Department of General Psychology, University of Padova.
Dev Psychol. 2014 Mar;50(3):714-27. doi: 10.1037/a0034293. Epub 2013 Sep 23.
The purpose of the present study was to test the efficacy of a visuospatial working memory (WM) training in terms of its transfer effects and maintenance effects, in the young-old and old-old. Forty young-old and 40 old-old adults took part in the study. Twenty participants in each age group received training with a visuospatial WM task, whereas the others served as active controls and completed alternative activities. Training benefits were examined, considering (a) the specific training-related gains in a visuospatial WM task (criterion); and (b) the transfer effects on measures of verbal WM, visuospatial short-term memory, inhibition, processing speed, and reasoning. Maintenance of training benefits was also assessed after 8 months. Results showed that the trained groups (both young-old and old-old), but not the control groups, performed better in the WM measures and preserved these gains after 8 months. Some transfer effects were found, but only in the young-old-trained participants, and they were not maintained at the follow-up. These results are discussed in terms of the efficacy of WM training for older adults when a visuospatial modality is used.
本研究旨在测试视觉空间工作记忆 (WM) 训练的效果，包括其迁移效应和保持效应，针对年轻老年人和老年人。40 名年轻老年人和 40 名老年老年人参加了研究。每个年龄组的 20 名参与者接受了视觉空间 WM 任务的训练，而其他参与者则作为积极对照组，完成其他活动。考虑到（a）在视觉空间 WM 任务中特定的训练相关收益（标准），以及（b）在言语 WM、视觉空间短期记忆、抑制、处理速度和推理等方面的迁移效应，评估了训练的收益。8 个月后还评估了训练收益的保持情况。结果表明，接受训练的组（无论是年轻老年人还是老年老年人），而不是对照组，在 WM 测量中表现更好，并在 8 个月后保持了这些收益。发现了一些迁移效应，但仅在年轻老年人训练组中，并且在随访中没有保持。这些结果是在使用视觉空间模式时，讨论 WM 训练对老年人的效果。
