The Ageing Game: Neural plasticity, cognitive training and transfer of training gains to everyday activities for older Australians

Abstract

Healthy ageing is important for individuals, families, and the economy. The ability to remain independent, care for oneself and to engage in social activities remains a key element to avoid social isolation, depression, and associated health decline. Later life changes in neural processing speed and attentional processes are among the changes associated with normal, healthy ageing, but these changes are often the harbinger of loss of confidence and ability in other more complex activities related to living independently in the community. Cognitive training has shown some promising, but inconsistent results in compensating for cognitive performance losses. Although cognitive training results in improved performance on a trained task, there is mixed evidence of transfer of training gains to other close related (near transfer) or more distant (far transfer) cognitive functions. This research aimed to examine the importance of attention as a key component of cognitive training and its contribution to the transfer of training gains. The far transfer target was the UFOV Test which served as a proxy for driving, an important element of independence for older people. Fifty community dwelling older adults attended lab-based sessions where they completed the UFOV tasks pre and post intervention. The intervention was attention targeted training or working memory targeted training that was accessed via a purpose-built website, in their homes on their own computers. Due to the repeated measures design, multilevel linear modelling was used for analysis. Individual differences were examined to identify predictors of UFOV performance. Results demonstrated a clear transfer of training gains from the home-based cognitive training to the UFOV Divided Attention task, supporting the success of training transfer to an unpractised task. However, there were also transfer gains for the working memory group (unexpected, but interesting). Results for the third and most difficult of the three UFOV tasks targeting selective attention indicated a strong practice effect that obscured any benefits from home-based training. Examination of individual differences identified fluid intelligence/attentional control significantly predicted UFOV performance and that insight into lapses of attention declines in older age. Although this research produced mixed results, it did demonstrate that home-based cognitive training resulted in far transfer to a proxy for driving competence in a group of older adults. These results contribute to evidence for training related cognitive gains for older adults, with emphasis on attention training. The uptake and adherence to the training program by participants confirmed the benefit of supporting older people to train at home rather than at a university-based lab. The importance of this finding is that offering easily accessible cognitive training, at a time convenient to the individual and in their own home, provided the opportunity for older people to engage in activities that may assist in maintaining independence and wellbeing. Show more