ORIGINAL PAPER
Effects of working memory and attentional control training and their transfer onto fluid intelligence in early and late adulthood
 
More details
Hide details
1
Institute of Psychology, Casimir the Great University, Bydgoszcz, Poland
 
 
Submission date: 2015-08-24
 
 
Acceptance date: 2015-10-24
 
 
Online publication date: 2016-01-12
 
 
Publication date: 2016-01-12
 
 
Health Psychology Report 2016;4(1):41-53
 
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Background
The interest in the possibility of improving cognitive functioning through training of basic cognitive processes is growing. This possibility is of particular importance for older adults, whose cognitive functions are weakened, and who may need cognitive rehabilitation. However, improvement of the performance in the tasks being trained is not the only goal of basic cognitive processes training. Far transfer, onto tasks different to the ones trained, and engaging other (usually complex) processes, including fluid intelligence, is an important goal of such training. Yet, meta-analyses suggest that results of studies on the far transfer phenomenon vary, and are not conclusive.
Participants and procedure
One hundred and eighty healthy volunteers took part in this study. They were divided into groups: Experimental 1 (working memory training), Experimental 2 (attentional control training) and Control (non-contact). Each of these groups included participants from the two age subgroups: early and late adulthood. Training involved 7 appointments and lasted for about 4 weeks. Additional measurements, including an assessment of fluid intelligence, were performed on each group at baseline, and at the end of training.
Results
Our results suggest that (a) the training of basic cognitive processes in adults leads to an improvement in the correctness, but not the speed, at which tasks are performed, (b) there is a transfer effect onto fluid intelligence, but this effect is weak, and (c) the effects of basic cognitive process training depend on the kind of trained tasks, age of participants and the interactions between these two factors: working memory training is equally as effective in both age groups, whereas training of attentional control is particularly effective among older individuals, and has limited efficacy for young adults.
Conclusions
Finally, one can conclude that the effectiveness of basic cognitive function training is limited. However, it can be significant, even in the aspect of transfer, under conditions related to the type of trained tasks and the age of the participants.
 
REFERENCES (67)
1.
Au, J., Sheehan, E., Tsai, N., Duncan, G. J., Buschkuehl, M., & Jaeggi, S. M. (2015). Improving fluid intelligence with training on working memory: a meta-analysis. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 22, 366–377. doi: 10.3758/s13423-014-0699-x.
 
2.
Baddeley, A. D. (1986). Working memory. Oxford, UK: Claredon Press.
 
3.
Baddeley, A. D. (2002). Is working memory still working? European Psychologist, 7, 85–97.
 
4.
Baltes, P. B. (1997). On the incomplete architecture of human ontogeny: selection, optimization, and compensation as foundation of developmental theory. American Psychologist, 52, 366–380.
 
5.
Barnett, S. M., & Ceci, S. J. (2002). When and where do we apply what we learn? A taxonomy for far transfer. Psychological Bulletin, 128, 612–637. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.128.4.612.
 
6.
Bherer, L., Kramer, A. F., Peterson, M. S., Colcombe, S., Erickson, K., & Becic, E. (2008). Transfer effects in task-set cost and dual-task cost after dual-task training in older and younger adults: further evidence for cognitive plasticity in attentional control in late adulthood. Experimental Aging Research, 34, 188–219. doi: 10.1080/03610730802070068.
 
7.
Borella, E., Carretti, B., Riboldi, F., & De Beni, R. (2010). Working memory training in older adults: evidence of transfer and maintenance effects. Psychology and Aging, 25, 767–778. doi: 10.1037/a0020683.
 
8.
Brehmer, Y., Li, S.-C., Müller, V., von Oertzen, T., & Lindenberger, U. (2007). Memory plasticity across the life span: uncovering children’s latent potential. Developmental Psychology, 43, 465–478. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.43.2.465.
 
9.
Brehmer, Y., Westerberg, H., & Bäckman, L. (2012). Working-memory training in younger and older adults: training gains, transfer, and maintenance. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6, 63. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00063.
 
10.
Brzeziński, J. (2000). Badania eksperymentalne w psychologii i pedagogice [Experimental research in psychology and pedagogics]. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar.
 
11.
Burgess, G. C., Gray, J. R., Conway, A. R., & Braver, T. S. (2011). Neural mechanisms of interference control underlie the relationship between fluid intelligence and working memory span. Journal of Experimental Psychology General, 140, 674–692. doi: 10.1037/a0024695.
 
12.
Chooi, W.-T., & Thompson, L. A. (2012). Working memory training does not improve intelligence in healthy young adults. Intelligence, 40, 531–542. doi: 10.1016/j.intell.2012.07.004.
 
