Training of Cognitive Control in Developmental Disorders: Pitfalls and Promises

Attention and executive functions play a significant role in different types of learning. Recent studies had shown that attention skills are greatly malleable. Specifically, a number of studies have evaluated the benefit of cognitive treatments aimed at improving attention and executive functions of children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Although several studies did not find positive far transfer effects (such as planning, selection of an appropriate strategy) in children with ADHD, more recent studies, which targeted simple attention and/or executive functions (such as, the ability to sustain attention over a long period of time, the ability to maintain information in working memory (WM)) showed encouraging effects. In summary, cognitive training as induced in different programs targeting specific neural systems mediating attention for children with developmental disorders has a promising potential to improve other skills of cognition and academic outcomes. However, in order to achieve this challenge it is essential to implement theory driven interventions, to strengthen the link between the core cognitive deficits of each developmental disorder and to apply principles of cognitive training.