Transfer and maintenance effects of online working-memory training in normal ageing and mild cognitive impairment
Transfer and maintenance effects of online working-memory training in normal ageing and mild cognitive impairment
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DOI：
10.1080/09602011.2015.1048694
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发表时间：
2016-09
影响因子：
2.7
通讯作者：
Anouk Vermeij;J. Claassen;P. Dautzenberg;R. Kessels
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Anouk Vermeij;J. Claassen;P. Dautzenberg;R. Kessels
工作记忆（Working Memory，WM）是一种易受衰老影响的认知功能。因此，能够改善老年WM功能的干预措施具有高度相关性。在这项初步研究中，我们探讨了核心工作记忆训练对工作记忆域和其他认知域的转移效应，在23名健康老年人和18名遗忘型轻度认知障碍（MCI）患者。在完成为期五周的在线自适应WM训练之前和之后，以及三个月的随访期之后，对神经心理学测试的表现进行了评估。训练后，两组人的数字广度和空间广度都有所改善，并在随访时保持增长。在个人层面上，有限数量的参与者显示出可靠的培训收益。健康的老年人，在较小程度上MCI患者，在群体水平上的图形流畅性也有所改善，但在个人水平上没有改善。结果进一步表明，通过MRI评估的全脑萎缩和海马萎缩可能对训练结果产生负面影响。我们的研究考察了核心工作记忆训练，显示出工作记忆领域内训练和未训练任务的收益，但没有广泛推广到其他认知领域。需要更多的研究来评估这些发现的临床相关性，并确定预测训练增益的参与者特征。
Working memory (WM) is one of the cognitive functions that is susceptible to ageing-related decline. Interventions that are able to improve WM functioning at older age are thus highly relevant. In this pilot study, we explored the transfer effects of core WM training on the WM domain and other cognitive domains in 23 healthy older adults and 18 patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Performance on neuropsychological tests was assessed before and after completion of the online five-week adaptive WM training, and after a three-month follow-up period. After training, both groups improved on the Digit Span and Spatial Span, gains that were maintained at follow-up. At an individual level, a limited number of participants showed reliable training gain. Healthy older adults, and to a lesser extent MCI patients, additionally improved on figural fluency at group level, but not at individual level. Results furthermore showed that global brain atrophy and hippocampal atrophy, as assessed by MRI, may negatively affect training outcome. Our study examined core WM training, showing gains on trained and untrained tasks within the WM domain, but no broad generalisation to other cognitive domains. More research is needed to evaluate the clinical relevance of these findings and to identify participant characteristics that are predictive of training gain.