Zhu Rongjuan, Ma Xiaoliang, Wang Ziyu, Hui Qi, Wang Xuan, You Xuqun
College of Management, Xi'an University of Science and Technology, Xi'an 710054, China.
GEOVIS Earth Technology Co., Ltd., Hefei 230088, China.
Internet Interv. 2024 Aug 16;38:100767. doi: 10.1016/j.invent.2024.100767. eCollection 2024 Dec.
With the increasing aging population, contemporary society faces the imperative to develop approaches that efficiently delay the age-related decline in working memory capacity, which is a critical area within cognitive aging research. Nevertheless, there is insufficient evidence to support the efficacy of verbal working memory training across various sensory modalities (visual, auditory, and audiovisual) in enhancing the verbal working memory capacity of older adults. In this study, 60 healthy older adults (mean age = 67.07 ± 3.79 years, comprising 34 women and 26 men, mean education = 15.55 ± 2.53 years) were randomly assigned to one of four groups: visual verbal working memory (V-VWM) group, auditory verbal working memory (A-VWM) group, visual-auditory verbal working memory (VA-VWM) group, and a control group. The training duration spanned 12 days. We also investigated whether baseline level and education predicted the outcomes. Findings indicated that V-VWM training had a large effect on improving V-VWM task performance ( = 1.765), A-VWM training showed a substantial effect on A-VWM task performance ( = 1.904), and VA-VWM training demonstrated a significant effect on VA-VWM task performance ( = 2.319) over pretest scores in older adults. Enhancements achieved through V-VWM training exhibited near transfer effects, improving performance in both A-VWM and VA-VWM tasks. In contrast, gains from A-VWM training were selectively transferred to the VA-VWM task. Furthermore, VA-VWM training led to improvements not only in V-VWM and A-VWM tasks but also extended to verbal operation span task with a significant 29.7 % increase. However, no significant transfer effects were observed for the DSF and DSB tasks across the three training groups. The maintenance effect of VA-VWM training persisted for two weeks across tasks involving VA-VWM, V-VWM, and A-VWM. The baseline of VWM span score influence the effect of V-VWM training and transfer effect of VA-VWM training. Education level did not predict the training effects of V-VWM, A-VWM, and VA-VWM. These findings highlight the nuanced effects of sensory-specific verbal working memory training in older adults, emphasizing the potential of tailored interventions to enhance specific aspects of cognitive function, while also highlighting the promising applications of mobile device training in enhancing cognitive skills among the elderly.
随着人口老龄化的加剧，当代社会面临着开发有效延缓工作记忆能力与年龄相关衰退方法的迫切需求，这是认知老化研究中的一个关键领域。然而，目前尚无充分证据支持跨各种感官模态（视觉、听觉和视听）的言语工作记忆训练在提高老年人言语工作记忆能力方面的有效性。在本研究中，60名健康老年人（平均年龄 = 67.07 ± 3.79岁，其中34名女性和26名男性，平均受教育年限 = 15.55 ± 2.53年）被随机分配到四组之一：视觉言语工作记忆（V-VWM）组、听觉言语工作记忆（A-VWM）组、视觉-听觉言语工作记忆（VA-VWM）组和对照组。训练持续12天。我们还研究了基线水平和教育程度是否能预测结果。研究结果表明，V-VWM训练对改善V-VWM任务表现有较大影响（ = 1.765），A-VWM训练对A-VWM任务表现有显著影响（ = 1.904），VA-VWM训练对老年人的VA-VWM任务表现相对于前测分数有显著影响（ = 2.319）。通过V-VWM训练取得的进步表现出近迁移效应，提高了A-VWM和VA-VWM任务的表现。相比之下，A-VWM训练的收益选择性地迁移到了VA-VWM任务。此外，VA-VWM训练不仅导致V-VWM和A-VWM任务的改善，还扩展到言语操作跨度任务，显著提高了29.7%。然而，在三个训练组中，DSF和DSB任务未观察到显著的迁移效应。VA-VWM训练的维持效应在涉及VA-VWM、V-VWM和A-VWM的任务中持续了两周。VWM跨度分数的基线影响V-VWM训练的效果和VA-VWM训练的迁移效应。教育水平不能预测V-VWM、A-VWM和VA-VWM的训练效果。这些发现突出了老年人特定感官言语工作记忆训练的细微效果，强调了量身定制干预措施增强认知功能特定方面的潜力，同时也突出了移动设备训练在提高老年人认知技能方面的应用前景。
