Working Memory Capacity as a Predictor of Cognitive Training Efficacy in the Elderly Population

Abstract

Aging is associated with a decline in a wide range of cognitive functions and working memory (WM) deterioration is considered a main factor contributing to this. Therefore, any attempt to counteract WM decline seems to have a potential benefit for older adults. However, determination of whether such methods like WM trainings are effective is a subject of a serious debate in the literature. Despite a substantial number of training studies and several meta-analyses, there is no agreement on the matter of their effectiveness. The other important and still not fully explored issue is the impact of the preexisting level of intellectual functioning on the training’s outcome. In our study we investigated the impact of WM training on variety of cognitive tasks performance among older adults and the impact of the initial WM capacity (WMC) on the training efficiency. 85 healthy older adults (55–81 years of age; 55 female, 30 males) received 5 weeks of training on adaptive dual N-back task (experimental group) or memory quiz (active controls). Cognitive performance was assessed before and after intervention with measures of WM, memory updating, inhibition, attention shifting, short-term memory (STM) and reasoning. We found post-intervention group independent improvements across all cognitive tests except for inhibition and STM. With multi-level analysis individual learning curves were modeled, which enabled examining of the intra-individual change in training and inter-individual differences in intra-individual changes. We observed a systematic and positive, but relatively small, learning trend with time. Moderator analyses with demographic characteristics as moderators showed no additional effects on learning curves. Only initial WMC level was a significant moderator of training effectiveness. Older adults with initially lower WMC improved less and reached lower levels of performance, compared to the group with higher WMC. Overall, our findings are in accordance with the research suggesting that post-training gains are within reach of older adults. Our data provide evidence supporting the presence of transfer after N-back training in older adults. More importantly, our findings suggest that it is more important to take into account an initial WMC level, rather than demographic characteristics when evaluating WM training in older adults.

Early Attentional Modulation by Working Memory Training in Young Adult ADHD Patients during a Risky Decision-Making Task

“…We found evidence that WMT, irrespective of baseline or adaptive protocol, improved the score of the dual n-back task played by the participants at the post-training in comparison with the pre-training session, in agreement with past studies using fewer sessions of WMT [39]. Our training protocol lasted 20 days, a duration comparable with other studies reported in the literature using Dual n-Back Task [64]. In addition to increase in dual n-back scores in controls, we observed that WMT improved performance in the WAIS-IV Digit Span in agreement with previous studies [39,65,66].…”

Age-related slowing down in the motor initiation in elderly adults

“…On the contrary, in elderly adults, we observed a completely different structure of the sensor-level functional connectivity, i.e., a stronger coupling between the frontal, central-parietal, and bilateral temporal EEG sensors with the most influential node located in the central EEG row (Cz sensor). As the working memory decline with age is well-documented [ 61 – 63 ], we conclude that memory representation of motor actions is less accessible in elderly adults. Based on our findings and the existing literature, we suggest that higher coupling within the sensorimotor area during a pre-movement phase in the elderly group indicates the prevalence of sensorimotor integration mechanisms relative to the resource-demanding Bland’s Type 1 motor-related theta activation [ 25 ].…”

The effect of cognitive training in older adults: be aware of CRUNCH

“…Previous training studies with OAs yielding data that speak to these two accounts have revealed mixed results, either supporting the compensation account (López-Higes et al, 2018;Roheger, Meyer, Kessler, & Kalbe, 2019;Witlock, McLaughlin, & Allaire, 2012;Zinke et al, 2014), the magnification account (Matysiak, Kroemeke, & Brzezicka, 2019), or both (depending on the type of transfer task: Borella et al, 2017). A recent study by Fu, Maes, Kessels, and Daselaar (2017) provided support for the magnification account.…”