Peer-reviewed trial shows a 12-hour Working Memory training program strongly impacts students' academic trajectories – resulting in much higher admission rates to advanced schools. The program is now publicly available via the app Nuroe.
STOCKHOLM, June 24, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- A major new study published in the Journal of Political Economy has found that a Working Memory training program — now available to families through the app Nuroe — significantly improves children's focus, IQ, and long-term academic outcomes, outperforming additional classroom instruction.
Led by renowned economist Dr. Ernst Fehr at the University of Zurich, the study followed 572 schoolchildren over three years. Those who completed the training at ages 6–7 not only improved their cognitive and academic skills, but were 50% more likely to be admitted to academically advanced secondary schools — paving the way for higher university degrees and professional attainment.
"I was surprised by the breadth of benefits, not just for working memory and closely related academic subjects. Even broader capacities such as IQ and self-control improved. Also, those benefits compounded over time, culminating in a very significant real-world educational outcome three years after the intervention," says Professor Torkel Klingberg of Karolinska Institute. He is the neuroscientist who designed the intervention, yet was not involved in the study, guaranteeing its independence and rigor.
The intervention has until recently only been available to universities and clinics but has now been released to the public as the app Nuroe. Unlike typical brain-training apps that offer a broad mix of loosely connected tasks, Nuroe is centered entirely on Working Memory — the core skill that drives learning, problem-solving, and mental focus. The program takes what research has consistently shown to be one of the most important cognitive capacities and trains it with intensity, intention, and efficiency.
"We're not talking about another generic educational app," says Hoa Ly, Nuroe CEO and co-founder. "Nuroe is the only app whose exact training protocol has been validated in over 120 peer-reviewed studies — including this landmark new one. Our mission at Nuroe is to make the science of working memory training accessible, engaging, and actionable for families everywhere — helping children build the mental tools they need to thrive in a fast-changing world."
Just 15–20 minutes a day over 8–10 weeks is enough to yield lasting improvements in attention, self-discipline, IQ, and school performance. That's fewer than 12 hours total — making it one of the most efficient and effective interventions available to families today.
"That 12 hours of anything — in this case, working memory training — can result in such substantial upskilling of students offers enormous Return on Investment and significant hope in the era of AI and rapid change," said Álvaro Fernández, neuroscience market expert and investor in Nuroe. "This is one of the highest-ROI interventions I've seen in my 15+ years in this space."
Nuroe is now available globally for families via the App Store and Google Play. The app is designed for children aged 6–18 and is free to test for 14 days.
Why It Matters
Across the developed world, kids are falling behind — fast. In OECD countries, academic performance in reading, math, and science has declined steadily — with recent drops equivalent to nearly a full year of lost learning, according to PISA data. At the same time, attention spans are shrinking dramatically. Research by Dr. Gloria Mark shows that the average time we stay focused on a task has fallen by over 70% — from 150 seconds in 2004 to just 47 seconds today.
Nuroe offers a scientifically validated, time-efficient way to bridge that gap. By strengthening the brain's core learning system — Working Memory — through just 15–20 minutes of daily training, Nuroe helps build the mental clarity, adaptability, and focus today's children need to thrive.
As the World Economic Forum's Summer Davos, in Tianjin June 23-26th, convenes to discuss upskilling for the future, tools like Nuroe show that strengthening core cognition is not just possible — it's essential.
A few facts about Working Memory
- Working memory is the capacity to hold information actively in mind while using it. This is a very fundamental ability to be able to perform any type of mental operation: Thinking in several steps, solving a mathematical problem, evaluating different options, etc.
- Working memory capacity accounts for up to 60% of the variation in academic performance across school subjects. This means a child's working memory is often a stronger predictor of success than IQ, especially in early school years. (Gathercole et al., 2004)
- A 12-hour Working Memory program can improve core learning and cognition by a full school year. In a long-term study of 572 children, those who completed a 12-hour Working Memory training program experienced a 20–25% improvement in working memory and other benefits comparable to one full year of math instruction in developing cognition. (Berger et al., 2025, Journal of Political Economy)
About the study:
The study was led by: Ernst Fehr, Professor at University of Zurich.
Editor of the article: James Heckman, Professor at the University of Chicago. Heckman is a Nobel Prize–winning economist known for his work on human capital, early childhood development, and econometrics.
How the study was done:
- 31 classes of first grade students in Mainz, Germany (572 children, 6-7 years old) were randomized (between classes and within schools) into two groups.
- The training group, 15 classes (279 children), completed 5 weeks of working memory training using software from Nuroe — here named Cogmed Working Memory Training (30 minutes per day, 5 days per week). The training was completed in place of a typically scheduled morning class period, either mathematics or German.
- The control group, 16 classes (293 children), had their regularly scheduled mathematics or German language classes.
- The students were assessed on mathematics, reading, IQ, and ratings of self-control at baseline, immediately after, and 6 and 12 months after the intervention.
- The researchers found significant increases in performance among the treated children, with some of the gains being strongest 12-13 months after the intervention.
- Three years after the intervention researchers found that the trained children had 50% higher chances than the population average to enter the academic track in secondary school — 46% instead of the 30%
Link to study: The Impact of Working-Memory Training on Children's Cognitive and Noncognitive Skills
App Availability
Nuroe is available for immediate download via:
About Nuroe
Nuroe is a Working Memory training app that helps children build focus, boost IQ, and improve academic performance—validated by more than 25 years of neuroscience and 120+ peer-reviewed publications. Designed by world-leading researchers, Nuroe brings science out of the lab and into the hands of families.
Media Contact
Hoa Ly, Nuroe, 46 702756537, [email protected], https://nuroe.com/
SOURCE Nuroe
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