The Effect of Cognitive Training on Brain Function: The Case of Working Memory

Cognitive ability is a key selection criterion for entry into many elite professions. Herein, we investigate whether mindfulness training (MT) can enhance cognitive performance in elite military forces. The cognitive effects of a short-form 8-hour MT program contextualized for military cohorts, referred to as Mindfulness-Based Attention Training (MBAT), were assessed. Servicemembers received either a 2-week (n = 40) or 4-week (n = 36) version of MBAT, or no training (NTC, n = 44). Sustained attention and working memory task performance along with self-reported cognitive failures were assessed at study onset (T1) and 8-weeks later (T2). In contrast to both the NTC and 2-week MT groups, the 4-week MT group significantly improved over time on attention and working memory outcome measures. Among the 4-week more so than the 2-week MBAT participants, working memory performance improvements were correlated with their amount of out-of-class MT practice. In addition to these group-wise effects, all participants receiving MBAT decreased in their self-reported cognitive failures from T1 to T2. Importantly, none of these improvements were related to self-reported task motivation. Together, these results suggest that short-form MT, when delivered over a 4-week delivery schedule, may be an effective cognitive training tool in elite military cohorts.

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Spontaneous Eye Blinks Predict Executive Functioning in Seniors

Journal of Cognitive Enhancement ◽

10.1007/s41465-021-00217-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jessika I. V. Buitenweg ◽

Jaap M. J. Murre ◽

K. Richard Ridderinkhof

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Working Memory ◽

Executive Functioning ◽

Cognitive Training ◽

Functional Decline ◽

Future Research ◽

Blink Rate ◽

Memory Updating ◽

Age Related ◽

Working Memory Updating

AbstractAs the world’s population is aging rapidly, cognitive training is an extensively used approach to attempt improvement of age-related cognitive functioning. With increasing numbers of older adults required to remain in the workforce, it is important to be able to reliably predict future functional decline, as well as the individual advantages of cognitive training. Given the correlation between age-related decline and striatal dopaminergic function, we investigated whether eye blink rate (EBR), a non-invasive, indirect indicator of dopaminergic activity, could predict executive functioning (response inhibition, switching and working memory updating) as well as trainability of executive functioning in older adults. EBR was collected before and after a cognitive flexibility training, cognitive training without flexibility, or a mock training. EBR predicted working memory updating performance on two measures of updating, as well as trainability of working memory updating, whereas performance and trainability in inhibition and switching tasks could not be predicted by EBR. Our findings tentatively indicate that EBR permits prediction of working memory performance in older adults. To fully interpret the relationship with executive functioning, we suggest future research should assess both EBR and dopamine receptor availability among seniors.

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EXPRESS: Two Variations and One Similarity in Memory Functions Deployed by Mice and Humans to Support Foraging

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1177/17470218211010576 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 174702182110105

Author(s):

Spencer Talbot ◽

Todor Gerdjikov ◽

Carlo De Lillo

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Brain Function ◽

Visual Cues ◽

Brain Structures ◽

Human Cognition ◽

Foraging Efficiency ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Memory Functions ◽

Term Memory

Assessing variations in cognitive function between humans and animals is vital for understanding the idiosyncrasies of human cognition and for refining animal models of human brain function and disease. We determined memory functions deployed by mice and humans to support foraging with a search task acting as a test battery. Mice searched for food from the top of poles within an open-arena. Poles were divided into groups based on visual cues and baited according to different schedules. White and black poles were baited in alternate trials. Striped poles were never baited. The requirement of the task was to find all baits in each trial. Mice’s foraging efficiency, defined as the number of poles visited before all baits were retrieved, improved with practice. Mice learnt to avoid visiting un-baited poles across trials (Long-term memory) and revisits to poles within each trial (Working memory). Humans tested with a virtual-reality version of the task outperformed mice in foraging efficiency, working memory and exploitation of the temporal pattern of rewards across trials. Moreover, humans, but not mice, reduced the number of possible movement sequences used to search the set of poles. For these measures interspecies differences were maintained throughout three weeks of testing. By contrast, long-term-memory for never-rewarded poles was similar in mice and humans after the first week of testing. These results indicate that human cognitive functions relying upon archaic brain structures may be adequately modelled in mice. Conversely, modelling in mice fluid skills likely to have developed specifically in primates, requires caution.