13.
Colom, R., Román, F. J., Abad, F. J., Shih, P. C., Privado, J., Froufe, M., Escorial, S., Martínez, K., Burgaleta, M., Quiroga, M. A., Karama, S., Haier R. J., Thompson, P. M., & Jaeggi, S. M. (2013). Adaptive n-back training does not improve fluid intelligence at the construct level: Gains on individual tests suggest that training may enhance visuospatial processing. Intelligence, 41, 712–727. doi: 10.1016/j.intell.2013.09.002.
 
14.
Colom, R., Rubio, V. J., Shih, P. C., & Santacreu, J. (2006). Fluid intelligence, working memory and executive functioning. Psicothema, 18, 816–821.
 
15.
Dahlin, E., Nyberg, L., Bäckman, L., & Neely, A. S. (2008). Plasticity of executive functioning in young and older adults: immediate training gains, transfer, and long-term maintenance. Psychology and Aging, 23, 720–730. doi: 10.1037/a0014296.
 
16.
Dennis, N. A., & Cabeza, R. (2008). Neuroimaging of healthy cognitive aging. In: F. I. M. Craik & T. A. Salthouse (eds.), Handbook of aging and cognition. (3th ed.) (pp. 1–54). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
 
17.
Dorbath, L., Hasselhorn, M., & Titz, C. (2011). Aging and executive functioning: A training study on focus-switching. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 1–12. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00257.
 
18.
Engle, R. W. (2002). Working memory capacity as executive attention. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 19. doi: 10.1111/1467-8721.00160.
 
19.
Engle, R. W., & Kane, M. J. (2004). Executive attention, working memory capacity, and a two-factor theory of cognitive control. The Psychology of Learning and Motivation, 44, 145–199. doi: 10.1016/S0079-7421(03)44005-X.
 
20.
Feldman Barett, L., Tugade, M. M, & Engle, R. W. (2004). Individual differences in working memory capacity and dual-process theories of the mind. Psychological Bulletin, 130, 553–573. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.130.4.553.
 
21.
Fukuda, K., Vogel, E., Mayr, U., & Awh, E. (2010). Quantity, not quality: the relationship between fluid intelligence and working memory capacity. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 17, 673–679. doi: 10.3758/17.5.673.
 
22.
Gamrowska, A., & Steuden, S. (2014). Coping with the events of daily life and quality of life of the socially active elderly. Health Psychology Report, 2, 123–131.
 
23.
Garon N., Bryson S. E., & Smith I. M. (2008). Executive function in preschoolers: a review using an integrative framework. Psychological Bulletin, 134, 31–60.
 
24.
Gray, J. R., Chabris, C. F., & Braver, T. S. (2003). Neural mechanisms of general fluid intelligence. Nature Neuroscience, 6, 316–322. doi: 10.1038/nn1014.
 
25.
Hasher, L., & Zacks, R. T. (1988). Working memory, comprehension, and aging: A review and a new view. In: H. Bower (ed.), The Psychology of Learning and Motivation (vol. 22) (pp. 193–225). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
 
26.
Hertzog, C., Kramer, A. F., Wilson, R. S., & Lindenberger, U. (2009). Enrichment effects on adult cognitive development. Psychological Science, 9, 1–65. doi: 10.1111/j.1539-6053.2009.01034.x.
 
27.
Hofer, S. M. & Alwin, D. F. (eds.). (2008). Handbook of Cognitive Aging. Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
 
28.
Jaeggi, S. M., & Buschkuehl, M. (2014). Working memory training and transfer: theoretical and practical considerations. New Frontiers of Multidisciplinary Research in STEAM-H (Science, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Mathematics, and Health), 90, 19–44. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-07755-0.
 
29.
Jaeggi, S. M., Buschkuehl, M., Jonides, J., & Perrig, W. J. (2008). Improving fluid intelligence with training on working memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105, 6829–6833. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0801268105.
 
30.
Jaeggi, S. M., Buschkuehl, M., Jonides, J., & Shah, P. (2011). Short- and long-term benefits of cognitive training. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108, 10081–10086. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1103228108.
 
31.
Jaeggi, S. M., Buschkuehl, M., Shah, P., & Jonides, J. (2014). The role of individual differences in cognitive training and transfer. Memory & Cognition, 42, 464–480. doi: 10.3758/s13421-013-0364-z.
 
32.
Jaušovec, N., & Jaušovec, K. (2012). Working memory training: Improving intelligence – changing brain activity. Brain and Cognition, 79, 96–106. doi: 10.1016/j.bandc.2012.02.007.
 
