Training carryover linked to distraction control in older adults
Healthy older adults completed 40 sessions in a randomized crossover trial; baseline distraction control was linked to how training carried over to untrained tasks.
Our read
Interventions- Studied:
- Preprint: randomized trial in healthy older adults, 40 sessions (Double-blind)
- What changed:
- Training carryover to untrained memory tasks was linked to older adults' ability to suppress distractions
- The catch:
- Training carryover was assessed using untrained memory tasks rather than everyday functioning
Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
Healthy older adults completed 40 sessions of working memory training in a preregistered, double-blind randomized crossover trial. Working memory is the ability to hold and use information briefly. Participants practiced an N-back task, which tests memory for items presented earlier in a sequence, in game and nongame conditions.
The researchers examined inhibitory control—the ability to suppress irrelevant information or responses—before training. This ability was linked to how training carried over to an untrained N-back task and complex span tasks, which test memory while people perform another mental activity. General cognitive ability did not show the same link to training carryover.
Why it matters
For people at risk of age-related cognitive decline, the authors suggest that assessing inhibitory control before training may help tailor cognitive training programs.
Caveats
The trial randomized training conditions, not inhibitory control, so other differences between participants could help account for the link. The preprint has not been peer-reviewed, studied healthy older adults, and its abstract does not report the sample size.
The paper
University of Maribor; Northeastern University
Research Square, Jun 22, 2026, Open access, Preprint, not yet peer-reviewed
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