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Effects of multi-domain cognitive training on working memory retrieval in older adults: behavioral and ERP evidence from a Chinese community study

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-020-79784-z ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Xiangfei Hong ◽

You Chen ◽

Jijun Wang ◽

Yuan Shen ◽

Qingwei Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Working Memory ◽

Training Program ◽

Cognitive Training ◽

Local Community ◽

Training Group ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Control Group ◽

Baseline Session

AbstractWorking memory (WM) is a fundamental cognitive function that typically declines with age. Previous studies have shown that targeted WM training has the potential to improve WM performance in older adults. In the present study, we investigated whether a multi-domain cognitive training program that was not designed to specifically target WM could improve the behavioral performance and affect the neural activity during WM retrieval in healthy older adults. We assigned healthy older participants (70–78 years old) from a local community into a training group who completed a 3-month multi-domain cognitive training and a control group who only attended health education lectures during the same period. Behavioral and electroencephalography (EEG) data were recorded from participants while performing an untrained delayed match or non-match to category task and a control task at a pre-training baseline session and a post-training follow-up session. Behaviorally, we found that participants in the training group showed a trend toward greater WM performance gains than participants in the control group. Event-related potential (ERP) results suggest that the task-related modulation of P3 during WM retrieval was significantly enhanced at the follow-up session compared with the baseline session, and importantly, this enhancement of P3 modulation was only significant in the training group. Furthermore, no training-related effects were observed for the P2 or N2 component during WM retrieval. These results suggest that the multi-domain cognitive training program that was not designed to specifically target WM is a promising approach to improve WM performance in older adults, and that training-related gains in performance are likely mediated by an enhanced modulation of P3 which might reflect the process of WM updating.

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Neuroplasticity-based cognitive training improves working-memory and self-referential source-memory in schizophrenia patients: Behavioral and fMRI assessments

NeuroImage ◽

10.1016/s1053-8119(09)70994-2 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 47 ◽

pp. S110

Author(s):

K. Subramaniam ◽

T. Luks ◽

S. Aldebot ◽

A. Hearst ◽

A. Thangavel ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Cognitive Training ◽

Source Memory

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Cognitive Aftereffects of Acute tDCS Coupled with Cognitive Training: An fMRI Study in Healthy Seniors

Neural Plasticity ◽

10.1155/2021/6664479 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2021 ◽

pp. 1-10

Author(s):

P. Šimko ◽

M. Pupíková ◽

M. Gajdoš ◽

I. Rektorová

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Working Memory ◽

Cognitive Training ◽

Brain Network ◽

Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽

Double Blind ◽

Sham Stimulation ◽

Highly Educated ◽

Fmri Study ◽

Dorsolateral Prefrontal

Enhancing cognitive functions through noninvasive brain stimulation is of enormous public interest, particularly for the aging population in whom processes such as working memory are known to decline. In a randomized double-blind crossover study, we investigated the acute behavioral and neural aftereffects of bifrontal and frontoparietal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) combined with visual working memory (VWM) training on 25 highly educated older adults. Resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) analysis was performed prior to and after each stimulation session with a focus on the frontoparietal control network (FPCN). The bifrontal montage with anode over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex enhanced VWM accuracy as compared to the sham stimulation. With the rs-FC within the FPCN, we observed significant stimulation × time interaction using bifrontal tDCS. We found no cognitive aftereffects of the frontoparietal tDCS compared to sham stimulation. Our study shows that a single bifrontal tDCS combined with cognitive training may enhance VWM performance and rs-FC within the relevant brain network even in highly educated older adults.

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Novel Television-Based Cognitive Training Improves Working Memory and Executive Function

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0101472 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 9 (7) ◽

pp. e101472 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

Author(s):

Evelyn Shatil ◽

Jaroslava Mikulecká ◽

Francesco Bellotti ◽

Vladimír Bureš

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Executive Function ◽

Cognitive Training

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Cognitive training

10.13056/acamh.4026 ◽

2018 ◽

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Attentional Bias ◽

Cognitive Training ◽

Cognitive Bias ◽

Cognitive Bias Modification ◽

Working Memory Training ◽

Memory Training ◽

Attentional Bias Modification ◽

Bias Modification ◽

Modification Treatment

An introduction to cognitive training approaches, including working memory training, Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM) and Attentional Bias Modification Treatment (ABMT).

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