33.
Jaworowska, A., & Szustrowa, T. (2007). Test Matryc Ravena w wersji Standard TMS. Formy: Klasyczna, Równoległa, Plus [Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices Test. Versions: Classical, Parallel and Plus]. Warszawa: Pracownia Testów Psychologicznych.
 
34.
Jodzio, K. (2008). Neuropsychologia intencjonalnego działania. Koncepcje funkcji wykonawczych [Neuropsychology of intentional action. Conceptions of executive functions]. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar.
 
35.
Kane, M. J., & Engle, R. W. (2002). The role of prefrontal cortex in working-memory capacity, executive attention, and general fluid intelligence: An individual-differences perspective. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 9, 637–671. doi: 10.3758/BF03196323.
 
36.
Karbach, J., & Kray, J. (2009). How useful is executive control training? Age differences in near and far transfer of task-switching training. Developmental Science, 12, 978–990. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00846.x.
 
37.
Karbach, J., & Verhaeghen, P. (2014). Making working memory work: a meta-analysis of executive-control and working memory training in older adults. Psychological Science, 25, 2027–2037. doi: 10.1177/0956797614548725.
 
38.
Kroemeke, A., & Gruszczyńska, E. (2014). Depressive symptom clusters among the elderly: a longitudinal study of course and its correlates. Health Psychology Report, 2, 269–279.
 
39.
Li, S.-C., Schmiedek, F., Huxhold, O., Röcke, C., Smith, J., & Lindenberger, U. (2008). Working memory plasticity in old age: practice gain, transfer, and maintenance. Psychology and Aging, 23, 731–742. doi: 10.1037/a0014343.
 
40.
Leszko, M., Zając-Lamparska, L., & Trempała, J. (2015). Aging in Poland. The Gerontologist, 55, 707–715. doi: 10.1093/geront/gnu171.
 
41.
Lustig, C., Shah, P., Seidler, R., & Reuter-Lorenz, P. A. (2009). Aging, training, and the brain: a review and future directions. Neuropsychology Review, 19, 504–522. doi: 10.1007/s11065-009-9119-9.
 
42.
Melby-Lervåg, M., & Hulme, C. (2013). Is working memory training effective? a meta-analytic review. Developmental Psychology, 49, 270–291. doi: 10.1037/a0028228.
 
43.
Miyake, A., Friedman, N. P., Emerson, M. J., Witzki, A. H., Howerter, A., & Wager, T. D. (2000). The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex “Frontal Lobe” tasks: a latent variable analysis. Cognitive Psychology, 41, 49–100. doi: 10.1006/cogp.1999.0734.
 
44.
Nęcka, E., Orzechowski, J., & Szymura, B. (2006). Psychologia poznawcza [Cognitive psychology]. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, ACADEMICA Wydawnictwo SWPS.
 
45.
Oberauer, K., Süß, H. M., Wilhelm, O., & Sander, N. (2007). Individual differences in working memory capacity and reasoning ability. In: A. R. A. Conway, C. Jarrold, M. J. Kane, A. Miyake, & J. N. Towse (eds.), Variation in working memory (pp. 49–75). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 
46.
Redick, T. S., Shipstead, Z., Harrison, T. L., Hicks, K. L., Fried, D. E., Hambrick, D. Z., Kane, M. J., & Engle, R. W. (2013). No evidence of intelligence improvement after working memory training: a randomized, placebo-controlled study. Journal of Experimental Psychology. General, 142, 359–379. doi: 10.1037/a0029082.
 
47.
Salthouse, T. A. (2014). Relations between running memory and fluid intelligence. Intelligence, 43, 1–7. doi: 10.1016/j.intell.2013.12.002.
 
48.
Salthouse T. A. (1994). Age-related changes in basic cognitive processes. In: M. Storandt & G. R. VandenBos (eds.), The Adult Years: Continuity and Change (pp. 5–40). Washington: American Psychological Association.
 
49.
Sheppard, L. D., & Vernon, P. A. (2008). Intelligence and speed of information-processing: A review of 50 years of research. Personality and Individual Differences, 44, 535–551.
 
50.
Schmiedek, F., Bauer, C., Lövdén, M., Brose, A., & Lindenberger, U. (2010). Cognitive enrichment in old age. GeroPsych: The Journal of Gerontopsychology and Geriatric Psychiatry, 23, 59–67. doi: 10.1024/1662-9647/a000013.
 
51.
Schubert, T., Strobach, T., & Karbach, J. (2014). New directions in cognitive training: on methods, transfer, and application. Psychological Research, 78, 749–755. doi: 10.1007/s00426-014-0619-8.
 
52.
Shipstead, Z., Redick, T. S., & Engle, R. W. (2012). Is working memory training effective? Psychological Bulletin, 138, 628–654. doi: 10.1037/a0027473.
 
