Effects of working memory training in young and old adults

Many cognitive abilities, including working memory and reasoning ability, decline with progressing age. In this study, we investigated whether four weeks of intensive working memory training would enhance working memory and reasoning performance in an age-comparative setting. Groups of 34 young (19–36 years) and 27 older (62–77 years) adults practiced tasks representing the three functional categories in the facet model of working memory capacity: storage and processing, relational integration, and supervision. The data were compared to those of a young and an old active control group who practiced tasks with low working memory demands. A cognitive test battery measuring near and far transfer was administered before and after training. Both age groups showed increased working memory performance in the trained tasks and in one structurally similar, but nontrained, task. Young adults also improved in a task measuring word-position binding in working memory. However, we found no far transfer to reasoning in either age group. The results provide evidence that working memory performance can be improved throughout the life span. However, in contrast to a previous study in which each facet of working memory capacity was trained separately, the present study showed that training multiple functional categories simultaneously induces less transfer.     

Executive process training in young and old adults

There is a growing body of research on the modifiability of executive functions in different stages of life. Previous studies demonstrate robust training effects but limited transfer in younger and particularly in older adults. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether a theoretically derived intervention for executive functioning, addressing several basic processes (updating, shifting, and inhibition), can induce transfer effects in early and late adulthood. Fifty-nine healthy adults, 29 young and 30 older adults, were randomly assigned to either training or no-contact control groups. The training groups received 15 sessions of executive process training for about 45 min/session during 5 weeks. A test battery including a criterion task and near, intermediate, and far transfer tasks was administered before and after training. Results showed pronounced age-equivalent gains on the criterion task. Near transfer was seen to non-trained updating and inhibition tasks for the young and older trained participants. However, only the young adults showed intermediate transfer to two complex working memory tasks. No far transfer effects were seen for either age group. These findings provide additional evidence for age-related constraints in the ability to generalize acquired executive skills, and specifically show that training of multiple executive processes is not sufficient to foster transfer beyond the very near in older adults.     

Age-specific differences of dual n-back training

Age-related decline in executive functions can be decisive in performing everyday tasks autonomously. Working memory (WM) is closely related to executive functions, and training of WM has yielded evidence toward cognitive plasticity in older adults. The training effects often transfer to untrained tasks and functions. These effects have mostly been shown in processes such as WM and attention, whereas studies investigating transfer to executive functions have been scarce. We trained older adults aged 57–73 years in a WM training task that was reported to be effective in producing transfer in young adults. The training intervention consisted of a dual n-back task including independently processed auditory and visual n-back tasks. We investigated transfer to tasks engaging executive functions, and compared the effects in older adults to those reported in young adults. We found that both training groups improved in the training task. Although the training effect in older adults was smaller than the training effect in young adults, the older adults still showed a notable improvement so that after training they performed on the same level as young adults without training. The older adults also showed transfer to an untrained WM updating task, a result that was in accordance with the findings in young adults; other transfer effects in older adults were lacking. We conclude that although transfer effects were scarce, the present study provides encouraging evidence toward the possibilities to compensate for age-related decline in executive functions by a WM training intervention.     

Does working memory training have to be adaptive?

This study tested the common assumption that, to be most effective, working memory (WM) training should be adaptive (i.e., task difficulty is adjusted to individual performance). Indirect evidence for this assumption stems from studies comparing adaptive training to a condition in which tasks are practiced on the easiest level of difficulty only [cf. Klingberg (Trends Cogn Sci 14:317–324, 2010)], thereby, however, confounding adaptivity and exposure to varying task difficulty. For a more direct test of this hypothesis, we randomly assigned 130 young adults to one of the three WM training procedures (adaptive, randomized, or self-selected change in training task difficulty) or to an active control group. Despite large performance increases in the trained WM tasks, we observed neither transfer to untrained structurally dissimilar WM tasks nor far transfer to reasoning. Surprisingly, neither training nor transfer effects were modulated by training procedure, indicating that exposure to varying levels of task difficulty is sufficient for inducing training gains.     

How useful is executive control training? Age differences in near and far transfer of task‐switching training

Although executive functions can be improved by training, little is known about the extent to which these training‐related benefits can be transferred to other tasks, or whether this transfer can be modulated by the type of training. This study investigated lifespan changes in near transfer of task‐switching training to structurally similar tasks and its modulation by verbal self‐instructions and variable training, as well as far transfer to structurally dissimilar ‘executive’ tasks and fluid intelligence. Three age groups (8–10; 18–26; 62–76 years of age) were examined in a pretest‐training‐posttest design. We found near transfer of task‐switching training in all age groups, especially in children and older adults. Near transfer was enhanced in adults and impaired in children when training tasks were variable. We also found substantial far transfer to other executive tasks and fluid intelligence in all age groups, pointing to the transfer of relatively general executive control abilities after training.     

