Consideration of Individual Differences in Cognitive Interventions for Children at Risk for Poverty

Abstract

Evidence of the cognitive interventions in poverty shows changes in a variety of self- regulatory and executive processing measures. Nevertheless, these studies present inconclusive outcomes involving methodological and theoretical questions, among other issues such as small effect sizes or difficulties in the transference to untrained processes. An aspect that could mediate the impact of cognitive interventions could be related to inter- and intra-individual differences in the studied samples. Furthermore, the interaction between intervention approaches and these unique individual characteristics could also lead to differential outcomes. Considering individual factors such as age, temperament, baseline cognitive performance, and socioeconomic status in the design of the interventions could be a fruitful approach for improving cognitive intervention outcomes. In the present chapter, we review the theoretical and practical implications of individual differences in the task’s performance. Finally, we highlight recent efforts on addressing some of these issues in innovative approaches in a sample of Argentine preschoolers from different sociodemographic context.