53.
Sternberg, R. J. (2008). Increasing fluid intelligence is possible after all. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105, 6791–6792. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0803396105.
 
54.
Steine-Morrow, E. A. L., & Basak, C. (2011). Cognitive interventions. In: K. W. Schaie & S. L. Willis (eds.), Handbook of the Psychology of Aging (7th ed.) (pp. 153–171). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
 
55.
Strenziok, M., Parasuraman, R., Clarke, E., Cisler, D. S., Thompson, J. C., & Greenwood, P. M. (2014). Neurocognitive enhancement in older adults: comparison of three cognitive training tasks to test a hypothesis of training transfer in brain connectivity. NeuroImage, 85, 1027–1039. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.07.069.
 
56.
Süß, H. M., Oberauer, K., Wittman, W. W., Wilhelm, O., & Schulze, R. (2002). Working memory capacity explains reasoning ability – And a little bit more. Intelligence, 30, 261–288.
 
57.
Taatgen, N. A. (2013). The nature and transfer of cognitive skills. Psychological Review, 120, 439–471. doi: 10.1037/a0033138.
 
58.
Thompson, T. W., Waskom, M. L., Garel, K. L. A., Cardenas-Iniguez, C., Reynolds, G. O., Winter, R., Chang, P., Pollard, K., Lala, N., Alvarez, G. A., & Gabrieli, J. D. E. (2013). failure of working memory training to enhance cognition or intelligence. PLoS One, 8, e63614. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0063614.
 
59.
Unsworth, N., & Engle, R. W. (2007). The nature of individual differences in working memory capacity: active maintenance in primary memory and controlled search from secondary memory. Psychological Review, 114, 104–132. doi: 10.1037/0033-295X.114.1.104.
 
60.
Unsworth, N., Fukuda, K., Awh, E., & Vogel, E. K. (2014). Working memory and fluid intelligence: Capacity, attention control, and secondary memory retrieval. Cognitive Psychology, 71, 1–26. doi: 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2014.01.003.
 
61.
Unsworth, N., & Spillers, G. J. (2010). Working memory capacity: Attention control, secondary memory, or both? A direct test of the dual-component model. Journal of Memory and Language, 62, 392–406. doi: 10.1016/j.jml.2010.02.001.
 
62.
Unsworth, N., Spillers, G. J., Kane, M. J., Engle, R. W., & Schmiedek, F. (2009). Examining the relations among working memory capacity, attention control, and fluid intelligence from a dual-component framework. Psychology Science Quarterly, 9, 637–671.
 
63.
Verhaeghen, P., Cerella, J., Bopp, K. L., & Basak, C. (2006). Starzenie się i różne rodzaje kontroli poznawczej: przegląd metaanaliz odporności na interferencję, koordynacji i przełączania się między zadaniami oraz eksperymentalne poszukiwania nad związaną z wiekiem wrażliwością w niedawno zidentyfikowanym procesie przerzucania uwagi [Ageing and different types of cognitive control: a review of meta-analyses of resistance to interference, coordination and switching between tasks, as well as experimental research of susceptibility associated with age in the recently identified process of attention switching]. In: R. W. Engle, G. Sędek, U. von Hacker, & D. N. McInstosh (eds.), Ograniczenia poznawcze. Starzenie się i psychopatologia (pp. 172–206). Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.
 
64.
Von Bastian, C. C., Langer, N., Jäncke, L., & Oberauer, K. (2013). Effects of working memory training in young and old adults. Memory & Cognition, 41, 611–624. doi: 10.3758/s13421-012-0280-7.
 
65.
Von Bastian, C. C., & Oberauer, K. (2014). Effects and mechanisms of working memory training: a review. Psychological Research, 78, 803–820. doi: 10.1007/s00426-013-0524-6.
 
66.
Zając-Lamparska, L., Trempała, J., & Mrówka, A. (2013). Stereotypes inhibition in syllogistic reasoning changes related to age and time measurement repetition during study. Polskie Forum Psychologiczne, 18, 469–485.
 
67.
Zinke, K., Zeintl, M., Rose, N. S., Putzmann, J., Pydde, A., & Kliegel, M. (2014). Working memory training and transfer in older adults: effects of age, baseline performance, and training gains. Developmental Psychology, 50, 304–315. doi: 10.1037/a0032982.
 
Copyright: © Institute of Psychology, University of Gdansk This is an Open Access journal, all articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/), allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and to remix, transform, and build upon the material, provided the original work is properly cited and states its license.
eISSN:2353-5571
ISSN:2353-4184
Journals System - logo
Scroll to top