The Influence of Perceptual Training on Working Memory in Older Adults

Berry, Anne S.; Zanto, Theodore P.; Clapp, Wesley C.; Hardy, Joseph L.; Delahunt, Peter B.; Mahncke, Henry W.; Gazzaley, Adam

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011537

Cited by 203 publications

(227 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…This reliance may be unnecessary in younger adults, who more successfully retain weakly encoded information during the delay period. Our results would also seem to complement findings showing a transfer of benefit from perceptual discrimination training to WM performance in older adults, where training-induced changes in early visual processing during encoding predict WM improvement (11). The idea that naturally occurring changes with increasing age represent an adaptive encoding change, promoted by impaired delay distractor exclusion, provides the most parsimonious explanation of our data, although we acknowledge other nonpsychological factors are likely to contribute, including reduced frontal neural responsivity reported in older adults during encoding (12) as well as age-related perceptual impairments (13).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Age-related changes in working memory and the ability to ignore distraction

McNab

Zeidman

Rutledge

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

113

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A weakened ability to effectively resist distraction is a potential basis for reduced working memory capacity (WMC) associated with healthy aging. Exploiting data from 29,631 users of a smartphone game, we show that, as age increases, working memory (WM) performance is compromised more by distractors presented during WM maintenance than distractors presented during encoding. However, with increasing age, the ability to exclude distraction at encoding is a better predictor of WMC in the absence of distraction. A significantly greater contribution of distractor filtering at encoding represents a potential compensation for reduced WMC in older age.T he number of items that can be held in working memory (WM) declines with increasing age (1). Our ability to effectively exclude distractors is one basis for this limited working memory capacity (WMC) (2, 3), with impaired inhibitory processing of distraction contributing to an age-related reduction in WM performance (4). A specific impairment in suppressing distractor representations in older adults has been linked to reduced WMC (5). Typically distractors are presented either with the items to be remembered (encoding distraction, ED, e.g., 6, 7) or while these items are held in mind (delay distraction, DD, e.g., 5, 8). We recently highlighted a distinction between the effects of these two types of distraction in younger adults (9). Although greater WMC is associated with an enhanced ability to exclude distractors in both cases, each makes a unique contribution to WMC (9). Here we examine the well-known age-related reduction in WMC. Previous work has identified an age-related delay in ED filtering (7) and an early age-related deficit in DD suppression (8). We directly compare the age-related decline in ED and DD to assess whether an ability to ignore a distraction at encoding or at delay provides the best predictor of general WMC.We obtained data from 29,631 users of a smartphone game (part of The Great Brain Experiment, www.thegreatbrainexperiment. com), a platform that has enabled us to replicate a range of laboratory studies (9, 10). Using this medium we implemented a WM task to enable us to directly compare the effects of age on WM in the absence of distractors (no distraction, ND; Fig. 1A), when distractors are presented at encoding (ED; Fig. 1B) and when distractors are presented during maintenance (DD; Fig. 1C). This large subject pool enabled us to consider data from six age groups (18-24 y: n = 7,658; 25-29 y: n = 5,702; 30-39 y: n = 8,225; 40-49 y: n = 4,667; 50-59 y: n = 2,359; and 60-69 y: n = 1,020). For each condition the number of items to be remembered (WM load) increased as a function of performance until either eight trials had been completed or a participant failed two successive trials of a given WM load. Data were excluded from participants who failed a "load 2" trial in any condition. For each condition, the participant's score represents the maximum number of items for which they could report all items successfully, representing their WMC. Results...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Age-related changes in working memory and the ability to ignore distraction

McNab

Zeidman

Rutledge

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

113

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“…PFC activity that was greater in older adults prior to training was reduced to the level seen in younger adults after training, presumably because the practice on the two tasks had reduced the effort required to carry them out simultaneously, reducing the need for PFC mediated cognitive control. Similarly, a reduction in the amplitude of an electrophysiological evoked response during a working memory task was reported in older adults after 10 hours of perceptual discrimination training, and this reduction predicted the increase in accuracy on the working memory task that was achieved after training 188 .…”

Section: Influence Of Training On the Aging Brainmentioning

confidence: 64%

The cognitive neuroscience of ageing

2012

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PrefaceThe availability of neuroimaging technology has spurred a marked increase in the human cognitive neuroscience literature, including the study of cognitive aging. Although there is a growing consensus that the aging brain retains considerable plasticity of function, currently measured primarily by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging, it is less clear how age differences in brain activity relate to cognitive performance. The field also is hampered by the complexity of the aging process itself and the large number of factors that are influenced by age. In this review, current trends and unresolved issues in the cognitive neuroscience of aging are discussed.

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“…Two studies did not provide data to conduct the metaanalysis. Three studies were not included because only eventrelated potential data were presented (Anderson et al 2013;Berry et al 2010), and one study only provided metabolic data (Shah et al 2014). Thus, 21 studies were included in analysis.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis of Commercially Available Computerized Cognitive Training Among Older Adults

Tetlow

Edwards

2017

J Cogn Enhanc

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Researchers have explored a variety of interventions to improve cognition among older adults. One of which is computerized cognitive training programs. The number of commercially available, cognitive training programs has increased greatly, but scientists debate their value. The purposes of this systematic literature review and meta-analysis were to (1) evaluate the efficacy of commercially available, computerized cognitive training programs to improve cognition in older adults and (2) examine far transfer of training to untrained tasks relevant to everyday functioning. Articles were reviewed if the study (a) included a sample of adults aged 55 and older, (b) used a commercially available, computerized cognitive training program, (c) was a randomized controlled trial, (d) measured cognition as an outcome, and (e) included a sample that was free from health conditions affecting cognitive function (e.g., cancer, stroke, psychiatric conditions, or traumatic brain injury). Effect sizes were calculated using random effect models to determine cognitive training effects for various cognitive domains and far transfer tasks. There were significant small to medium training effects for the cognitive domains of attention (d = 0.651, p < .001), processing speed (d = 0.294, p = .002), and visuospatial memory (d = 0.252, p = 0.016). There was also evidence of far transfer to selfreported measures of everyday function (d = 0.277, p < 0.001). Commercially available computerized cognitive training programs may improve certain cognitive abilities among older adults, who also report improvement on tasks relevant to their everyday lives.

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The Influence of Perceptual Training on Working Memory in Older Adults

Cited by 203 publications

References 43 publications

Age-related changes in working memory and the ability to ignore distraction

Age-related changes in working memory and the ability to ignore distraction

The cognitive neuroscience of ageing

Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis of Commercially Available Computerized Cognitive Training Among Older Adults

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