Working memory in older adults declines with age, but is modulated by sex and education

Abstract

Working memory (WM), which underlies the temporary storage and manipulation of information, is critical for multiple aspects of cognition and everyday life. Nevertheless, research examining WM specifically in older adults remains limited, despite the global rapid increase in human life expectancy. We examined WM in a large sample ( N = 754) of healthy older adults (aged 58-89) in a non-Western population (Chinese speakers) in Taiwan, on a digit n-back task. We tested not only the influence of age itself and of load (1-back vs. 2-back) but also the effects of both sex and education, which have been shown to modulate WM abilities. Mixed-effects regression revealed that, within older adulthood, age negatively impacted WM abilities (with linear, not nonlinear, effects), as did load (worse performance at 2-back). In contrast, education level was positively associated with WM. Moreover, both age and education interacted with sex. With increasing age, males showed a steeper WM decline than females; with increasing education, females showed greater WM gains than males. Together with other findings, the evidence suggests that age, sex, and education all impact WM in older adults, but interact in particular ways. The results have both basic research and translational implications and are consistent with particular benefits from increased education for women.

Effects of Combined Resistance and Power Training on Cognitive Function in Older Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Indeed, overall cognitive function measures (e.g., MMSE) are routinely used in clinics and research for cognitive [79][80][81] and low scores in these tests are associated with numerous negative health-related outcomes, such as insomnia, loneliness, and dementia [82][83][84][85]. Improvements in short-term memory may have a direct impact on an individual's quality of life, given its close association with various aspects of cognition and every-day activities, such as conversation, reading, learning, mathematics [6,7]. In addition, reduced short-term memory is commonly found in people with AD [8].…”

“…Among the cognitive domains affected by aging, short-term memory and dual-task performance have gained widespread attention owing to their relevance to the individual's autonomy. In fact, short-term memory -the capacity of holding an amount of information for a short period of time [6] -is involved in various aspects of cognition (e.g., executive function) and every-day activities, such as conversation, reading, learning, mathematics [6,7]. Furthermore, a progressive decline in this cognitive domain is commonly found in AD patients [8].…”

N-Back Related ERPs Depend on Stimulus Type, Task Structure, Pre-processing, and Lab Factors

“…The samples compared here were of similar age and had a similar educational level (undergraduates) and in Datasets I and II, a similar distribution of gender. While Dataset III only consisted of data collected from females, a recent study by Pliatsikas et al ( 2019 ) demonstrated that gender, age, and education level affect response accuracy after a single N-Back training session in healthy older individuals. Since the present study consists of N-Back performance across 1 or 2 sessions in young subjects, we do expect these variables to have a moderate effect on behavioral and electrophysiological results.…”

Apolipoprotein E, cognitive function, and cognitive decline among older Taiwanese adults

“…SEBAS participants completed 1-back and 2-back tasks. Further details of the N-back task are available in [ 40 ].…”