Page 78 - Javanan Magazine Issue # 1872

PSYCHOLOGICAL ISSUE No. 1868
PSYCHOLOGICAL
ISSUE No. 1856
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES JAVANAN

JAVANAN
Dr. Alan A.
Modarressi LOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
Clinical and A SOCIOCULTURAL AND MIND AND BODY OUTLOOK
Neuro-Psychologyst
In this column, we examine the mental health issues in the context
of social, culture, and physiological concerns of the Iranian community

IMPROVING THE KIDS’ multiple areas and we believe this

MATH SKILLS should be included in any calcula-
By: Dr. Ali A. Modarressi tion by teachers and policymakers
Licensed Psychologist New Methods to Boost Children’s of how time-efficient spatial train-
Mathematical Abilities ing is relative to training for a par-
A recent research article in the ticular test.
journal Nature Human Behaviour Here are some examples of train-
provides more insight into the ways to memorize and manipulate vari- mance was tested in the first, fifth ing tasks in the study:
a child learns mathematics and how ous shapes and objects and spot pat- and seventh week. In a number line task, a person is
to improve their skills. terns in recurring sequences. Some The researchers found that all asked to identify the right position of
In summary, it shows that chil- schools today include spatial exer- groups improved on mathemati- a number on a line bound by a start
dren’s math skills improve when cises as part of their tutoring. cal performance, but that reasoning and an end point. Difficulty is typi-
they are trained to practice visual However, previous studies assess- training had the largest positive im- cally moderated by removing spa-
working memory and reasoning ing the effect of spatial training on pact followed by working memory tial cues, for example ticks on the
tasks. academic performance have had tasks. Both reasoning and memory number line, and progress to include
According to this large study at mixed results, with some showing training significantly outperformed mathematical problems such as ad-
the Karolinska Institutet in Swe- significant improvement and others rotation training when it came to dition, subtraction and division.
den, young kids who practice visual no effect at all. Thus, there is a need mathematical improvement. In a visual working memory
working memory and reasoning for large, randomized studies to de- They also observed that the ben- task, a person is asked to recollect
tasks improve their math skills more termine if and to what extent spatial efits of cognitive training could dif- visual objects. In this study, the
than children who focus on spatial cognition training actually improves fer threefold between individuals. children reproduced a sequence
rotation exercises. The findings sup- performance. That could explain differences in of dots on a grid by touching the
port the notion that training spatial In this study, more than 17,000 results from some previous studies
cognition can enhance academic Swedish schoolchildren between seeing as individual characteristics screen. Difficulty was increased
performance and that when it comes the ages of six and eight completed of study participants tend to impact by adding more items.
to math, the type of training matters. cognitive training via an app for ei- the results. In a non-verbal reasoning task,
These findings are important be- ther 20 or 33 minutes per day over The researchers note there were a person is asked to complete se-
cause they provides strong evidence the course of seven weeks. some limitations to the study, in- quences of spatial patterns. In this
that cognitive training transfers to an In the first week, the children cluding the lack of a passive control study, the children were asked to
ability that is different from the one were given identical exercises, af- group that would allow for an esti- choose the correct image to fill a
the kids practiced. ter which they were randomly split mation of the absolute effect size. blank space based on previous se-
Numerous studies have linked into one of five training plans. In all Also, this study did not include a quences. Difficulty was increased
spatial ability–that is the capacity to groups, children spent about half of group of students who received by adding new dimensions such as
understand and remember dimen- their time on mathematical number math training only. colors, shapes and dots.
sional relations among objects–to line tasks. Numerous studies have linked In a rotation task, a person is asked
performance in science, technology, The remaining time was random- spatial ability–that is the capacity to to figure out what an object would
engineering and mathematics. As ly allotted to different proportions of understand and remember dimen- look like if rotated. In this study, the
a result, some employers in these cognitive training in the form of ro- sional relations among objects–to children were asked to rotate a 2D
fields use spatial ability tests to vet tation tasks (2D mental rotation and performance in science, technology, object to fit various angles. Difficul-
candidates during the hiring process. tangram puzzle), visual working engineering and mathematics. ty was moderated by increasing the
This has also fueled an interest memory tasks or non-verbal reason- Given the wide range of areas as- angle of the rotation or the complex-
in spatial cognition training, which ing tasks (see examples below for sociated with spatial cognition, it ity of the object being rotated.
focuses on improving one’s ability details). The children’s math perfor- is possible that training transfers to

DANESH FOROUGHI, PH.D. Alan Modarressi, PhD, QME
Licensed Clinical Psychologist, PSY13680 Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Licensed Marriage, Family & Child Psychotherapist, MFC23455 Qualified Medical Evaluator
Certified National Board of Addiction Examiners #4974 Certified Psychophsychologist
Tel: (310) 940-3642 Diplomat, American Academy of Pain Management
15720 Ventura Blvd., Second Fl. #224 Encino CA 91436 (818) 501-6080 (562) 861-7226

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