نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
نویسندگان
1 دانشجوی دکتری روانشناسی شناختی، پژهشکده علوم شناختی و مغز، دانشگاه شهید بهشتی، تهران، ایران.
2 دانشیار روانشناسی،دانشکده روانشناسی و علوم تربیتی، دانشگاه شهیدبهشتی ، تهران، ایران.
3 استاد عصب روانشناسی، پژهشکده علوم شناختی و مغز، دانشگاه شهید بهشتی، تهران، ایران.
چکیده
کلیدواژهها
موضوعات
عنوان مقاله [English]
نویسندگان [English]
Background and Aims: Sustained attention and working memory are executive functions of brain and studies showed that these cognitive functions are correlated with each other but still considered as far cognitive functions. On the other hand, research showed that the working memory training effect does not transfer to far cognitive functions. Considering the importance of sustained attention in daily functions such as academic and occupational performance and also to answer the contradiction in the research literature, this study has aimed to investigate the effectiveness of working memory training on sustained attention.
Materials and Methods: 32 male students of eight grade of the middle school has selected by cluster random sampling method and has assigned randomly to two groups of the experiment (n=16) and control (n=16). Computerized dual n-back software has used for working memory training for 12 sessions that each lasted 40 minutes during 4 weeks. Computerized Continuous Performance Test and Digit Span test used for evaluating sustained attention and working memory respectively. The pre-test evaluation performed one week before and post-test evaluation executed one week after the training course.
Results: Finding using one-way covariance analysis has shown that after the working memory training course, sustained attention (P=0.043) and verbal working memory (P=0.033) of experimental group participants improved significantly compared to the control group but no changes happened to short-term verbal memory (P=0.236).
Conclusion: The improvement of sustained attention following working memory training has indicated that far transfer of the effect of working memory on sustained attention and has verified the involvement of sustained attention in the central executive component of working memory. On the other side, the improvement of sustained attention and no any change in short-term verbal memory implicates that the mechanism of action for working memory training is through the enhancement of central executive not an improvement in the phonological loop of working memory.
کلیدواژهها [English]