Effects of visuospatial working memory training in The elderly
Abstract
Objective This research examined the effectiveness of visuospatial working memory training
for the elderly.
Methods Experimental research with a pretest – posttest control group design, and a two-factor
experiment with repeated measures on one factor, on a group of thirty, purposively selected,
elderly patients (aged 65-70 years old) living in Chon Buri province. The subjects were divided
into two groups and split equally into experimental and control groups based on similarities
of sex, age, and levels of education. Subjects in the experimental group received a 5 week
long visuospatial working memory training program, lasting 45-60 minutes and occurring twice
a week. Instruments for this study included personal questionnaires as well as the data from
visuospatial working memory during symmetry span tasks. Comparisons were made between
the experimental and control group data, and period of experiments in three phases: pretest
- posttest and follow-up phases using paired t-tests and independent t-tests, and by using
repeated measures ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) – one between-subjects variable and one
within-subjects variable.
Results The results showed that the posttest symmetry span accuracy scores of participants
having received visuospatial working memory training were significantly higher than their pretest
scores at .01 (p <.01). Additionally, these scores were significantly higher than the scores of
participants in the control group at .05 (p < .05). These results indicated that visuospatial working
memory training improves working memory capacity in the elderly.
Conclusion From the different and higher scores between the experimental and control groups
in the posttest phase of this experiment, the visuospatial working memory training program
can be used to train the elderly to effectively increase the potential of working memory in
the elderly.
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