Working memory
Can unpredictable memory training boost mental flexibility in seniors?
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
Older adults who practiced a working memory task with unpredictable target shifts showed better transfer to untrained episodic memory skills than those who practiced with predictable patterns.
How this study connects
Role on claims
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Cognitive interventions, such as unpredictable working memory training, and physical interventions, such as classroom-based resistance training, can successfully transfer gains to improve episodic memory performance.
Evidence for the claim as stated.
Study at a glance
- Design
- RCT — Double-blind randomized training of switching vs non-switching paradigms over five sessions in older adults
- N
- N=43 · 46 recruited ages 60–86; 3 withdrew; 29 women
- Population
- Right-handed older adults with at least high-school education and controlled blood pressure
- Outcome
- Task-switching RT after switch-specific vs non-switch cognitive training
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Can unpredictable memory training boost mental flexibility in seniors?
These passages occur verbatim in the stored paper text. They support the points listed below; they do not verify every statement in the explanation.
Forty-three participants analyzed in the study
Forty-three participants were used in the analyses ( M age = 68.81, SD age = 5.18, M education = 15.05, SD education = 2.54), because three participants withdrew from the experiment due to personal reasons (e.g., health).
Five daily training sessions
Participants were trained on the respective paradigms over five 1 h training days spanning across 2 weeks, such that 1 week had two sessions and the other week had three sessions.
Key findings
Immediately after training, the unpredictable training group showed greater improvements in a story recall task compared to the predictable group, yielding a medium effect. Individual learning rates on the training task predicted these cognitive gains. However, these improvements did not persist during the delayed testing session.
Methodology
Researchers randomly assigned forty-three older adults to either a predictable or unpredictable version of a working memory training program. The training occurred over five daily sessions across 2 weeks. The researchers evaluated participants on untrained tasks like story recall and abstract reasoning immediately after training and again after a 1.5 month retention period.
Limitations
The study did not include a passive or active control group outside of the training conditions, meaning general practice or expectation effects cannot be completely ruled out. Additionally, the sample size was relatively small with forty-three participants analyzed, which limits the power to detect smaller cognitive changes. Finally, the training benefits did not endure to the delayed follow-up, indicating that five days of training is insufficient for long-term cognitive maintenance.
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