Transfer effects in task-set cost and dual-task cost after dual-task training in older and younger adults: further evidence for cognitive plasticity in attentional control in late adulthood.

Full Abstract

Older adults' difficulties in performing two tasks concurrently have been well documented (Kramer & Madden, 2008). It has been observed that the age-related differences in dual-task performance are larger when the two tasks require similar motor responses (2001) and that in some conditions older adults also show greater susceptibility than younger adults to input interference (Hein & Schubert, 2004). The authors recently observed that even when the two tasks require motor responses, both older and younger adults can learn to perform a visual discrimination task and an auditory discrimination task faster and more accurately (Bherer et al., 2005). In the present study, the authors extended this finding to a dual-task condition that involves two visual tasks requiring two motor responses. Older and younger adults completed a dual-task training program in which continuous individualized adaptive feedback was provided to enhance performance. The results indicate that, even with similar motor responses and two visual stimuli, both older and younger adults showed substantial gains in performance after training and that the improvement generalized to new task combinations involving new stimuli. These results suggest that dual-task skills can be substantially improved in older adults and that cognitive plasticity in attentional control is still possible in old age.

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Author information

Author/s: Bherer, Louis (L); Kramer, Arthur F (AF); Peterson, Matthew S (MS); Colcombe, Stanley (S); Erickson, Kirk (K); Becic, Ensar (E);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Quebec at Montreal and Institut Universitaire de Geriatrie de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. bherer.louis@uqam.ca

Grants: R01 AG25032 (Agency:United States NIA) ; R01 AG25667 (Agency:United States NIA)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Experimental aging research (Exp Aging Res), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: -2008 Jul-Sep; vol 34 (issue 3) : pp 188-219

Dates: Created 2008/06/23; Completed 2008/08/07;

PMID: 18568979, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult
Aged
Aging - psychology
Attention
Cognition
Discrimination Learning
Female
Generalization, Stimulus
Humans
Judgment
Male
Memory, Short-Term

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