Effects of working memory and attentional control training and their transfer onto fluid intelligence in early and late adulthood

Zając-Lamparska, Ludmiła; Trempała, Janusz

doi:10.5114/hpr.2016.56846

Cited by 19 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 59 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In the broader training literature, younger adults often improve more than older adults ( Bürki et al, 2014 ; Heinzel et al, 2014 ; Li et al, 2008 ; Zinke et al, 2014 )—but gains of similar magnitude on trained tasks in younger and older adults are also sometimes observed (e.g., Bürki et al, 2014 ; Li et al, 2008 ; Richmond et al, 2011 ; von Bastian et al, 2013 ; Zając-Lamparska & Trempała, 2016 ). However, training of executive functions appeared to yield greater training-related benefits in older than in younger adults (e.g., see Karbach & Kray, 2016 ; Kray & Lindenberger, 2000 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategy mediation in working memory training in younger and older adults

Forsberg

Fellman

Laine

et al. 2020

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Working memory (WM) training with the N-Back task has been argued to improve cognitive capacity and general cognitive abilities (the Capacity Hypothesis of training), although several studies have shown little or no evidence for such improvements beyond tasks that are very similar to the trained task. Laine et al. demonstrated that instructing young adult participants to use a specific visualisation strategy for N-back training resulted in clear, generalised benefits from only 30 min of training (Strategy Mediation Hypothesis of training). Here, we report a systematic replication and extension of the Laine et al. study, by administering 60 younger and 60 older participants a set of WM tasks before and after a 30-min N-back training session. Half the participants were instructed to use a visualisation strategy, the others received no instruction. The pre-post test battery encompassed a criterion task (digit N-back), two untrained tasks N-back tasks (letters and colours), and three structurally different WM tasks. The instructed visualisation strategy significantly boosted at least some measures of N-back performance in participants of both age groups, although the strategy generally appeared more difficult to implement and less beneficial for older adults. However, the strategy did not improve performance on structurally different WM tasks. We also found significant associations between N-back performance and the type and level of detail of self-generated strategies in the uninstructed participants, as well as age group differences in reported strategy types. WM performance appeared to partly reflect the application of strategies, and Strategy Mediation should be considered to understand the mechanisms of WM training. Claims of efficient training should demonstrate useful improvement beyond task-specific strategies.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategy mediation in working memory training in younger and older adults

Forsberg

Fellman

Laine

et al. 2020

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In the literature, not only the dynamics of progression of impairments are stressed as important, but also the kind of cognitive dysfunctions. In particular, impaired delayed associative memory at baseline can be a potential predictor indicating a high risk of conversion to dementia [ 7 , 33 , 34 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neuropsychiatric symptoms and faster progression of cognitive impairments as predictors of risk of conversion of mild cognitive impairment to dementia

Bidzan

Bidzan²,

Bidzan-Bluma

2017

aoms

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

IntroductionThe aim of this research, based on 7 years of observations, was to assess the relationship between the dynamics of changes in the realm of cognitive functions in the early stages of observations and the presence of neuropsychiatric symptoms as well as further progression of cognitive function impairments in people diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).Material and methodsOne hundred and ninety three individuals were included in the study, all of whom referred themselves to the Mental Health Clinic and were diagnosed with MCI based on the criteria of the Working Group on MCI. It was assumed that these individuals would be subjected to systematic psychiatric and neuropsychological observation until they were diagnosed with dementia. This report concerns a completed 7-year period of these observations. Participants were assessed based on the following scales: MMSE, NPI and GDS.ResultsThe obtained results indicate statistically significant differences between groups of subjects at the time of inclusion in the study, regarding the frequency of occurrence and severity of the following categories of impairments: thought impairments (p < 0.001), arousal/aggression (p < 0.001), depression/dysphoria (p < 0.001), disinhibition (p < 0.03), irritability/lability (p < 0.001), abnormal motor behaviors (p < 0.02), as well as sleep and night-time behavior disorders (p < 0.01) Moreover, individuals who developed dementia during observation exhibited greater progression in cognitive function impairment assessed with the MMSE scale in the first year of observation (p < 0.01).ConclusionsThe accruing of cognitive function impairments and the presence of neuropsychiatric symptoms seem to be important risk factors for the development of dementia.

show abstract

“…As concerns specific training gains (i.e., in the criterion tasks), as shown in Table 1 , mixed results were found: comparable benefits in young and older adults in tasks strictly similar to those used in the training were obtained in five studies (Li et al, 2008 ; Richmond et al, 2011 ; von Bastian et al, 2013 ; Bürki et al, 2014 ; Zając-Lamparska and Trempała, 2016 ); three studies showed greater improvements in young than in older adults (Dahlin et al, 2008 ; Heinzel et al, 2014 ; Salminem et al, 2015 ); one study obtained mixed results with age-related differences for some criterion tasks but not for others (Brehmer et al, 2012 ); two studies showed that older adults reached the young adults' baseline performance level on the WM criterion tasks immediately after the training-i.e., at the post-test assessment-(Li et al, 2008 ; Salminem et al, 2015 ), and one study found that older adults exceeded the young participants' baseline performance in the criterion task.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Working Memory Training for Healthy Older Adults: The Role of Individual Characteristics in Explaining Short- and Long-Term Gains

Borella

Carbone

Pastore

et al. 2017

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective: The aim of the present study was to explore whether individual characteristics such as age, education, vocabulary, and baseline performance in a working memory (WM) task—similar to the one used in the training (criterion task)—predict the short- and long-term specific gains and transfer effects of a verbal WM training for older adults.Method: Four studies that adopted the Borella et al. (2010) verbal WM training procedure were found eligible for our analysis as they included: healthy older adults who attended either the training sessions (WM training group), or alternative activities (active control group); the same measures for assessing specific gains (on the criterion WM task), and transfer effects (nearest on a visuo-spatial WM task, near on short-term memory tasks and far on a measure of fluid intelligence, a measure of processing speed and two inhibitory measures); and a follow-up session.Results: Linear mixed models confirmed the overall efficacy of the training, in the short-term at least, and some maintenance effects. In the trained group, the individual characteristics considered were found to contribute (albeit only modestly in some cases) to explaining the effects of the training.Conclusions: Overall, our findings suggest the importance of taking individual characteristics and individual differences into account when examining WM training gains in older adults.

show abstract

Effects of working memory and attentional control training and their transfer onto fluid intelligence in early and late adulthood

Cited by 19 publications

References 59 publications

Strategy mediation in working memory training in younger and older adults

Strategy mediation in working memory training in younger and older adults

Neuropsychiatric symptoms and faster progression of cognitive impairments as predictors of risk of conversion of mild cognitive impairment to dementia

Working Memory Training for Healthy Older Adults: The Role of Individual Characteristics in Explaining Short- and Long-Term Gains

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About