Effectiveness of training in cognitive strategies

Gruneberg,M.M. & Pascoe, K. 1996. The Effectiveness of the Keyword Method for Receptive and Productive Foreign Vocabulary Learning in the Elderly. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 21, 102-9.

The mnemonic technique known as the keyword method is of demonstrated effectiveness in learning facts such as foreign language words. However, there has been little research looking at its effectiveness for elderly people specifically. In the experiment reported here, a group of elderly women were required to learn 20 Spanish vocabulary items using the keyword method of foreign language learning. This involves using a mediator to link an English word to its Spanish target. It was found that the keyword method was an effective means of learning new words, compared to being provided with no instruction for learning.

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Rebok, G.W., Rasmusson, D.X., & Brandt J. 1996. Prospects for Computerized Memory Training in Normal Elderly: Effects of Practice on Explicit and Implicit Memory Tasks. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 10, 211-223.

Twelve cognitively normal, elderly adults (mean age=76.33 years)were given training and practice on the Colorado Neuropsychology Tests, acomputerized battery of explicit and implicit memory tasks. Half theparticipants practised on the explicit memory tasks for 1.5 hours a week for 9weeks with the assistance of a psychologist, while the other halfpractised on the implicit tasks for the equivalent amount of time.

Both training conditions produced significant improvement in their performance on the tests, with those in the implicit memory conditionshowing the most overall improvement.

In general,the participants responded positively toward the computer technology and demonstrated their capability in learning to operate the computer software. The results support the use computerized memory training with normal elderly adults.

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News reports

August 2007

How to benefit from memory training

Brain and memory training programs are increasingly popular, but they don't work well for everyone. In particular, they tend to be much less effective for those who need them the most — those 80 and older, and those with lower initial ability. But a new study shows the problem is not intrinsic, but depends on the strategies people use.  The study found that people in their 60s and 70s used a strategy of spending most of their time on studying the materials and very little on the test, and showed large improvements over the testing sessions. By contrast, most people in their 80s and older spent very little time studying and instead spent most of their time on the test. These people did not do well and showed very little improvement even after two weeks of training.
The findings were published in the August issue of Psychological Science.   Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-08/uom-dpt082007.php

Aging adults have choices when confronting perceived mental declines

A researcher who has been studying changes we make – or fail to make – in the way we process and regulate our reading as we age has found that older adults who remember more of what they’ve read tend to have developed strategies to deal with the decline in some cognitive abilities that tends to occur as we get older. One thing they do is to spend more time building a “situation model” at the beginning of a story or book. They take time to get a feel for the setting, to get to know the characters, and to get grounded in important details of the story. This enables them to more easily integrate new information later on. They also pause longer and more often to integrate new concepts or to orient themselves to a change of setting in the text.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-08/uoia-aah080207.php

Brain network associated with cognitive reserve identified

An imaging study involving young (18-30) and older (65-80) adults has identified a brain network within the frontal lobe that is associated with cognitive reserve, the process that allows individuals to resist cognitive decline due to aging or Alzheimer’s disease. Those with higher levels of cognitive reserve were able to activate this network in the brain while working on more difficult tasks, while participants with lower levels of reserve were not able to tap into this particular network. The network was found more often in younger participants, suggesting the network may degrade during aging.
The findings were published online ahead of print August 3 in Cerebral Cortex.   Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-08/cumc-cri082007.php

December 2006

Mental training helps maintain some seniors' cognitive skills

The Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly (ACTIVE) Study involved 2,832 adults aged 65 and older (average age 73.6 years). Participants were randomly assigned to four groups, three of which took part in training that targeted a specific cognitive ability (memory, reasoning or speed of processing). The fourth group was a control group and received no cognitive training. People in the three intervention groups attended up to 10 training sessions lasting 60 to 75 minutes each, over a five- to six-week time period. The memory group learned strategies for remembering word lists and sequences of items, text, and story ideas and details. The reasoning group learned strategies for finding the pattern in a letter or word series and identifying the next item in a series. The speed-of-processing group learned ways to identify an object on a computer screen at increasingly brief exposures, while quickly noting where another object was located on the screen. After the initial training, some also took part in 4 75-minute "booster" sessions at 11 and 35 months after training.

