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Cited by 50Cognitive Abilities and TestingCognitive Functions and MemoryAging and Gerontology Research

Does Strategy Training Reduce Age-Related Deficits in Working Memory?

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Bailey, Heather R., Dunlosky, John, Hertzog, Christopher·2014·Gerontology
DOI 10.1159/000356699PMC PMC4074452
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Abstract

Background: Older adults typically perform worse on measures of working memory (WM) than do young adults; however, age-related differences in WM performance might be reduced if older adults use effective encoding strategies. Objective: The purpose of the current experiment was to evaluate WM performance after training individuals to use effective encoding strategies. Methods: Participants in the training group (older adults: n = 39; young adults: n = 41) were taught about various verbal encoding strategies and their differential effectiveness and were trained to use interactive imagery and sentence generation on a list-learning task. Participants in the control group (older: n = 37; young: n = 38) completed an equally engaging filler task. All participants completed a pre- and post-training reading span task, which included self-reported strategy use, as well as two transfer tasks that differed in the affordance to use the trained strategies - a paired-associate recall task and the self-ordered pointing task. Results: Both young and older adults were able to use the target strategies on the WM task and showed gains in WM performance after training. The age-related WM deficit was not greatly affected, however, and the training gains did not transfer to the other cognitive tasks. In fact, participants attempted to adapt the trained strategies for a paired-associate recall task, but the increased strategy use did not benefit their performance. Conclusions: Strategy training can boost WM performance, and its benefits appear to arise from strategy-specific effects and not from domain-general gains in cognitive ability.

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  • Bailey and colleagues reported performance improvement on their complex span task after strategy practice with word list learning, but not on paired-associate cued recall or a memory-based shape selection task.

    “Bailey and colleagues13 reported performance improvement on their complex span task after strategy practice with word list learning, albeit paired-associate cued recall and a memory-based shape selection task did not show training benefits.”

    From The early effects of external and internal strategies on working memory updating training (2018) · cites this paper as [13]

  • Earlier studies with WM strategy intervention have not explicitly reported results from power analyses.

    “Earlier studies with WM strategy intervention have not explicitly reported results from power analyses10–13.”

    From The early effects of external and internal strategies on working memory updating training (2018) · cites this paper as [13]

  • The present results using the n-back paradigm align well with previous findings that explicit WM strategy instruction can be effective and that self-generated WM strategies are associated with higher task performance.

    “The present results using the n-back paradigm align well with previous findings mainly from complex span studies that have indicated that explicit WM strategy instruction can be effective10–13, and that self-generated WM strategies are associated with higher task performance9,10,14–16.”

    From The early effects of external and internal strategies on working memory updating training (2018) · cites this paper as [13]

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Authors
Bailey, H. R., Dunlosky, J., & Hertzog, C.
Affiliations
  • Washington University in St. Louis (US)
  • Kent State University (US)
  • Georgia Institute of Technology (US)
ORCID
Venue
Gerontology
Publisher
S. Karger AG
Published
2014
Volume
60
Issue
4
Pages
346-356
ISSN
  • 0304-324X (ISSN-L)
  • 1423-0003
DOI
10.1159/000356699
PMC
PMC4074452
OpenAlex
W2086875019
Cited by
49
References
56
Citations by year
2025: 4 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 6 · 2015: 1
FWCI
3.24
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Gerontology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Institute on Aging (R37AG013148, F32AG039162, R37-AG13148)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
Keywords
working memory, strategy training, age-related cognitive decline, older adults, sentence generation, list learning, reading span, strategy transfer, strategy use
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aging, Cognition, Female, Humans, Learning, Male, Memory, Short-Term, Middle Aged, Reading, Mental Recall, Task Performance and Analysis, Transfer, Psychology, Young Adult

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