Experimental Evaluation of Near‐ and Far‐Transfer Effects of an Adaptive Multicomponent Working Memory Training

An important question in cognitive science today is whether working memory training leads to transfer effects. Training studies reported no transfer as well as far transfer to untrained abilities (e.g., reasoning), but different methodological problems have not allowed reliable conclusions to be drawn. Furthermore, most samples have consisted of young adults, whereas older adults have rarely been included. This study attempted to address these limitations. Ninety‐one older adults were randomly assigned to a training group or an active or passive control group. Short‐term memory, speed, and reasoning were assessed as far‐transfer criteria. In addition, transfer to everyday life was investigated using an ambulatory assessment method. Although there were significant training effects, no transfer effects were found. Instead, the active control group showed the same increase in the near‐transfer tasks (i.e., working memory) as the experimental group indicating that unspecific factors explain the training gains of older adults. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The influence of training task stimuli on transfer effects of working memory training in aging

IntroductionWorking memory (WM) training is known to produce benefits in older adults’ WM. Transfer effects to untrained abilities, however, remain controversial and several aspects are thought to influence the generalization of benefits, including the kind of stimuli used in the training tasks, an aspect rarely addressed in older adults.ObjectiveThe present study had two aims: (1) to test the efficacy of a visuospatial WM training procedure in older adults, in terms of specific and transfer effects; (2) to examine in two experiments whether the type of stimuli used in the training task influences the training's effectiveness. Experiment 1 adopted images with a neutral valence while experiment 2 used emotionally positive images based on evidence that older adults tend to remember positive stimuli better. In both experiments, specific training-related gains in a visuospatial WM task (the criterion task) and transfer effects on measures of verbal WM, visuospatial short-term memory, processing speed and reasoning were examined. Maintenance of training benefits was also assessed at an 8-month follow-up.MethodSeventy older adult (63–75 years old) volunteers (35 for experiment 1, and 35 for experiment 2) were randomly assigned to a training or active control group. The same visuospatial WM training procedure was used in both experiments, manipulating only the type of stimuli used (neutral in experiment 1 and emotionally positive in experiment 2).ResultsIn both experiments, only trained participants showed specific benefits in the WM criterion task. These gains were also maintained at the follow-up, but no transfer effects were identified.ConclusionOverall, our findings using the present visuospatial WM training paradigm suggest that it is less effective, in terms of transfer effects, than the same paradigm administered verbally in a previous study, regardless of the type of stimuli used in WM training tasks (neutral or emotionally positive stimuli).     

任务结构相似性对工作记忆训练迁移效应的影响

研究发现,个体的工作记忆能力通过训练可以提高。但是,目前对于工作记忆训练的迁移效应,尚未有统一的结论。本文通过梳理相关研究,发现训练任务与评估迁移效应任务之间的结构相似性会对迁移效应产生影响。结构相似性即训练任务和未训练任务之间共享加工和加工程序,而这个共享加工和加工程序能通过发展相似的策略实现工作记忆训练的迁移。今后研究应该更加注意以往研究设计中的不足,针对不同群体的工作记忆训练效果的机制分别进行研究。     

Future thinking instructions improve prospective memory performance in adolescents

Studies on prospective memory (PM) development in adolescents point to age-related increases through to adulthood. The goal of the present study was to examine whether instructing adolescents to engage in an episodic prospection of themselves executing future actions (i.e., future thinking) when forming an intention would improve their PM performance and reduce age-related differences. Further, we set out to explore whether future thinking instructions result in stronger memory traces and/or stronger cue–context associations by evaluating retrospective memory for the PM cues after task completion and monitoring costs during PM task processing. Adolescents and young adults were allocated to either the future thinking, repeated-encoding or standard condition. As expected, adolescents had fewer correct PM responses than young adults. Across age groups, PM performance in the standard condition was lower than in the other encoding conditions. Importantly, the results indicate a significant interaction of age by encoding condition. While adolescents benefited most from future thinking instructions, young adults performed best in the repeated-encoding condition. The results also indicate that the beneficial effects of future thinking may result from deeper intention-encoding through the simulation of future task performance.     

