Working memory training improvements and gains in non-trained cognitive tasks in young and older adults

Heinzel, Stephan; Schulte, Stefanie; Onken, Johanna; Duong, Quynh-Lam; Riemer, Thomas; Heinz, Andreas; Kathmann, Norbert; Rapp, Michael A.

doi:10.1080/13825585.2013.790338

Cited by 113 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…To ensure comparability, only dual n-back studies were included in this training curve analysis (N = 20), although two studies were excluded because their session lengths were twice as long as those in most other studies and, thus, their training curves were deemed incomparable (Kundu, Sutterer, Emrich, & Postle, 2013;Thompson et al, 2013). There were not enough single n-back studies to perform a separate analysis: Of the seven single n-back training groups, four had incomplete information (Schwarb, 2012;Stephenson & Halpern, 2013), and one (Heinzel et al, 2014) was excluded due to a different adaptivity algorithm, leaving only two remaining studies, which we did not analyze.…”

Section: Codingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving Fluid Intelligence With Training on Working Memory: A Meta-Analysis

Au¹,

Sheehan²,

Tsai³

et al. 2014

PsycEXTRA Dataset

145

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Working memory (WM), the ability to store and manipulate information for short periods of time, is an important predictor of scholastic aptitude and a critical bottleneck underlying higher-order cognitive processes, including controlled attention and reasoning. Recent interventions targeting WM have suggested plasticity of the WM system by demonstrating improvements in both trained and untrained WM tasks. However, evidence on transfer of improved WM into more general cognitive domains such as fluid intelligence (Gf) has been more equivocal. Therefore, we conducted a metaanalysis focusing on one specific training program, n-back. We searched PubMed and Google Scholar for all n-back training studies with Gf outcome measures, a control group, and healthy participants between 18 and 50 years of age. In total, we included 20 studies in our analyses that met our criteria and found a small but significant positive effect of nback training on improving Gf. Several factors that moderate this transfer are identified and discussed. We conclude that short-term cognitive training on the order of weeks can result in beneficial effects in important cognitive functions as measured by laboratory tests.

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Section: Codingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving Fluid Intelligence With Training on Working Memory: A Meta-Analysis

Au¹,

Sheehan²,

Tsai³

et al. 2014

PsycEXTRA Dataset

145

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Several studies have reported that training-related increases in WM performance in older adults (Li et al, 2008;Richmond et al, 2011;Heinzel et al, 2013) go along with decreases in frontoparietal BOLD activation patterns (Erickson et al, 2007;Dahlin et al, 2008;Brehmer et al, 2011), but, to date, little is known about how functional brain activation patterns before training predict training-related behavioral WM plasticity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Aging is related to changes in brain structure and functioning (Raz et al, 2005;Greenwood, 2007;Reuter-Lorenz and Park, 2010;Grady, 2012), but a number of studies suggest that there are no clear associations between brain structure and behavioral task performance (Kaup et al, 2011;Salthouse, 2011;Bolandzadeh et al, 2012). Apparently, the brain has mechanisms to compensate to some extent for age-related neural decline.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Working Memory Load-Dependent Brain Response Predicts Behavioral Training Gains in Older Adults

et al. 2014

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In the domain of working memory (WM), a sigmoid-shaped relationship between WM load and brain activation patterns has been demonstrated in younger adults. It has been suggested that age-related alterations of this pattern are associated with changes in neural efficiency and capacity. At the same time, WM training studies have shown that some older adults are able to increase their WM performance through training. In this study, functional magnetic resonance imaging during an n-back WM task at different WM load levels was applied to compare blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) responses between younger and older participants and to predict gains in WM performance after a subsequent 12-session WM training procedure in older adults. We show that increased neural efficiency and capacity, as reflected by more "youth-like" brain response patterns in regions of interest of the frontoparietal WM network, were associated with better behavioral training outcome beyond the effects of age, sex, education, gray matter volume, and baseline WM performance. Furthermore, at low difficulty levels, decreases in BOLD response were found after WM training. Results indicate that both neural efficiency (i.e., decreased activation at comparable performance levels) and capacity (i.e., increasing activation with increasing WM load) of a WM-related network predict plasticity of the WM system, whereas WM training may specifically increase neural efficiency in older adults.

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“…Among the mediators studied so far, participants' age has been identified as an important factor that influences the training outcome. Single training studies suggested that the benefit of working memory trainings decreases with increasing age (e.g., Borella et al 2017;Brehmer et al 2012;Heinzel et al 2014;Zinke et al 2014). For example, Brehmer et al (2012) showed larger training improvements and near transfer effects in younger adults compared to older adults after 5 weeks of working memory training.…”

Section: Person-specific Influences On Working Memory Training Outcomesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving Older Adults’ Working Memory: the Influence of Age and Crystallized Intelligence on Training Outcomes

et al. 2017

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To counter age-related decline in cognitive abilities, interventions such as working memory trainings have shown some promising results in old age. Yet, findings are mixed and there is enormous interindividual variability in training and transfer effects. Thus, it is still an open question which person-specific factors may moderate training and transfer effects in working memory interventions in older adults. The present study investigated this issue in the context of an established verbal working memory training. Eighty-eight participants (age range 60-82 years) performed either four sessions of the Borella et al. (Psychology and Aging 25(4):767-778, 2010) working memory training or of a visual search training as active control condition or belonged to a passive control group. Before and after the training, participants performed a test battery to assess different cognitive abilities and everyday competence. Furthermore, we included questionnaires on personality factors and intrinsic motivation as possible covariates. The training group showed a substantial training gain in the working memory criterion task that was not found in the active control group. Furthermore, only participants of the working memory training showed also near transfer to another working memory task. No far transfer effects including everyday competence emerged. In terms of possible moderators, age and crystallized intelligence influenced the training and transfer gain in the training group. In conclusion, our results showed that working memory can be improved in older adults and improvements transfer to a nontrained working memory task. However, person-specific factors have to be considered to understand who benefits from the training and why.

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Working memory training improvements and gains in non-trained cognitive tasks in young and older adults

Cited by 113 publications

References 68 publications

Improving Fluid Intelligence With Training on Working Memory: A Meta-Analysis

Improving Fluid Intelligence With Training on Working Memory: A Meta-Analysis

Working Memory Load-Dependent Brain Response Predicts Behavioral Training Gains in Older Adults

Improving Older Adults’ Working Memory: the Influence of Age and Crystallized Intelligence on Training Outcomes

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