Immediately after the initial training, 87% of the speed-training group, 74% of the reasoning group and 26% of the memory group showed improvement in the skills taught. After five years, people in each group performed better on tests in their respective areas of training than did people in the control group. The reasoning-training and speed-training groups who received booster training had the greatest benefit. After five years, all three intervention groups still retained improvement in the cognitive abilities targeted by the intervention. They also reported less difficulty than the control group in tasks such as preparing meals, managing money and doing housework, but only the effect of reasoning training was statistically significant. Those who received speed-of-processing training and follow-up booster training scored better on how quickly and accurately they could find items on a pantry shelf, make change, read medicine dosing instructions, place telephone calls and react to road traffic signs, but booster training for the other two groups did not have a significant effect on this ability. Booster training did however produce additional improvement in reasoning for the reasoning group.
The research was published in the December 20 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-12/nioa-meh121806.htm
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-12/jaaj-ctf121406.htm
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-12/wfub-ntf121906.htm

January 2006

Actors’ memory tricks help students and older adults

The ability of actors to remember large amounts of dialog verbatim is a marvel to most of us, and most of us assume they do by painful rote memorization. But two researchers have been studying the way actors learn for many years and have concluded that the secret of actors' memories is in the acting; an actor learning lines by focusing on the character’s motives and feelings — they get inside the character. To do this, they break a script down into a series of logically connected "beats" or intentions. The researchers call this process active experiencing, which uses "all physical, mental, and emotional channels to communicate the meaning of material to another person." This principle can be applied in other contexts. For example, students who imagined themselves explaining something to somebody else remembered more than those who tried to memorize the material by rote. Physical movement also helps — lines learned while doing something, such as walking across the stage, were remembered better than lines not accompanied with action. The principles have been found useful in improving memory in older adults: older adults who received a four-week course in acting showed significantly improved word-recall and problem-solving abilities compared to both a group that received a visual-arts course and a control group, and this improvement persisted four months afterward.
A review of this research will appear in the February issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-01/aps-bo012506.htm

June 2004

'Imagination' helps older people remember to comply with medical advice

A new study suggests a way to help older people remember to take medications and follow other medical advice. Researchers found older adults (aged 60 to 81) who spent a few minutes picturing how they would test their blood sugar were 50% more likely to actually do these tests on a regular basis than those who used other memory techniques. Participants were assigned to one of three groups. One group spent one 3-minute session visualizing exactly what they would be doing and where they would be the next day when they were scheduled to test their blood sugar levels. Another group repeatedly recited aloud the instructions for testing their blood. The last group were asked to write a list of pros and cons for testing blood sugar. All participants were asked not to use timers, alarms or other devices. Over 3 weeks, the “imagination” group remembered 76% of the time to test their blood sugar at the right times of the day compared to an average of 46% in the other two groups. They were also far less likely to go an entire day without testing than those in the other two groups.
The study appeared in the June issue of Psychology and Aging. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-06/nioa-ho060104.htm

February 2002

Older adults show two kinds of cognitive-processing deficits: under-recruitment, where appropriate areas of the brain are less likely to be utilised without specific instruction, and non-selective recruitment, where non-relevant regions of the brain are more likely to be used. A recent imaging study confirmed that older adults were less likely than younger ones to use the critical frontal regions when performing a memory task, and more likely to use cortical regions that are not as useful. However, when subjects were given specific strategy instructions, the older adults showed increased activity in the frontal regions, and their remembering improved. Even with this support however, older adults still showed a greater tendency to use brain regions that were not useful.
The report appeared in the February 28 issue of Neuron. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-02/hhmi-tci021302.htm
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-02/wuis-bis021402.htm

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