The rise and decline of prospective memory performance across the lifespan

In the present study, the trajectory of prospective memory across the lifespan was investigated in a total of 200 participants from five age groups (4- to 6-year-old children, 13- to 14-year-old adolescents, 19- to 26-year-old adults, 55- to 65-year-old adults, and 65- to 75-year-old adults). In an event-based prospective memory task the prospective and the retrospective components were assessed separately. For the prospective component, the results showed better performance for adolescents and young adults than for children and 65- to 75-year-old adults. In addition, participants belonging to the latter group were more likely to forget the retrospective component after having noticed the prospective memory targets. Overall, these results indicate that across the lifespan prospective memory performance follows a similar inverted u-shape function as is well known for retrospective episodic memory.     

The rise and decline of prospective memory performance across the lifespan

In the present study, the trajectory of prospective memory across the lifespan was investigated in a total of 200 participants from five age groups (4- to 6-year-old children, 13- to 14-year-old adolescents, 19- to 26-year-old adults, 55- to 65-year-old adults, and 65- to 75-year-old adults). In an event-based prospective memory task the prospective and the retrospective components were assessed separately. For the prospective component, the results showed better performance for adolescents and young adults than for children and 65- to 75-year-old adults. In addition, participants belonging to the latter group were more likely to forget the retrospective component after having noticed the prospective memory targets. Overall, these results indicate that across the lifespan prospective memory performance follows a similar inverted u-shape function as is well known for retrospective episodic memory.     

The age prospective memory paradox: young adults may not give their best outside of the lab

Previous research has identified the age prospective memory paradox of age-related declines in laboratory settings in contrast to age benefits in naturalistic settings. Various factors are assumed to account for this paradox, yet empirical evidence on this issue is scarce. In 2 experiments, the present study examined the effect of task setting in a laboratory task and the effect of motivation in a naturalistic task on prospective memory performance in young and older adults. For the laboratory task (Experiment 1, n = 40), we used a board game to simulate a week of daily activities and varied features of the prospective memory task (e.g., task regularity). For the naturalistic task (Experiment 2, n = 80), we instructed participants to try to remember to contact the experimenter repeatedly over the course of 1 week. Results from the laboratory prospective memory tasks indicated significant age-related decline for irregular tasks (p = .006) but not for regular and focal tasks. In addition, in the naturalistic task, the age benefit was eliminated when young adults were motivated by incentives (F < 1). In conclusion, the present results indicate that the variability of age differences in laboratory prospective memory tasks may be due in part to differences in the features of the prospective memory task. Furthermore, increases in motivation to perform the prospective task seem to help remedy prospective memory deficits in young adults in the naturalistic setting.     

Developmental Trends in False Memory Across Adolescence and Young Adulthood: A Comparison of DRM and Memory Conformity Paradigms

Little is known about the reliability of eyewitness memory among adolescents as most memory research has focused primarily on adults and young children. A number of studies recently have emerged outlining conditions where memory suggestibility increases from early childhood to adulthood. These developmental reversals are found in semantic association tasks such as the Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) paradigm and have not yet been thoroughly investigated among adolescents. In the current study, we examined DRM performance among 11–21 year olds (N = 245). Extending the work comparing children and adults, false memory on the DRM task increased with age. False memory on the DRM task was not associated with false memory on a memory conformity task. The different memory processes involved with the tasks and the implications for legal psychology are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Near‐ and Far‐Transfer Effects of Working Memory Updating Training in Elderly Adults

Age‐related declines in working memory, especially with regard to updating ability, affect many high‐level aspects of cognition in elderly adults. Recent studies have demonstrated that training might improve working memory. We investigated the effects of 20 days of adaptive training of working memory updating in healthy elderly adults. Comparing the performance on cognitive function tests before and after training in a trained group and a non‐trained group, significant positive training effects were observed in a numerical updating task and a digit‐span test, but not in a non‐verbal reasoning test. The results suggest beneficial effects of working memory updating training to working memory tasks that use different content material and task formats than those used during training. However, confirming the results of previous studies, transfer effects to other higher order cognitive processes seem to be absent in elderly adults. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Age Differences in Multiple Outcome Measures of Time-Based Prospective Memory

ABSTRACT

This study examined time-based prospective memory performance in relation to age, monitoring strategy, response accuracy, and dual-task demands. Young, middle-aged and older adults (N?=?115) completed a prospective memory task, in which they indicated the passing of time every 5 min while listening to a short story (low task demands) or completing a series of cognitive tasks (high task demands). Young and older adults showed similar patterns of monitoring behavior, with low rates of clock checking during the early phase of each 5-min interval, followed by linearly accelerating monitoring functions. However, to obtain the same level of prospective memory performance older adults needed more frequent clock checks than young adults. Furthermore, older adults' compensatory monitoring strategy was associated with an additional cost in primary task performance. Finally, increased primary task demands shifted age differences in prospective memory from monitoring frequency to response accuracy. These findings suggest that goal-directed behavior requires efficient task coordination and resource allocation, and that age-related differences in time-based prospective memory should be evaluated by using multiple outcome measures.     

