The ACTIVE conceptual framework as a structural equation model

Cognitive interventions in mature and older adults, benefits for psychological well-being and quality of life: a systematic review study

Few recently published studies investigating the benefits of educational and cognitive interventions on quality of life (QoL), psychological well-being, and depressive symptoms are available.

Subjective memory, objective memory, and race over a 10-year period: Findings from the ACTIVE study

The longitudinal associations between subjective and objective memory functioning in later life remain unclear. This may be due, in part, to sociodemographic differences across studies, given the hypothesis that these associations differ across racial groups. Using data from the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly (ACTIVE; N = 2,694; 26% African American), multiple-group, parallel-process latent growth curve models were used to explore relationships between subjective and objective memory over 10 years and assess racial differences in these associations. Across African Americans and whites, we found bidirectional associations between subjective and objective memory such that greater self-reported forgetting at baseline predicted faster subsequent verbal episodic memory declines, and higher baseline objective memory scores predicted less increase in self-reported forgetting over time. However, rates of change in self-reported frequency of forgetting were correlated with rates of change in verbal episodic memory in whites, but not in African Americans. Subjective memory complaints may be a harbinger of future memory declines across African Americans and whites but may not track with objective memory in the same way across these racial groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Comparing Web-Based and Classroom-Based Memory Training for Older Adults: The ACTIVE Memory Works™ Study

OBJECTIVES

To compare the efficacy of a web-based versus a classroom-based memory training program in enhancing cognition and everyday functioning in older adults, and program satisfaction and acceptability.

METHOD

Participants (N = 208; mean age = 71.1) were randomly assigned to a web-based or classroom-based training, or to a wait-list control condition. Cognitive and everyday functioning measures were administered at baseline, immediate, and 6 months post-training; both training groups evaluated program satisfaction and acceptability at immediate post-training. Repeated-measures analyses of variance assessed training effects on cognitive and functioning outcomes; independent-samples t tests assessed group differences in program satisfaction and acceptability.

RESULTS

Compared to controls, neither training group showed a significant improvement on measures of memory or everyday functioning as assessed by dependence or difficulty on instrumental activities of daily living over time. Training effects did not transfer to non-trained cognitive abilities. The web-based group was as satisfied with the training as the classroom-based group (p > .05).

DISCUSSION

Although no significant training effects were found, we demonstrated that a web-based platform is an acceptable and feasible mode to provide memory training to healthy older adults. Further studies are needed to investigate the potential of web-based memory training programs for improving cognition and function in cognitively healthy older adults.

Making the Psychological Dimension of Learning Visible: Using Technology-Based Assessment to Monitor Students' Cognitive Development

Technology-based assessment offers unique opportunities to collect data on students' cognitive development and to use that data to provide both students and teachers with feedback to improve learning. The aim of this study was to show how the psychological dimension of learning can be assessed in everyday educational practice through technology-based assessment in reading, mathematics and science. We analyzed three related aspects of the assessments: cognitive development, gender differences and vertical scaling. The sample for the study was drawn from primary school students in Grades 1-8 (ages 7 to 14) in Hungary. There were 1500 to 2000 students in each grade cohort. Online tests were constructed from 1638 items from the reading, mathematics, and science domains in the eDia system. The results confirmed that the disciplinary, application and psychological dimensions of learning can be distinguished empirically. Students' cognitive development was the most steady (and effective) in mathematics, where the greatest development occurred in the first years of schooling. Path models suggested that the psychological dimension of learning can be predicted at a moderate level based on students' level of school knowledge consisting of the disciplinary and application dimensions of learning as latent constructs. The predictive power was almost the same in both dimensions. Generally, girls developed faster in the psychological dimension of reading, mathematics and science learning; however, the size of gender differences varied by age and domain. This study (1) provides evidence that the psychological dimension of learning can be made visible even in an educational context, (2) highlights the importance of the explicit development of the psychological dimension of learning during school lessons, and (3) shows that there are gender differences in the developmental level of the psychological dimension of learning in favor of girls but that this varies by grade and domain.