IDeA – project FLUX

FLUX (Assessment of Cognitive Performance FLUctuations in the School ConteXt)

Working memory capacity is responsible for simultaneously maintaining and processing information in a controlled manner and it has been shown to be a central determinant of fluid intelligence and school achievement. Recently, studies on adult cognitive development have demonstrated that cognitive resources such as working memory capacity fluctuate substantially over weeks, days, and task trials. Despite the importance of working memory capacity for school achievement and the demonstrated daily fluctuations in the cognitive resources of adults, no study has so far investigated daily fluctuations in working memory capacity in the everyday school context.
The project aims at investigating daily fluctuations in children’s cognitive performance in the school context by applying ambulatory assessment techniques. Using mobile phone technology, primary school children’s cognitive resources will be assessed daily for several weeks at two representative time periods within the school year. After establishing tasks with satisfactory psychometric properties for this purpose, daily fluctuations in cognitive resources will be described and their role for fluid intelligence and school achievement will be investigated at the group and at the individual level applying multilevel as well as time series analyses. The project is funded by IDeA. Cooperations exist with Prof. Martin Sliwinski (Penn State University, USA), Prof. Nilam Ram (Penn State University, USA), Prof. Bernhard Schmitz (TU Darmstadt) and Dr. Heiko Rölke and colleagues (Technology Based Assessment, DIPF).

Further information on the IDeA project – FLUX