IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ucp/jpolec/doi10.1086-732884.html

The Impact of Working-Memory Training on Children’s Cognitive and Noncognitive Skills

Author

Listed:
  • Eva M. Berger
  • Ernst Fehr
  • Henning Hermes
  • Daniel Schunk
  • Kirsten Winkel

Abstract

Working-memory (WM) capacity is a key component of a wide range of cognitive and noncognitive skills—such as fluid IQ, math, reading, and inhibitory control—but can WM training improve these skills? Here, we examine the causal impact of WM training embedded in regular school teaching, using a randomized educational intervention with 6–7-year-old children. We find substantial gains in WM capacity and document positive spillover effects on geometry, fluid IQ, and inhibitory control. Three years later, treated children are 16 percentage points more likely to enter an advanced secondary school track.

Suggested Citation

  • Eva M. Berger & Ernst Fehr & Henning Hermes & Daniel Schunk & Kirsten Winkel, 2025. "The Impact of Working-Memory Training on Children’s Cognitive and Noncognitive Skills," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 133(2), pages 492-521.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jpolec:doi:10.1086/732884
    DOI: 10.1086/732884
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/732884
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.
    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/732884
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1086/732884?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or

    for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Axel Eizmendi Larrinaga & Germ'an Reyes, 2025. "Cash and Cognition: The Impact of Transfer Timing on Standardized Test Performance and Human Capital," Papers 2507.21393, arXiv.org.
    2. Zvonimir Bašić & Parampreet C. Bindra & Daniela Glätzle-Rützler & Angelo Romano & Matthias Sutter & Claudia Zoller, 2021. "The Roots of Cooperation," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 097, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    3. Fabian Kosse & Tim Leffler & Arna Woemmel, 2025. "Digital Skills: Social Disparities and the Impact of Early Mentoring," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1222, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    4. Mikko Silliman & Juuso Mäkinen, 2026. "Life-cycle effects of public childcare: Evidence on children and their parents," RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series 26004, ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin (RFBerlin).
    5. Xhiselda Demaj, 2024. "Expanding Benefits: The Impact of a Universal Free School Meal Policy on Non-Cognitive Skills," Working Papers 2024: 11, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    6. Anger Silke, 2025. "Wie schulische und berufliche Bildung die Lebens- und Arbeitsmarktchancen verbessert," Wirtschaftsdienst, Sciendo, vol. 105(11), pages 781-786.
    7. Henning Hermes & Daniel Schunk, 2022. "If you could read my mind–an experimental beauty-contest game with children," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 25(1), pages 229-253, February.
    8. Biroli, Pietro & Di Girolamo, Amalia & Sorrenti, Giuseppe & Totarelli, Maddalena, 2025. "Talent Is Everywhere, Opportunity Is Not: Online Role Model Mentoring and Students’ Aspirations," IZA Discussion Papers 18325, IZA Network @ LISER.
    9. Wu, Binglan & Feng, Shuaizhang & Zhang, Yijing & Han, Yujie, 2025. "Do children's time preferences predict future school outcomes?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    10. Boneva, Teodora & Buser, Thomas & Falk, Armin & Kosse, Fabian, 2021. "The Origins of Gender Differences in Competitiveness and Earnings Expectations: Causal Evidence from a Mentoring Intervention," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 295, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    11. Anja Pahor & Aaron R. Seitz & Susanne M. Jaeggi, 2022. "Near transfer to an unrelated N-back task mediates the effect of N-back working memory training on matrix reasoning," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 6(9), pages 1243-1256, September.
    12. Eva Berger, 2020. "Self-productivity and Cross-productivity in the Process of Skill Formation," Working Papers 2027, Gutenberg School of Management and Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J00 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ucp:jpolec:doi:10.1086/732884. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Journals Division (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JPE .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.