Explaining age differences in working memory: The role of updating, inhibition, and shifting.

Abstract

Working memory (WM) represents the capacity to store and process a limited amount of information. Better understanding developmental changes of WM forms a key topic in research on neuropsychology of aging. Previous studies reveal age-differences in WM and in executive functions (EFs). Although EFs are seen as essential mechanisms in WM, the specific relation between the two cognitive constructs so far remains unclear. The present study set out to investigate the unique roles of the three main facets of EFs (i.e., updating, inhibition, and shifting) in accounting for age-related variability in WM. Therefore, onehundred seventy-five younger and 107 older adults performed a battery of cognitive tests including measures of WM, EFs, and processing speed. A set of statistical approaches including regression analyses and path models was used to examine the cognitive correlates that could explain individual and age-related variance in WM. Significant age-differences were found on WM and on EF measures. Regression analyses and path models showed that updating and inhibition but not shifting played a major role in explaining age-related variance in WM. In sum, findings suggest that updating and inhibition are most influential for agedifferences in WM. They further show that age and processing speed do not significantly contribute to variability in WM performance beyond executive resource. The present findings have implications for conceptual and developmental theories of WM and may further offer an initial empirical basis for developing possible trainings to improve older adults' WM performance by strengthening the efficiency of updating and inhibitory processes.

Training Positive Rumination in Expressive Writing to Enhance Psychological Adjustment and Working Memory Updating for Maladaptive Ruminators

“…Working memory (WM) updating is a core component of WM and refers to one's ability to monitor and dynamically manipulate WM contents, to evaluate its relevance for the current task, and to replace it with newer, more relevant information (see Zuber et al, 2018). Theoretically, when individuals have deficits in WM updating, they could only process old information in WM because they are unable to update it.…”

Disrupted Neural Synchrony Mediates the Relationship between White Matter Integrity and Cognitive Performance in Older Adults

“…With aging, an overall decline in cognitive functioning has been observed, with memory and cognitive control being among the first domains to show reduced performance and the greatest changes during aging 1 . Cognitive control is strongly associated with quality of life and autonomy in the elderly 2 , and is usually tested with tasks that involve the active maintenance or updating of goalrelevant information in working memory (WM), and the suppression of competing goal-irrelevant information (inhibition 3,4,5 ). Despite an overall decline with age, cognitive function varies widely amongst older individuals.…”

Strategic encoding and retrieval processes in verbal recall among middle‐aged and older adults

“…The positive results for the updating and inhibition components have both theoretical and applied implications. Theoretically, their findings are consistent with the executive attention framework of memory ageing in that they highlight the role of these two processes in 'active memory maintenance and inhibitory control' (Zuber et al ., 2019, p. 201) and suggest that future research on these particular executive functions in relation to WM capacity would be valuable. With respect to applied implications, Zuber et al’s findings have applications for maintaining cognitive function and independent living, which is often the goal of focused WM training studies with older adults.…”