Working memory training in children: Effectiveness depends on temperament

Studies revealing transfer effects of working memory (WM) training on non-trained cognitive performance of children hold promising implications for scholastic learning. However, the results of existing training studies are not consistent and provoke debates about the potential and limitations of cognitive enhancement. To examine the influence of individual differences on training outcomes is a promising approach for finding causes for such inconsistencies. In this study, we implemented WM training in an elementary school setting. The aim was to investigate near and far transfer effects on cognitive abilities and academic achievement and to examine the moderating effects of a dispositional and a regulative temperament factor, neuroticism and effortful control. Ninetynine second-graders were randomly assigned to 20 sessions of computer-based adaptiveWMtraining, computer-based reading training, or a no-contact control group. For the WM training group, our analyses reveal near transfer on a visual WM task, far transfer on a vocabulary task as a proxy for crystallized intelligence, and increased academic achievement in reading and math by trend. Considering individual differences in temperament, we found that effortful control predicts larger training mean and gain scores and that there is a moderation effect of both temperament factors on post-training improvement: WM training condition predicted higher post-training gains compared to both control conditions only in children with high effortful control or low neuroticism. Our results suggest that a short but intensive WM training program can enhance cognitive abilities in children, but that sufficient selfregulative abilities and emotional stability are necessary for WM training to be effective.

A Dynamic Route Planning Prototype for Cognitive Cities

A software prototype for dynamic route planning in the travel industry for cognitive cities is presented in this paper. In contrast to existing tools, the prototype enhances the travel experience (i.e., sightseeing) by allowing additional flexibility to the user. The theoretical background of the paper strengthens the understanding of the introduced concepts (e.g., cognitive cities, fuzzy logic, graph databases) to comprehend the presented prototype. The prototype applies an instantiation and enhancement of the graph database Neo4j . For didactical reasons and to strengthen the understanding of this prototype a scenario, applied to route planning in the city of Bern (Switzerland) is shown in the paper.