ABSTRACT

Cognitive training research has revealed support for both the magnification and compensation accounts, respectively predicting larger or smaller training benefits for individuals already having strong cognitive abilities. A recent study in older adults (OAs) revealed evidence for the Compensation-Related Utilization of Neural Circuits Hypothesis, which best fits a magnification account. Only few studies examined working memory (WM) training gains in OAs as a function of initial executive functioning level. Here, we tracked the progress of high and low functioning OAs across WM training sessions. The high functioning OAs continued to improve their performance on the three training tasks. However, for one of the training tasks, the low functioning participants failed to improve performance or terminated participation in the course of training. The results suggest that during cognitive training, evaluation of the individual’s cognitive capacity and performance monitoring are essential to maintain an optimal balance between cognitive resources and task demands.

摘要

认知训练研究表明支持放大和补偿帐户，分别预测已经具有强大认知能力的个人的更大或更小的培训收益。最近一项针对老年人 (OA) 的研究揭示了与补偿相关的神经回路利用假说的证据，该假说最适合放大说明。只有少数研究将 OA 中的工作记忆 (WM) 训练收益作为初始执行功能水平的函数进行了研究。在这里，我们跟踪了 WM 培训课程中高功能和低功能 OA 的进度。高功能 OA 继续提高他们在三项培训任务上的表现。然而，对于其中一项培训任务，低功能参与者未能提高绩效或终止参与培训过程。