Abstract
Research has shown that cognitive training can enhance performance in executive control tasks. The current study was designed to explore if executive control, specifically task switching, can be trained in adolescents, what particular aspects of executive control may underlie training and transfer effects, and if acute bouts of exercise directly prior to cognitive training enhance training effects. For that purpose, a task switching training was employed that has been shown to be effective in other age groups. A group of adolescents (10–14 years, n = 20) that received a three-session task switching training was compared to a group (n = 20) that received the same task switching training but who exercised on a stationary bike before each training session. Additionally, a no-contact and an exercise only control group were included (both ns = 20). Analyses indicated that both training groups significantly reduced their switching costs over the course of the training sessions for reaction times and error rates, respectively. Analyses indicated transfer to mixing costs in a task switching task that was similar to the one used in training. Far transfer was limited to a choice reaction time task and a tendency for faster reaction times in an updating task. Analyses revealed no additional effects of the exercise intervention. Findings thus indicate that executive control can be enhanced in adolescents through training and that updating may be of particular relevance for the effects of task switching training.
Highlights
Executive control is the ability to plan, execute, and monitor goaldirected behavior (Norman and Shallice, 1986)
TRAINING GAINS IN TRAINED TASKS The first set of analyses was conducted with the two training groups to answer the first and third research question: if task switching can be improved in adolescents via cognitive training and if prior physical exercise influences training gains
Current study set out to explore if executive control can be trained in the age group of adolescents with a task switching training
Summary
Executive control is the ability to plan, execute, and monitor goaldirected behavior (Norman and Shallice, 1986). There is a small, but growing body of promising research showing that executive control functions can be enhanced by systematic cognitive training with tasks requiring updating (Dahlin et al, 2008; Jaeggi et al, 2008), working memory (Klingberg et al, 2005; Holmes et al, 2009; Klingberg, 2010), task switching (Karbach and Kray, 2009), or dual task performance (Bherer et al, 2005; Liepelt et al, 2011). Other studies have failed to find any transfer to similar tasks or suggest that transfer may be restricted to the trained domain (e.g., Dowsett and Livesey, 2000; Li et al, 2008; Strobach et al, in press). All of these studies have used a process-based training approach, where repeated performance on tasks, feedback, and often gradual adjustment of difficulty (Klingberg, 2010) implicitly leads to improvements
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