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A large-scale analysis of task switching practice effects across the lifespan

An important feature of human cognition is the ability to flexibly and efficiently adapt behavior in response to continuously changing contextual demands. We leverage a large-scale dataset from Lumosity, an online cognitive-training platform, to investigate how cognitive processes involved in cued s...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Steyvers, Mark, Hawkins, Guy E., Karayanidis, Frini, Brown, Scott D.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: National Academy of Sciences 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6731761/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31427513
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1906788116
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author Steyvers, Mark
Hawkins, Guy E.
Karayanidis, Frini
Brown, Scott D.
author_facet Steyvers, Mark
Hawkins, Guy E.
Karayanidis, Frini
Brown, Scott D.
author_sort Steyvers, Mark
collection PubMed
description An important feature of human cognition is the ability to flexibly and efficiently adapt behavior in response to continuously changing contextual demands. We leverage a large-scale dataset from Lumosity, an online cognitive-training platform, to investigate how cognitive processes involved in cued switching between tasks are affected by level of task practice across the adult lifespan. We develop a computational account of task switching that specifies the temporal dynamics of activating task-relevant representations and inhibiting task-irrelevant representations and how they vary with extended task practice across a number of age groups. Practice modulates the level of activation of the task-relevant representation and improves the rate at which this information becomes available, but has little effect on the task-irrelevant representation. While long-term practice improves performance across all age groups, it has a greater effect on older adults. Indeed, extensive task practice can make older individuals functionally similar to less-practiced younger individuals, especially for cognitive measures that focus on the rate at which task-relevant information becomes available.
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spelling pubmed-67317612019-09-18 A large-scale analysis of task switching practice effects across the lifespan Steyvers, Mark Hawkins, Guy E. Karayanidis, Frini Brown, Scott D. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A Social Sciences An important feature of human cognition is the ability to flexibly and efficiently adapt behavior in response to continuously changing contextual demands. We leverage a large-scale dataset from Lumosity, an online cognitive-training platform, to investigate how cognitive processes involved in cued switching between tasks are affected by level of task practice across the adult lifespan. We develop a computational account of task switching that specifies the temporal dynamics of activating task-relevant representations and inhibiting task-irrelevant representations and how they vary with extended task practice across a number of age groups. Practice modulates the level of activation of the task-relevant representation and improves the rate at which this information becomes available, but has little effect on the task-irrelevant representation. While long-term practice improves performance across all age groups, it has a greater effect on older adults. Indeed, extensive task practice can make older individuals functionally similar to less-practiced younger individuals, especially for cognitive measures that focus on the rate at which task-relevant information becomes available. National Academy of Sciences 2019-09-03 2019-08-19 /pmc/articles/PMC6731761/ /pubmed/31427513 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1906788116 Text en Copyright © 2019 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This open access article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Social Sciences
Steyvers, Mark
Hawkins, Guy E.
Karayanidis, Frini
Brown, Scott D.
A large-scale analysis of task switching practice effects across the lifespan
title A large-scale analysis of task switching practice effects across the lifespan
title_full A large-scale analysis of task switching practice effects across the lifespan
title_fullStr A large-scale analysis of task switching practice effects across the lifespan
title_full_unstemmed A large-scale analysis of task switching practice effects across the lifespan
title_short A large-scale analysis of task switching practice effects across the lifespan
title_sort large-scale analysis of task switching practice effects across the lifespan
topic Social Sciences
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6731761/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31427513
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1906788116
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