Abstract
Normal aging is associated with a degradation of perceptual abilities and a decline in higher-level cognitive functions, notably working memory. To remediate age-related deficits, cognitive training programs are increasingly being developed. However, it is not yet definitively established if, and by what mechanisms, training ameliorates effects of cognitive aging. Furthermore, a major factor impeding the success of training programs is a frequent failure of training to transfer benefits to untrained abilities. Here, we offer the first evidence of direct transfer-of-benefits from perceptual discrimination training to working memory performance in older adults. Moreover, using electroencephalography to evaluate participants before and after training, we reveal neural evidence of functional plasticity in older adult brains, such that training-induced modifications in early visual processing during stimulus encoding predict working memory accuracy improvements. These findings demonstrate the strength of the perceptual discrimination training approach by offering clear psychophysical evidence of transfer-of-benefit and a neural mechanism underlying cognitive improvement.
Highlights
Computerized training programs are increasingly being developed to improve perception, attention and memory abilities in older adults [1,2]
This study offers critical evidence of the benefit that perceptual training has on visual perception and Working memory (WM) performance in older adults
We present neural data of training-related plasticity in older adults and identify a neural marker of perceptual training transfer that correlates with WM performance enhancement
Summary
Computerized training programs are increasingly being developed to improve perception, attention and memory abilities in older adults [1,2]. Perceptual learning has been documented to occur in older adults [14,15], the ability, or inability, of discrimination training to transfer benefits to different perceptual features has not yet been evaluated. We hypothesize that training programs that are successful in improving perceptual abilities in older adults will have direct consequences on higher cognitive functions, such as WM, via the generation of higher fidelity internal representations of to-beremembered stimuli [2]. Participants pressed one of two buttons for each movement to indicate whether they perceived the stimuli expanding or contracting Training was adaptive such that the speed of expansion/contraction and the duration of the inter-stimulus interval (ISI) scaled with improvements in response accuracy, so as to continuously challenge the trainees [20]. Attention and WM performance on untrained tests were assessed for both groups to evaluate transfer-of-benefit, and simultaneous electroencephalography (EEG) recordings were utilized to assess neural mechanisms of traininginduced performance changes
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