A theoretical framework for the study of adult cognitive plasticity.

Lövdén, Martin; Bäckman, Lars; Lindenberger, Ulman; Schaefer, Sabine; Schmiedek, Florian

doi:10.1037/a0020080

Cited by 651 publications

(630 citation statements)

References 194 publications

(312 reference statements)

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“…The recent review, together with others (e.g., Hertzog et al, 2009;Lövdén et al, 2010;Noack et al, 2009;Klingberg, 2010;Shipstead et al, 2010;, revealed that some transfer is typically observed with training procedures targeting working memory, executive functioning, general cognitive ability, and other constructs. However, the validity of positive transfer depends on both theoretical and methodological considerations.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…This question is related to the old issue of separating task-specific from task-general effects of training (e.g. Baltes & Lindenberger, 1988;Lövdén et al, 2010). One way to answer this question is to try to determine and evaluate the distance of transfer tasks (Barnett & Ceci, 2002;Noack et al, 2009;Zelinski, 2009;cf.…”

Section: Generality Of Transfermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Then, multiple heterogeneous transfer tasks (i.e., implementing different paradigms and tapping into different content dimensions) must be sampled from the theoretically determined task space (Little, Lindenberger, & Nesselroade, 1999;Lövdén et al, 2010). Finally, the appropriate analytic methods, such as structural equation modeling that forms a latent factor representing the common variance among its indicators, must be used (e.g., McArdle & Nesselroade, 1994;McArdle, 2009).…”

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confidence: 99%

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On the validity and generality of transfer effects in cognitive training research

Noack

Lövdén

Schmiedek

2014

Psychological Research

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107

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Generality Of Transfermentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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On the validity and generality of transfer effects in cognitive training research

Noack

Lövdén

Schmiedek

2014

Psychological Research

Self Cite

107

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“…Rather, the present data set suggests that exposing participants to varying levels of difficulty is sufficient for challenging the flexibility of the cognitive system by exceeding routine demands (cf. Lövden, et al, 2010) and thereby inducing performance improvements.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does working memory training have to be adaptive?

Bastian

Eschen

2015

Psychological Research

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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. Can fluid cognitive abilities such as working memory (WM) and reasoning be improved through computer-based WM training? This is a highly controversial question, with prior empirical studies (for reviews, see Morrison & Chein, 2011;von Bastian & Oberauer, 2014) and meta-analyses (Au et al., in press;Karbach & Verhaeghen, 2014;Lampit, Hallock, & Valenzuela, 2014;Melby-Lervåg & Hulme, 2013) providing contradictory findings. Although multiple previous studies revealed promising effects (e.g., Jaeggi, Buschkuehl, Jonides, & Perrig, 2008;Jaeggi, Buschkuehl, Shah, & Jonides, 2014;Jaeggi et al., 2010; Klingberg et al., 2005;Schweizer, Hampshire, & Dalgleish, 2011;Stepankova et al., 2014;, a growing number of other WM training interventions failed to induce such broad transfer (e.g., Chein & Morrison, 2010;Chooi & Thompson, 2012;Colom et al., 2013;Harrison et al., 2013;Redick et al., 2013;Salminen, Strobach, & Schubert, 2012; Sprenger et al., 2013;Thompson et al., 2013;von Bastian, Langer, Jäncke, & Oberauer, 2013). The factors contributing to the success of WM training interventions in terms of improving WM and reasoning are still unclear (see von Bastian & Oberauer, 2014), and large variations (and, in some occasions, serious flaws) in the methodologies and training regimens used complicate comparisons across studies (cf. Shipstead, Redick, & Engle, 2012), and thus the identification of such factors. Therefore, before we can conclude whether and under which circumstances WM training can induce transfer, carefully controlled, systematic investigations of factors potentially contributing to training effectiveness are needed.In theory, cognitive plasticity occurs if there is a "prolonged mismatch between functional organismic supplies and environmental demands" (Lövden, Bäckman, Lindenberger, Schaefer, & Schmiedek, 2010, p. 659). According to Lövden and colleagues (2010), this mismatch occurs if the environmental demands exceed the routine demands the cognitiv...

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“…OLM training may also be particularly successful in older adults because OLM relies heavily on the hippocampus (for a meta-analysis see Kessels, de Haan, Kappelle, & Postma, 2001; for reviews see Burgess, 2008;Postma, Kessels, & van Asselen, 2008), one of the most plastic brain regions up into old age (Goh & Park, 2009;Lövdén et al, 2010). To maximize the intervention's effectiveness, OLM training was both variable (by using three different tasks; Schmidt & Bjork, 1992) and adaptive (by adjusting task difficulty to individual performance; Klingberg, 2010, but see von Bastian & Eschen, 2016.…”

Section: The Present Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Transfer after process-based object-location memory training in healthy older adults.

Zimmermann¹,

Bastian²,

Röcke³

et al. 2016

Psychology and Aging

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A substantial part of age-related episodic memory decline has been attributed to the decreasing ability of older adults to encode and retrieve associations among simultaneously processed information units from long-term memory. In addition, this ability seems to share unique variance with reasoning. In this study, we therefore examined whether process-based training of the ability to learn and remember associations has the potential to induce transfer effects to untrained episodic memory and reasoning tasks in healthy older adults (60–75 years). For this purpose, the experimental group (n = 36) completed 30 sessions of process-based object-location memory training, while the active control group (n = 31) practiced visual perception on the same material. Near (spatial episodic memory), intermediate (verbal episodic memory), and far transfer effects (reasoning) were each assessed with multiple tasks at four measurements (before, midway through, immediately after, and 4 months after training). Linear mixed-effects models revealed transfer effects on spatial episodic memory and reasoning that were still observed 4 months after training. These results provide first empirical evidence that process-based training can enhance healthy older adults’ associative memory performance and positively affect untrained episodic memory and reasoning abilities.

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A theoretical framework for the study of adult cognitive plasticity.

Cited by 651 publications

References 194 publications

On the validity and generality of transfer effects in cognitive training research

On the validity and generality of transfer effects in cognitive training research

Does working memory training have to be adaptive?

Transfer after process-based object-location memory training in healthy older adults.

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