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Adult Lifespan

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Cognitive Training

Abstract

Normal aging is generally associated with deterioration in a number of cognitive abilities, although large individual differences in size and progression of age-related cognitive change exist. Cognitive training interventions have become an increasingly important object of research, aiming at the stabilization and improvement of cognitive abilities in old age. However, training gains tend to be of small to moderate magnitude compared to no training both on the behavioral and the brain level, but are small or disappear when compared to active control conditions. Across the different types of training interventions, mainly near transfer effects of small to moderate size have been documented. Based on the existing literature, we argue that apart from methodological and design-related improvements, transferring standardized, lab-based training interventions and transfer assessment into real life is one of the most challenging endeavors for future training research. Moreover, future research should further investigate the role of interindividual differences and time-varying intraindividual covariates in older adults to facilitate the systematic evaluation of individually tailored interventions.

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Acknowledgments

Part of this work was supported by a grant and financial support awarded to the first author from the Suzanne and Hans Biäsch Foundation for Applied Psychology and the Jacobs Foundation. Moreover, this work was supported by the University Research Priority Program “Dynamics of Healthy Aging” of the University of Zurich.

During the work on her dissertation, Sabrina Guye was a predoctoral fellow of LIFE (International Max Planck Research School on the Life Course; participating institutions: MPI for Human Development, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, University of Michigan, University of Virginia, and University of Zurich).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University Research Priority Program (URPP) “Dynamics of Healthy Aging”, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Sabrina Guye, Christina Röcke, Susan Mérillat & Mike Martin

  2. Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience Research Centre, Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, England

    Claudia C. von Bastian

  3. Division of Gerontopsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Mike Martin

Authors
  1. Sabrina Guye
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  2. Christina Röcke
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  3. Susan Mérillat
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  4. Claudia C. von Bastian
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  5. Mike Martin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sabrina Guye .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Tilo Strobach

  2. Department of Psychology, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Frankfurt/Main, Germany

    Julia Karbach

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Guye, S., Röcke, C., Mérillat, S., von Bastian, C.C., Martin, M. (2016). Adult Lifespan. In: Strobach, T., Karbach, J. (eds) Cognitive Training. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42662-4_5

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