Christina Röcke

Working memory plasticity in old age: practice gain, transfer, and maintenance.

Adult age differences in cognitive plasticity have been studied less often in working memory than in episodic memory. The authors investigated the effects of extensive working memory practice on performance improvement, transfer, and short-term maintenance of practice gains and transfer effects. Adults age 20-30 years and 70-80 years practiced a spatial working memory task with 2 levels of processing demands across 45 days for about 15 min per day. In both age groups and relative to age-matched, no-contact control groups, we found (a) substantial performance gains on the practiced task, (b) near transfer to a more demanding spatial n-back task and to numerical n-back tasks, and (c) 3-month maintenance of practice gains and near transfer effects, with decrements relative to postpractice performance among older but not younger adults. No evidence was found for far transfer to complex span tasks. The authors discuss neuronal mechanisms underlying adult age differences and similarities in patterns of plasticity and conclude that the potential of deliberate working memory practice as a tool for improving cognition in old age merits further exploration.

Intraindividual Variability in Positive and Negative Affect Over 45 Days: Do Older Adults Fluctuate Less Than Young Adults?

Opposing scenarios about age-related increases and decreases in intraindividual variability are found in the literature: Whereas accumulating evidence indicates that cognitive functioning is characterized by an age-related increase of short-term variability, age-related decreases in variability could be expected in affective states on the basis of theories of emotion regulation and self development. We examined age differences in intraindividual variability of positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) and in contingencies among daily affect, daily stress, and daily events using up to 45 daily assessments of 18 young (20-30 years) and 19 older (70-80 years) adults. Whereas age groups differed little in average affect levels, older adults showed significantly less variability in PA and NA than young adults. Age differences accounted for greater variance in variability than personality factors. Multilevel modeling indicated that for young but not older adults, PA was higher (lower) on days with a positive (negative) event, and NA was lower on days with a positive event. There were no age differences in daily affect reactivity to appraised stress severity.

Decline in Life Satisfaction in Old Age: Longitudinal Evidence for Links to Distance-to-Death

Using 12-year longitudinal data from deceased participants of the Berlin Aging Study (N = 414; age 70-103 years, at first occasion; M = 87 years, SD = 8.13), the authors examined whether and how old and very old individuals exhibit terminal decline in reported life satisfaction at the end of life. Relative to age-related decline, mortality-related decline (i.e., distance-to-death) accounted for more variance in interindividual differences in life satisfaction change and revealed steeper average rates of decline, by a factor of 2. By applying change-point growth models, the authors identified a point, about 4 years before death, at which decline showed a two-fold increase in steepness relative to the preterminal phase. For the oldest old (85+ years), a threefold increase was observed. Established mortality predictors, including sex, comorbidities, dementia, and cognition, accounted for only small portions of interindividual differences in mortality-related change in life satisfaction. The authors conclude that late-life changes in subjective well-being are related to mechanisms predicting death and suggest routes for further inquiry.

Realism and Illusion in Americans' Temporal Views of Their Life Satisfaction Age Differences in Reconstructing the Past and Anticipating the Future

We examined actual and perceived trajectories of change in life satisfaction in a national sample of 3,793 adults, ages 24 to 74 at baseline, who provided retrospective, present, and prospective ratings on two occasions 8 to 10 years apart. There was little actual change in satisfaction ratings, but there were age differences in anticipated change, with young adults expecting things to improve and older adults expecting decline. When we compared the actual (present) ratings with corresponding past or future ratings, older adults showed more temporal realism (retrospective and anticipatory ratings matched actual levels) than did young and middle-aged adults; in other words, young and middle-aged adults showed greater illusion (retrospective and prospective ratings overestimated or underestimated actual levels). At all ages, however, temporal realism was associated with more adaptive current functioning than was illusion. We discuss these findings from a life-span developmental perspective on motivational shifts from growth to maintenance and consider the implications of accuracy in evaluating the past and future.

Perceived trajectories of life satisfaction across past, present, and future: profiles and correlates of subjective change in young, middle-aged, and older adults

Despite longitudinal stability in subjective well-being across adulthood, many adults perceive self-related change. This study was aimed at identifying differential subjective change profiles in life satisfaction rated for the present, the past, and the future and to examine their associations with sociodemographic variables and changes in adaptive functioning. The authors addressed this aim using Midlife in the United States survey data from 2 measurement occasions (N=3,631; age at Time 1: 24-75). A cluster analysis was used to identify a continuous high subgroup and an incremental subgroup at both occasions. A 3rd subgroup was labeled present low at Time 1 and decremental at Time 2. Although the average pattern across individual variables suggested stability, up to 60% of individuals fit profiles depicting perceived change, and some individuals changed subgroup membership over time. After controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, subgroups differed in level and change in biopsychosocial measures of adaptive functioning, with sense of control and social relationship quality showing stronger associations than personality and physical health. Results indicate that a person-centered approach to assessing life satisfaction provides a rich and dynamic picture of individual differences in subjective well-being across the adult life span.

