Inhibitory Processes Training for School-age Children: Transfer Effects

Inhibition refers to a basic executive component that can be conceptualized as consisted of different inhibitory processes (i.e., perceptual, cognitive and response inhibition). These processes emerge during the first years of life, and since then are involved in different relevant every day activities. Different individual and contextual factors can modulate their developmental trajectories. The possibility of train in separate ways each inhibitory process is a subject of analysis. In such a context, the aims of this work were: (a) to design, implement and evaluate training of perceptual, cognitive and response inhibition processes, in a sample of school-aged children (6 to 8 years old); and (b) to analyze near, far, short- and long-transfer effects. An experimental design with three training groups (one for each inhibitory process) and an active control group was implemented. Near transfer effects were not observed. We found effects on a visuospatial working memory task in the short term, after the training in the response and cognitive inhibition, and effects on a fluid intelligence task in both the short and long term after the training in cognitive inhibition. The results contribute to a conceptualization of multidimensional inhibitory processes and the plausibility of training them during childhood.