Effect of working memory training on cognitive communicative abilities among young- and middle-aged adults

Figures & data

Table 1. Demographic details of participants

	Young-aged adults (n = 30)		Middle-aged adults (n = 30)
	Experimental (n = 15)	Control (n = 15)	Experimental (n = 15)	Control (n = 15)
	Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4
Age	21.466 (2.463)	20.933 (2.572)	52 (7.47)	52.466 (6)
Gender distribution	9 females	9 females	10 females	11 females
	6 males	6 males	5 males	4 males
Education (in years)	14.466(1.302)	14.133(1.457)	15.142(0.534)	15.11(0.3)

Figure 1. Flowchart depicting the procedure of the study.

Abbreviations: WM-Working Memory.

Table 2. Description of working memory tasks

Working memory tasks (MMCLA—Mathew et al., 2013)
Tasks	Description
Auditory word retrieval	This task involves retrieval of words verbally in any order from a given set of words which are through auditory modality. The number of words ranged from 3 to 6
Auditory word list recall	This task involves retrieval of words from the first list, the second list and again the words from the first list as two lists of words are presented through auditory modality
Auditory delayed sentence recall	This task involves identification of same sentences from the second list as it is presented in the first list that is read initially and a series of related questions followed by it. The number of sentences ranged from 2 to 5
Visual picture recall	This task involves retrieval of pictures verbally in the same order from a given set of pictures which is through visual modality. The number of pictures ranged from 3 to 5
Visual word list recall	This task involves retrieval of words from the first list, the second list and again the words from the first list as two lists of words are presented through visual modality
Visual delayed sentence recall	This task involves identification of same sentences from the second list as it is presented in the first list that is shown initially and a series of related questions followed by it. The number of sentences ranged from 2 to 5

Table 3. Description of short-term memory tasks

Short-term memory tasks (D’Souza et al., 2016)
Tasks	Description
Face recall task	This task involves recalling faces from a given set of faces, in any order. The number of faces ranged from 2 to 7
Name recall task	This task involves recalling names verbally, in any order. The number of names ranged from 2 to 7
Object recall task	This task involves recalling objects from a given set of objects, in any order. The number of objects ranged from 2 to 7
First and second name association task	This task involves associating/matching the first name with the second name from the given set of names, in any order. The number of associations ranged from 2 to 7
Face-name association task	This task involves associating/matching the face with the name from the given set, in any order. The number of associations ranged from 2 to 7
Face-object association task	This task involves associating/matching the face with the object from the given set, in any order. The number of associations ranged from 2 to 7

Table 4. Description of working memory tasks

Working memory tasks (Kumar et al., 2015)
Tasks	Description
Digit ordering	This task involves ordering series of digits presented in a jumbled manner. These jumbled digits have to be arranged in the ascending order. The series of digits increased from 2 to 6
Letter ordering	This task involves ordering series of letters presented in a jumbled manner. These jumbled letters have to be arranged in the alphabetical order. The series of letters increased from 2 to 7
Digit and Letter ordering	This task involves ordering series of digits and letters presented in a jumbled manner. These jumbled digits and letters have to be arranged in ascending and alphabetical order respectively
Year ordering	This task involves ordering series of years presented in a jumbled manner. These jumbled years have to be arranged in a chronological order. The series of years increased from 2 to 7
Spell the word	This task consists of series of letters presented in a jumbled manner of sequence. These letters have to be arranged to make a meaningful word. The word length ranged from 3 letter to 7 letter words

Figure 2. Differences between mean differences of experimental and control group among young- and middle-aged adults for short-term memory tasks.

Abbreviations – Mean differences (MD), Face Recall (FR), Name Recall (NR), Object Recall (OR), First and Second Name Association (FSNA), Face Name Association (FNA), Face Object Association (FOA).

Figure 3. Differences between mean differences of experimental and control group among young- and middle-aged adults for working memory tasks.

Abbreviations – Mean Differences (MD), Digit Ordering (DO), Letter Ordering (LO), Digit Letter Ordering (DLO), Year Ordering (YO), Spell The Word (STW).

Figure 4. Differences between mean differences of experimental and control group among young and middle-aged adults for working memory tasks (MMCLA).

Abbreviations – Mean differences (MD), Auditory Word Recall (AWR), Auditory Wordlist Recall (AWLR), Auditory Delayed Sentence Recall (ADSR), Visual Picture Recall (VPR), Visual Wordlist Recall (VWR), and Visual Delayed Sentence Recall (VDSR).

Figure 5. Average span for working memory training tasks depicting pre-post differences among young- and middle-aged adults.

Abbreviations – Semantic Sorting (SS), Double Digit Ordering (DDO), Multistage Problem-Solving (MPS), Sentence Ordering (SO).

Figure 6a. Average span for working memory training tasks (N-back) depicting pre–post differences among young-aged adults.

Abbreviations – Face N-back (FNB), Object N-back (ONB), Letter N-Back (LNB), Word N-back (WNB).

Figure 6b. Average span for working memory training tasks (N-back) depicting pre–post differences among middle-aged adults.

Abbreviations – Face N-back (FNB), Object N-back (ONB), Letter N-Back (LNB), Word N-back (WNB).

Figure 7a. Average score for working memory training tasks (verbal fluency) depicting pre–post differences among young- and middle-aged adults.

Abbreviations – Simple Letter Fluency (SLF), Complex Letter Fluency (CLF), Simple Alternating Letter Fluency (SALF), Complex Alternating Letter Fluency (CALF), Excluding Letter Verbal Fluency (ELVF).

Figure 7b. Average score for working memory training tasks (verbal fluency) depicting pre–post differences among young- and middle-aged adults.

Abbreviations – Simple Semantic Fluency (SSF), Complex Semantic Fluency (CSF), Simple Alternating Semantic Fluency (SASF), Complex Alternating Semantic Fluency (CASF).

Mathew, M. M., Bhat, J. S., Sreya, N. M., & Arora, A. (2013). Manipal manual of cognitive linguistic abilities. Manipal University press.

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D’Souza, D. F., Bajaj, G., & Bhat, J. S. (2016). Assessment of age related changes in self-efficacy and everyday short term memory (Unpublished dissertation). Manipal University.

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