Long-term durability and transfer of enhanced conceptual performance in the elderly

To evaluate the durability and transfer of enhanced cognitive functioning in the elderly, subjects (ages 64 to 84) who had previously participated in a unidimensional concept identification study were tested on a bidimensional conjunctive concept identification problem. The conjunctive problem was administered approximately 12 mo after completion of the unidimensional study. In the earlier unidimensional study, substantial and equivalent improvement had been found with both a training group and a reinforced training group. In this study, efficient conjunctive problem solving was found with the (unidimensional) training group, showing that enhanced cognitive performance can be durable and transfer to a similar task. Durability and trasnfer were not observed with the (unidimensional) reinforced training group, however, a finding that appears to have resulted from the extrinsic reinforcement token system employed in the unidimensional training with that group.