Bottiroli Sara, Cavallini Elena, Dunlosky John, Vecchi Tomaso, Hertzog Christopher
C. Mondino National Neurological Institute, Pavia, Italy.
University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
Arch Gerontol Geriatr. 2017 Sep;72:91-98. doi: 10.1016/j.archger.2017.05.015. Epub 2017 Jun 7.
The goal of the present research was to examine the potential of a learner-oriented approach to improving older adults' performance in tasks that are similar to real-life situations that require strategic deployment of cognitive resources. A crucial element of this approach involves encouraging older adults to explicitly analyze tasks to consider how to adapt trained skills to a new task context. In an earlier study, a specialist-directed intervention produced training gains and transfer to some untrained memory tasks.
In the present study, older adults received a manual instructing them about principles of task analysis, two memory strategies, and strategy adaptation. Self-guided strategy-adaption training involved practicing some memory tasks as well as instructions on how the trained skills could be applied to new tasks that were not practiced. The criterion tasks involved practice tasks, non-practiced tasks that were discussed in the manual, and transfer tasks that were never mentioned in the manual. Two of the tests were from the Everyday Cognition Battery (inductive reasoning and working memory).
As compared to a waiting-list control group, older adults assigned to self-guided strategy-adaption training showed memory improvements on tasks that were practiced or discussed during training. Most important, the learner-oriented approach produced transfer to the everyday tasks.
Our findings show the potential of instructing task appraisal processes as a basis for fostering transfer, including improving older adults' performance in simulated everyday tasks.
本研究的目的是检验一种以学习者为导向的方法在提高老年人完成与现实生活情境相似任务（这些任务需要策略性地调配认知资源）时的表现的潜力。该方法的一个关键要素是鼓励老年人明确分析任务，以考虑如何将训练有素的技能应用于新的任务情境。在早期的一项研究中，由专家指导的干预措施带来了训练收益，并能迁移到一些未训练的记忆任务中。
在本研究中，老年人收到一本手册，其中介绍了任务分析的原则、两种记忆策略以及策略调整。自我指导的策略调整训练包括练习一些记忆任务以及关于如何将训练有素的技能应用于未练习过的新任务的指导。标准任务包括练习任务、手册中讨论过的未练习任务以及手册中从未提及的迁移任务。其中两项测试来自日常认知量表（归纳推理和工作记忆）。
与等待名单对照组相比，接受自我指导策略调整训练的老年人在训练期间练习或讨论过的任务上记忆有改善。最重要的是，以学习者为导向的方法能够迁移到日常任务中。
我们的研究结果表明，指导任务评估过程作为促进迁移的基础具有潜力，包括提高老年人在模拟日常任务中的表现。
