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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
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Prefrontal activation may predict working-memory training gain in normal aging and mild cognitive impairment
Anouk Vermeij1,2, Roy P C Kessels1,3, Linda Heskamp2
1Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Brain Imaging and Behavior
|February 5, 2016
Summary
Cognitive training improved working memory (WM) performance in older adults and those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). A
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Gerontology
Background:
- Cognitive training enhances behavior in aging and mild cognitive impairment (MCI).
- Neural mechanisms and individual differences in cognitive plasticity remain unclear.
- Working memory (WM) training is a key intervention for cognitive enhancement.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate neural correlates of cognitive plasticity following WM training.
- Examine individual differences in responsiveness to cognitive training.
- Relate prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation patterns to behavioral outcomes and training gains.
Main Methods:
- 21 healthy older adults and 14 MCI patients underwent 5 weeks of adaptive computerized WM training.
- Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) measured hemodynamic responses in the PFC.
- A verbal n-back task assessed WM performance before and after training.
Main Results:
- Healthy older adults showed decreased PFC activation at high WM load post-training, suggesting increased efficiency.
- MCI patients improved behaviorally at low WM load, but showed no significant PFC activation changes.
- Stronger hemodynamic response at low WM load correlated with poorer performance; stronger response at high WM load correlated with greater training gain.
Conclusions:
- A 'youth-like' PFC activation pattern in older adults may predict better behavioral outcomes.
- Cognitive plasticity and training responsiveness vary individually.
- fNIRS can reveal neural changes associated with cognitive training in aging and MCI.
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