impact of poor WM, STM and mathematical skills it is important that interventions are developed which may improve these abilities. However, in order to do this effectively the cognitive underpinnings of mathematics performance need to be further investigated. Research has suggested that WM ability may be related to attentional control (the control and coordination of attention resources that enables goal-driven tasks to be completed while ignoring potential distractions). No previous studies have investigated the link between WM, STM, attentional control and mathematics performance in children and no research has investigated the link between any of these abilities in children born moderate to late preterm. Therefore, this study aims to inform future intervention research by investigating how much variations in WM, STM and attentional control abilities account for variations in mathematical performance in groups of moderate to late preterm and term born children.
REC name
East of Scotland Research Ethics Service REC 1
REC reference
14/ES/1033
Date of REC Opinion
8 Jul 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion