Cognitive decrements are typical of physiological aging. Among these age-related cognitive changes, visuo-spatial working memory (vWM) decline has a prominent role due to its effects on other cognitive functions and daily routines. To reinforce vWM in the aging population, several cognitive training interventions have been developed in the past years. Given that vWM functioning depends (at least partially) on the efficiency of attention selection of the relevant objects, in the present study we implemented a short (five sessions), online intervention that primarily trained attentive individuation of target items and tested training effects on a vWM task. Attention training effects were compared with practice (i.e., a group that repeatedly performed the same vWM task) and test-retest effects (i.e., a passive group). After the training, the results showed attention training effects of the same magnitude as practice effects, confirming that the enhancement of attentive individuation has a positive cascade influence on maintaining items in vWM. Moreover, training and practice effects were only evident in low-performing older adults. Thus, interindividual differences at baseline crucially contribute to training outcomes and are a fundamental factor to be accounted for in the implementation of cognitive training protocols.

Training attentive individuation leads to visuo-spatial working memory improvement in low-performing older adults: An online study / Tagliabue, Chiara Francesca; Varesio, Greta; Mazza, Veronica. - In: ATTENTION, PERCEPTION & PSYCHOPHYSICS. - ISSN 1943-3921. - 84:8(2022), pp. 2507-2518. [10.3758/s13414-022-02580-6]

Training attentive individuation leads to visuo-spatial working memory improvement in low-performing older adults: An online study

Tagliabue, Chiara Francesca
Primo
;
Varesio, Greta
Secondo
;
Mazza, Veronica
Ultimo
2022-01-01

Abstract

Cognitive decrements are typical of physiological aging. Among these age-related cognitive changes, visuo-spatial working memory (vWM) decline has a prominent role due to its effects on other cognitive functions and daily routines. To reinforce vWM in the aging population, several cognitive training interventions have been developed in the past years. Given that vWM functioning depends (at least partially) on the efficiency of attention selection of the relevant objects, in the present study we implemented a short (five sessions), online intervention that primarily trained attentive individuation of target items and tested training effects on a vWM task. Attention training effects were compared with practice (i.e., a group that repeatedly performed the same vWM task) and test-retest effects (i.e., a passive group). After the training, the results showed attention training effects of the same magnitude as practice effects, confirming that the enhancement of attentive individuation has a positive cascade influence on maintaining items in vWM. Moreover, training and practice effects were only evident in low-performing older adults. Thus, interindividual differences at baseline crucially contribute to training outcomes and are a fundamental factor to be accounted for in the implementation of cognitive training protocols.
2022
8
Tagliabue, Chiara Francesca; Varesio, Greta; Mazza, Veronica
Training attentive individuation leads to visuo-spatial working memory improvement in low-performing older adults: An online study / Tagliabue, Chiara Francesca; Varesio, Greta; Mazza, Veronica. - In: ATTENTION, PERCEPTION & PSYCHOPHYSICS. - ISSN 1943-3921. - 84:8(2022), pp. 2507-2518. [10.3758/s13414-022-02580-6]
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Tagliabue&al_22APP.pdf

Solo gestori archivio

Tipologia: Versione editoriale (Publisher’s layout)
Licenza: Tutti i diritti riservati (All rights reserved)
Dimensione 699.56 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
699.56 kB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11572/362585
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? 0
  • Scopus 2
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 2
social impact