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Working Memory Training for Older Participants: A Control Group Training Regimen and Initial Intellectual Functioning Assessment
Published on: September 20, 2020
Memory updating practice across 100 days in the COGITO study.
Yee Lee Shing1, Florian Schmiedek, Martin Lövdén
1Center for Life Span Psychology, Max Planck Institutefor Human Development, Berlin, Germany. yshing@mpib-berlin.mpg.de
Psychology and Aging
|October 13, 2011
Summary
Older adults show poorer working memory updating than younger adults, even after extensive practice. Training with slower presentation times may yield better gains for older adults in working memory tasks.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Human Development
Background:
- Working memory updating is crucial for cognitive function.
- Age-related declines in working memory are well-documented.
- Understanding practice effects in working memory is vital for interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare working memory updating performance between younger and older adults.
- To examine the impact of a 100-day practice intervention on working memory updating.
- To investigate how presentation time during practice influences training gains.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study design with pretest, during-practice, and posttest assessments.
- Working memory updating task performance analyzed using a negatively accelerated logistic function.
- Comparison of performance metrics (asymptotes, slopes) between age groups and practice conditions.
Main Results:
- Older adults demonstrated lower performance asymptotes compared to younger adults at pretest and posttest.
- Older adults exhibited shallower performance slopes at pretest, indicating initial deficits.
- Older adults practicing with fast presentation times showed smaller improvements than those practicing with slow presentation times.
Conclusions:
- Extensive practice can improve working memory updating, but age-related differences persist.
- The strategy employed during practice, influenced by presentation time, affects training outcomes in older adults.
- Findings inform the design of age-specific working memory training programs.
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