Well-being affects changes in perceptual speed in advanced old age: Longitudinal evidence for a dynamic link

This study examined competing hypotheses about dynamic cross-domain associations between perceptual speed and well-being in advanced old age. We applied the bivariate dual change score model (J. J. McArdle & F. Hamagami, 2001) to 13-year incomplete longitudinal data from the Berlin Aging Study (P. B. Baltes & K. U. Mayer, 1999; N=516, 70-103 years at T1, M=85 years). Reports of well-being were found to influence subsequent decline in perceptual speed (time lags of 2 years). No evidence was found for a directed effect in the other direction. None of the potential covariates examined (initial health constraints, personality, and social participation) accounted for these differential lead-lag associations. Our results suggest that well-being is not only a consequence of but also a source for successful aging. The discussion focuses on conceptual implications and methodological considerations.

Antecedent–Consequent Relations of Perceived Control to Health and Social Support: Longitudinal Evidence for Between-Domain Associations Across Adulthood

OBJECTIVES To examine antecedent-consequent relations of perceived control to health and social support across adulthood and old age. METHODS We applied (multigroup) change score models to two waves of data collected 9 years apart from 6,210 participants of the Midlife in the United States survey (MIDUS, 24-75 years at baseline). We used composite measures of perceived control (personal mastery and constraints), health (chronic conditions, acute conditions, and functional limitations), and social support (support and strain associated with spouse/partner, family, and friends). RESULTS Analyses revealed evidence for direct and independent multidirectional accounts. Greater initial control predicted weaker declines in health and stronger increases in support. In turn, increases in control were predicted by better initial health and more support. Changes in control were also accompanied by concurrent changes in the other two domains, and relations involving control were larger in size than those between health and support. We found only small sociodemographic differences across age, gender, and education group. DISCUSSION We conclude that perceiving control may serve as both a precursor and an outcome of health and social support across the adult age range and suggest routes for further inquiry.

Plasticity and imaging research in healthy aging: core ideas and profile of the International Normal Aging and Plasticity Imaging Center (INAPIC).

The key objective of the International Normal Aging and Plasticity Imaging Center (INAPIC) at the University of Zürich is to facilitate research on normal healthy behavioral and neural development and aging to explore the potential for plasticity and compensation across the lifespan. The INAPIC invites international research groups to submit proposals for collaborative projects on these subjects. It is unique in Europe in giving partner groups ‘plug and play’ access to state-of-the-art neuroimaging techniques, technical support, and assistance in data collection. This article introduces the core ideas of the INAPIC, its key research areas, and the available infrastructure.

Multi-domain training in healthy old age: Hotel Plastisse as an iPad-based serious game to systematically compare multi-domain and single-domain training

Finding effective training interventions for declining cognitive abilities in healthy aging is of great relevance, especially in view of the demographic development. Since it is assumed that transfer from the trained to untrained domains is more likely to occur when training conditions and transfer measures share a common underlying process, multi-domain training of several cognitive functions should increase the likelihood of such an overlap. In the first part, we give an overview of the literature showing that cognitive training using complex tasks, such as video games, leisure activities, or practicing a series of cognitive tasks, has shown promising results regarding transfer to a number of cognitive functions. These studies, however, do not allow direct inference about the underlying functions targeted by these training regimes. Custom-designed serious games allow to design training regimes according to specific cognitive functions and a target populations need. In the second part, we introduce the serious game Hotel Plastisse as an iPad-based training tool for older adults that allows the comparison of the simultaneous training of spatial navigation, visuomotor function, and inhibition to the training of each of these functions separately. Hotel Plastisse not only defines the cognitive functions of the multi-domain training clearly, but also implements training in an interesting learning environment including adaptive difficulty and feedback. We propose this novel training tool with the goal of furthering our understanding of how training regimes should be designed in order to affect cognitive functioning of older adults most broadly.

Multi-domain training enhances attentional control

Multi-domain training potentially increases the likelihood of overlap in processing components with transfer tasks and everyday life, and hence is a promising training approach for older adults. To empirically test this, 84 healthy older adults aged 64 to 75 years were randomly assigned to one of three single-domain training conditions (inhibition, visuomotor function, spatial navigation) or to the simultaneous training of all three cognitive functions (multi-domain training condition). All participants trained on an iPad at home for 50 training sessions. Before and after the training, and at a 6-month follow-up measurement, cognitive functioning and training transfer were assessed with a neuropsychological test battery including tests targeting the trained functions (near transfer) and transfer to executive functions (far transfer: attentional control, working memory, speed). Participants in all four training groups showed a linear increase in training performance over the 50 training sessions. Using a latent difference score model, the multi-domain training group, compared with the single-domain training groups, showed more improvement on the far transfer attentional control composite. Individuals with initially lower baseline performance showed higher training-related improvements, indicating that training compensated for lower initial cognitive performance. At the 6-month follow-up, performance on the cognitive test battery remained stable. This is one of the first studies to investigate systematically multi-domain training including comparable single-domain training conditions. Our findings suggest that multi-domain training enhances attentional control involved in handling several different tasks at the same time, an aspect in everyday life that is particularly challenging for older people. (PsycINFO Database Record