Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2013;20(5):522-31.
doi: 10.1080/13825585.2012.736469. Epub 2012 Nov 1.

Within-session practice eliminates age differences in cognitive control

Vonetta M Dotson  1 , Christopher N Sozda, Michael Marsiske, William M Perlstein
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Within-session practice eliminates age differences in cognitive control

Vonetta M Dotson et al. Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B Aging Neuropsychol Cogn. 2013.

Abstract

ABSTRACT Previous research employing short-term practice and long-term training have been successful in reducing cognitive control deficits in the elderly. The goal of this study was to examine the effect of practice within session on a demanding cognitive control task. Nineteen older adults and 16 young adults performed 720 trials of a cued version of the Stroop task, in which an instructional cue is presented before each individually presented Stroop stimulus. Statistical analyses focused on the most difficult color-naming condition in task-switching blocks. Overall, participants showed faster reaction times and decreased errors with practice, particularly on incongruent trials. Older adults showed a greater reduction in errors with practice than young adults. Moreover, older adults, but not young adults, showed a reduction in errors and reaction times with practice on incongruent trials. Findings further suggest that practice reduces age-related differences in cognitive control. Improvements in cognitive control functioning has implications for treating functional deficits in older adults.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Cued-Stroop error rates and reaction times for congruent and incongruent trials as a function of age group.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Cued-Stroop error rates and reaction times in young and older adults across block number (i.e., practice) as a function of congruency.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Albert MS, Jones K, Savage CR, Berkman L, Seeman T, Blazer D, et al. Predictors of cognitive change in older persons: MacArthur studies of successful aging. Psychology and Aging. 1995;10(4):578–589. - PubMed
    1. Ball K, Berch DB, Helmers KF, Jobe JB, Leveck MD, Marsiske M, et al. Effects of cognitive training interventions with older adults: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2002;288(18):2271–2281. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Beck AT. Beck Depression Inventory. Second Edition (BDI-II) The Psychological Corporation; USA: 1996.
    1. Brandt J, Spencer M, Folstein M. The Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status. Neuropsychiatry, Neuropsychology, & Behavioral Neurology. 1988;1(2):111–117.
    1. Cohen JD, Barch DM, Carter C, Servan-Schreiber D. Context-processing deficits in schizophrenia: converging evidence from three theoretically motivated cognitive tasks. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 1999;108(1):120–133. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources