Active Experiencing Training Improves Episodic Memory Recall in Older Adults

Abstract

Active experiencing (AE) is an intervention aimed at attenuating cognitive declines with mindfulness training via an immersive acting program, and has produced promising results in older adults with limited formal education. Yet, the cognitive mechanism(s) of intervention benefits and generalizability of gains across cognitive domains in the course of healthy aging is unclear. We addressed these issues in an intervention trial of older adults (N = 179; mean age = 69.46 years at enrollment; mean education = 16.80 years) assigned to an AE condition (n = 86) or an active control group (i.e., theatre history; n = 93) for 4 weeks. A cognitive battery was administered before and after intervention, and again at a 4-month follow-up. Group differences in change in cognition were tested in latent change score models (LCSM). In the total sample, several cognitive abilities demonstrated significant repeated-testing gains. AE produced greater gains relative to the active control only in episodic recall, with gains still evident up to 4 months after intervention. Intervention conditions were similar in the magnitude of gains in working memory, executive function and processing speed. Episodic memory is vulnerable to declines in aging and related neurodegenerative disease, and AE may be an alternative or supplement to traditional cognitive interventions with older adults.

Do Musicians Have Better Mnemonic and Executive Performance Than Actors? Influence of Regular Musical or Theater Practice in Adults and in the Elderly

“…Moreover, longitudinal studies showed that 6 months of piano lessons given to older non-musicians adults could improve working memory and executive functioning (Bugos et al, 2007;Seinfeld et al, 2013). In older actors, Banducci et al (2017) reported modifications on verbal long term-memory and fluency after a 4-month theatrical intervention in older adults which suggests a cognitive benefit even after a short period of active art practice. While we reported better performances on verbal long-term memory and fluency for Actors compared with Controls, we could not find any significant difference in the elderly for Actors relative to Musicians.…”

“…Compared to the visual arts group, the theater arts group performed better on problem solving only ( Noice et al, 2004 ). Recent work from this team further expands these results, as Banducci et al (2017) compared the cognitive benefit of an active acting program including 86 healthy aging versus 93 participants constituting the control group (history of art classroom) for 4 weeks. A cognitive battery was administered before and after intervention, and again in a 4-month follow-up.…”

“…To our knowledge, only Noice’s team has conducted a series of studies to specify the effect of theatrical practice on cognitive processes. These studies investigated cognitive changes following short-term theatrical interventions in older adults ( Noice and Noice, 1999 ; Noice et al, 2004 , 2014 ; Banducci et al, 2017 for review). They compared older participants who received theater arts training ( n = 44), visual arts training ( n = 44) or no-treatment (controls, n = 36) during nine 90-min sessions over a month.…”

Normative ratings for 536 action-related sentences in Spanish

“…Moreover, the present norms could have potential implications in the context of applied cognition initiatives, such as the development of reading comprehension programs (Glenberg, 2011;Glenberg et al, 2004Glenberg et al, , 2011Kaschak et al, 2017;Walker, Wong, Fialko, Restrepo, & Glenberg, 2017), the acquisition of a second language (Macedonia & Mueller, 2016;Toumpaniari, Loyens, Mavilidi, & Paas, 2015), the attenuation of cognitive decline in older people (Banducci et al, 2017), and the diagnosis and rehabilitation of patients with motor-related neuropsychological conditions (Cotelli, Manenti, Brambilla, & Borroni, 2017;Herrera et al, 2012). Finally, these norms will not only allow more researchers to work on issues of interest with Spanish-speaking samples of participants but also be useful to conduct new cross-linguistic research, as similar norms are already available in Swedish (Molander & Arar, 1998), German (Molander et al, 1999), Croatian (Arar & Molander, 1996), and Portuguese (Freitas & Albuquerque, 2007), and the field is ready for advancement taking into account potential modulation of action-related processes by aspects of language or cultural specificity.…”

Memory Training as a Method for Reducing the Misinformation Effect

“…In general, the usefulness of various procedures has been demonstrated, e.g. active experiencing training (Banducci et al, 2017), mindfulness training (Mrazek, Franklin, Phillips, Baird, & Schooler, 2013), retrieval practice (Rogalski, Altmann, & Rosenbek, 2014) and strategic training using mental images (Carretti, Borella, & De Beni, 2007). Even physical exercise seems to improve memory (Zuniga, Mueller, Santana, & Kelemen, 2018).…”