Inhibition Plasticity in Older Adults: Practice and Transfer Effects Using a Multiple Task Approach

Objective. To examine plasticity of inhibition, as indexed by practice effects of inhibition tasks and the associated transfer effects, using a multiple task approach in healthy older adults. Method. Forty-eight healthy older adults were evenly assigned to either a practice group or a no-contact con...

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Main Authors: Andrea J. Wilkinson, Lixia Yang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2016-01-01
Series:Neural Plasticity
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/9696402
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author Andrea J. Wilkinson
Lixia Yang
author_facet Andrea J. Wilkinson
Lixia Yang
author_sort Andrea J. Wilkinson
collection DOAJ
description Objective. To examine plasticity of inhibition, as indexed by practice effects of inhibition tasks and the associated transfer effects, using a multiple task approach in healthy older adults. Method. Forty-eight healthy older adults were evenly assigned to either a practice group or a no-contact control group. All participants completed pretest (2.5 hours) and posttest (2 hours) sessions, with a 2-week interval in between. During the 2-week interval, only the practice group completed six 30-minute practice sessions (three sessions per week for two consecutive weeks) of three lab-based inhibition tasks. Results. All three inhibition tasks demonstrated significant improvement across practice sessions, suggesting practice-induced plasticity. The benefit, however, only transferred to near-near tasks. The results are inconclusive with regard to the near-far and far-far transfer effects. Discussion. This study further extends literature on practice effects of inhibition in older adults by using a multiple task approach. Together with previous work, the current study suggests that older adults are able to improve inhibition performance through practice and transfer the practice gains to tasks that overlap in both target cognitive ability and task structure (i.e., near-near tasks).
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spelling doaj-art-a739aa6c77a34782b75a19c99a2757bb2025-08-20T02:20:38ZengWileyNeural Plasticity2090-59041687-54432016-01-01201610.1155/2016/96964029696402Inhibition Plasticity in Older Adults: Practice and Transfer Effects Using a Multiple Task ApproachAndrea J. Wilkinson0Lixia Yang1Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, M5B 2K3, CanadaDepartment of Psychology, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, M5B 2K3, CanadaObjective. To examine plasticity of inhibition, as indexed by practice effects of inhibition tasks and the associated transfer effects, using a multiple task approach in healthy older adults. Method. Forty-eight healthy older adults were evenly assigned to either a practice group or a no-contact control group. All participants completed pretest (2.5 hours) and posttest (2 hours) sessions, with a 2-week interval in between. During the 2-week interval, only the practice group completed six 30-minute practice sessions (three sessions per week for two consecutive weeks) of three lab-based inhibition tasks. Results. All three inhibition tasks demonstrated significant improvement across practice sessions, suggesting practice-induced plasticity. The benefit, however, only transferred to near-near tasks. The results are inconclusive with regard to the near-far and far-far transfer effects. Discussion. This study further extends literature on practice effects of inhibition in older adults by using a multiple task approach. Together with previous work, the current study suggests that older adults are able to improve inhibition performance through practice and transfer the practice gains to tasks that overlap in both target cognitive ability and task structure (i.e., near-near tasks).http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/9696402
spellingShingle Andrea J. Wilkinson
Lixia Yang
Inhibition Plasticity in Older Adults: Practice and Transfer Effects Using a Multiple Task Approach
Neural Plasticity
title Inhibition Plasticity in Older Adults: Practice and Transfer Effects Using a Multiple Task Approach
title_full Inhibition Plasticity in Older Adults: Practice and Transfer Effects Using a Multiple Task Approach
title_fullStr Inhibition Plasticity in Older Adults: Practice and Transfer Effects Using a Multiple Task Approach
title_full_unstemmed Inhibition Plasticity in Older Adults: Practice and Transfer Effects Using a Multiple Task Approach
title_short Inhibition Plasticity in Older Adults: Practice and Transfer Effects Using a Multiple Task Approach
title_sort inhibition plasticity in older adults practice and transfer effects using a multiple task approach
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/9696402
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