Malleability of Working Memory Through Chess in Schoolchildren—A Two-Year Intervention Study

AbstractWorking memory is the ability to actively maintain information in conscious awareness, carry out cognitive operations on it, and produce an outcome. This study analyzed the effect of 2-year chess training on the working memory of children using a pretest-posttest with control group design. The randomly selected sample consisted of children of both genders from grades 3 to 9 with 88 children in the experimental group and 90 in the control group for the baseline and first-year assessments. At the second-year assessment, there were 80 children in the experimental and 77 in the control group. The experimental group underwent weekly chess training for 2 years, while the control group was involved in extracurricular activities in the school. Working memory was measured by two subtests of Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Fourth Edition INDIA. ANCOVA revealed significant gains in working memory in the experimental group compared to the control group.


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