Prospective memory, emotional valence and ageing

Emotional factors have been found to be an important influence on memory. The current study investigated the influence of emotional salience and age on a laboratory measure of prospective memory (PM); Virtual Week. Thirty young and 30 old adults completed Virtual Week, in which the emotional salience of the tasks at encoding was manipulated to be positive, negative or neutral in content. For event-based, but not time-based tasks, positivity enhancement in both age groups was seen, with a greater number of positive PM tasks being performed relative to neutral tasks. There was no negativity enhancement effect. Older adults showed generally poorer levels of PM, but they also demonstrated greater beneficial effects of positive valence compared to young. These effects of emotion on PM accuracy do not appear to reflect the retrospective component of the task as a different pattern of emotion effects was seen on the recall of PM content. Results indicate that older adults' difficulties in prospective remembering can be reduced where the tasks to be remembered are positive.     

Prospective memory and ageing paradox with event-based tasks: A study of young,young-old,and old-old participants

Research on ageing and prospective memory—remembering to do something in the future—has resulted in paradoxical findings, whereby older adults are often impaired in the laboratory but perform significantly better than younger adults in naturalistic settings. Nevertheless, there are very few studies that have examined prospective memory both in and outside the laboratory using the same sample of young and old participants. Moreover, most naturalistic studies have used time-based tasks, and it is unclear whether the prospective memory and ageing paradox extends to event-based tasks. In this study, 72 young (18–30 years), 79 young-old (61–70 years), and 72 old-old (71–80 years) participants completed several event-based tasks in and outside the laboratory. Results showed that the ageing paradox does exist for event-based tasks but manifests itself differently from that in time-based tasks. Thus, younger adults outperformed old-old participants in two laboratory event-based tasks, but there were no age effects for a naturalistic task completed at home (remembering to write the date and time in the upper left corner of a questionnaire). The young and old-old also did not differ in remembering to retrieve a wristwatch from a pocket at the end of the laboratory session. This indicates that the paradox may be due to differences in ongoing task demands in the lab and everyday life, rather than the location per se. The findings call for a concentrated effort towards a theory of cognitive ageing that identifies the variables that do, or do not, account for this paradox.     

记忆训练对改善少年、青年和老年人认知功能的作用

本工作采用“位置法”(method of loci)对24例少年、24例青年和22例老年被试进行了记忆训练研究。以毕生发展的观点比较认知训练对改善不同年龄人记忆的作用,进而探讨发展的认知功能储备能量的年龄差异和训练的迁移效应。结果表明认知干预措施可在一定程度上改善老年人的记忆,同时也显示了在发展的储能和对图形的迁移效应方面,老年人明显不如青、少年,而青年与少年则彼此相近。     

Prospective memory and aging: The effects of working memory and prospective memory task load

Abstract

A person's level of engagement in other actions may influence whether a prospective action is correctly performed. This study used a computerized prospective memory task in which participants remembered to perform an action when a specified background pattern appeared while they simultaneously performed a verbal working memory task. Amount of engagement in the working memory task was manipulated by increasing the number of words to be recalled. Prospective memory load was manipulated by varying the number of prospective targets. Older adults performed more poorly than younger adults on the prospective memory task under higher working memory load and also higher prospective load. Participants with lower working memory load performed better on the prospective task, regardless of age. There were no significant age differences in the absolute accuracy of performance postdictions (post experiment performance awareness). Age differences were also found with a second prospective memory task in which participants were told to write the day of the week (DOW) on the top of answer sheets for tasks performed later in the experiment. No significant correlations were observed between the two prospective memory tasks for either age group.     

The effects of short-term L2 training on components of executive control in Indian bilinguals

This study investigated whether a short training (8 weeks) in the second-language (English) has any facilitative effect on components of executive functions in young adults. A pre-post design was used with two groups of participants: one group (experimental group) of students received English language training for eight weeks, and another group (control group) matched on age and background did not. Executive function tasks (Flanker, Stroop, and color-shape switching task) along with the object naming and working memory tasks were administered before and after the training. We observed that the experimental group demonstrated significant improvement in task switching, working memory capacity, and language skills. Findings from the study provide evidence that short training in second-language can enhance some components of executive functions besides improving language skills in young adult students. This finding contributes to a better understanding of language training and executive function among young adult bilinguals.