Brief Report: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Digital Working Memory Intervention for Preschoolers Displaying ADHD Symptoms.
Ten-minute digital memory games give preschoolers with ADHD traits a tiny digit-span boost yet leave classroom behavior untouched.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Zheng et al. (2025) asked if short, tablet-based memory games could help preschoolers who show ADHD traits.
Kids played self-paced working-memory games for about ten minutes a day.
The team then compared their digit-span scores to kids who simply waited.
What they found
The game group recalled slightly more numbers right after training.
ADHD symptoms, time sense, and classroom behavior stayed the same.
In short, the games nudged memory scores but did not touch core ADHD issues.
How this fits with other research
Van der Molen et al. (2010) saw bigger gains in teens with mild ID who used similar computer memory drills.
Klein et al. (2024) also boosted working memory, but they used eye-tracking games in older ASD/ADHD pupils, showing the method matters.
de Leeuw et al. (2024) ran an online cognitive program for kids with cerebral palsy and found no benefit—an apparent contradiction. The difference likely lies in diagnosis: motor barriers in CP may blunt digital training, while preschool ADHD minds can still eke out small span gains.
Why it matters
If you serve preschoolers with attention trouble, brief tablet games can give a quick digit-span lift. Do not expect quieter seats or faster bedtime. Pair the games with proven behavior plans, and treat any memory bump as a bonus, not a fix.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the effects of a self-paced digital working memory (WM) intervention on preschoolers with ADHD symptoms and explore the relation between WM and time perception (TP) through a randomized controlled trial. METHOD: Fifty preschoolers between four-to-six years of age (M = 4.93 years) were randomly assigned to three groups: a WM training group (WM; n = 14), a social-emotional (SE) training active control group (n = 15), and a waitlist control group (n = 21). Both the WM and SE groups received fifteen 10-min self-paced digital training sessions over five consecutive weeks. RESULTS: The digital WM training was effective in improving children's digit span performance compared to the waitlist control group only. Within-group comparisons across two time points indicated a near-significant improvement in numeration and trends of reduced ADHD symptoms and improved TP tasks in the WM group at the post-test, but between-group differences were not observed. CONCLUSION: The study showed limited effects of the WM training on preschoolers displaying ADHD symptoms. However, the results implied an association between working memory and time perception that awaits further investigation.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2025 · doi:10.1177/1087054720978557