Can working memory capacity be expanded by boosting working memory updating efficiency in older adults?

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (8) ◽  
pp. 1134-1151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Du ◽  
Yang Ji ◽  
Tianyong Chen ◽  
Yi Tang ◽  
Buxin Han
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Updating ◽  
Working Memory Updating

Working-memory updating training in younger and older adults: Training and transfer effects

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tilo Strobach ◽  
Tiina Salminen ◽  
Petra Redel ◽  
Kathrin Finke ◽  
Torsten Schubert
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Transfer Effects ◽  
Memory Updating ◽  
Working Memory Updating

scholarly journals Spontaneous Eye Blinks Predict Executive Functioning in Seniors

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.

scholarly journals Age-Related Declines in Visuospatial Working Memory Correlate With Deficits in Explicit Motor Sequence Learning

2009 ◽  
Vol 102 (5) ◽  
pp. 2744-2754 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Bo ◽  
V. Borza ◽  
R. D. Seidler
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Sequence Learning ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Visuospatial Working Memory ◽  
Motor Sequence Learning ◽  
Motor Sequence ◽  
Age Related

Numerous studies have shown that older adults exhibit deficits in motor sequence learning, but the mechanisms underlying this effect remain unclear. Our recent work has shown that visuospatial working-memory capacity predicts the rate of motor sequence learning and the length of motor chunks formed during explicit sequence learning in young adults. In the current study, we evaluate whether age-related deficits in working memory explain the reduced rate of motor sequence learning in older adults. We found that older adults exhibited a correlation between visuospatial working-memory capacity and motor sequence chunk length, as we observed previously in young adults. In addition, older adults exhibited an overall reduction in both working-memory capacity and motor chunk length compared with that of young adults. However, individual variations in visuospatial working-memory capacity did not correlate with the rate of learning in older adults. These results indicate that working memory declines with age at least partially explain age-related differences in explicit motor sequence learning.

scholarly journals Frontoparietal tDCS Benefits Visual Working Memory in Older Adults With Low Working Memory Capacity

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hector Arciniega ◽  
Filiz Gözenman ◽  
Kevin T. Jones ◽  
Jaclyn A. Stephens ◽  
Marian E. Berryhill
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity

scholarly journals Gauging Working Memory Capacity From Differential Resting Brain Oscillations in Older Individuals With A Wearable Device

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soheil Borhani ◽  
Xiaopeng Zhao ◽  
Margaret R. Kelly ◽  
Karah E. Gottschalk ◽  
Fengpei Yuan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Brain Oscillations ◽  
Healthy Older Adults ◽  
Eyes Closed ◽  
The Right

Working memory is a core cognitive function and its deficits is one of the most common cognitive impairments. Reduced working memory capacity manifests as reduced accuracy in memory recall and prolonged speed of memory retrieval in older adults. Currently, the relationship between healthy older individuals’ age-related changes in resting brain oscillations and their working memory capacity is not clear. Eyes-closed resting electroencephalogram (rEEG) is gaining momentum as a potential neuromarker of mild cognitive impairments. Wearable and wireless EEG headset measuring key electrophysiological brain signals during rest and a working memory task was utilized. This research’s central hypothesis is that rEEG (e.g., eyes closed for 90 s) frequency and network features are surrogate markers for working memory capacity in healthy older adults. Forty-three older adults’ memory performance (accuracy and reaction times), brain oscillations during rest, and inter-channel magnitude-squared coherence during rest were analyzed. We report that individuals with a lower memory retrieval accuracy showed significantly increased alpha and beta oscillations over the right parietal site. Yet, faster working memory retrieval was significantly correlated with increased delta and theta band powers over the left parietal sites. In addition, significantly increased coherence between the left parietal site and the right frontal area is correlated with the faster speed in memory retrieval. The frontal and parietal dynamics of resting EEG is associated with the “accuracy and speed trade-off” during working memory in healthy older adults. Our results suggest that rEEG brain oscillations at local and distant neural circuits are surrogates of working memory retrieval’s accuracy and processing speed. Our current findings further indicate that rEEG frequency and coherence features recorded by wearable headsets and a brief resting and task protocol are potential biomarkers for working memory capacity. Additionally, wearable headsets are useful for fast screening of cognitive impairment risk.

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