The Influence Of Cognitive Training On Attention Switch Ability-Related To The Improvement Of Endogenous Preparation Efficiency

Attention switching ability is one of the core components of executive function,which has an important impact on individual cognitive ability and daily living ability.Although previous studies have found that attention switching is plasticity,the mechanism of plasticity is still unclear.This study aims to explore the mechanism of attention-switching plasticity and the inconsistency between the far and near transfer effects of attention-switching training.In the research 1,a plan of task-switching training of 21-day was conducted for31 students aged 18-24.We manipulated the length of cue-stimulates interval(CSI),representing the process of endogenous preparation(CSI = 300 ms,600 ms,800ms),during the whole experiment.The training group and the control group(n=29)performed a set of cognitive tasks on pre-and post-training,including switch task,Stroop task,Flanker task,working memory updating task,Go/No-go task and Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices test(switch task was used to measure the near-transfer effect of training,and other tasks were used to measure the far-transfer effect).The results indicate that training reduces the switch and mixing costs.After about 6 days of training,these costs tend to stabilize.The reduction of switch costs only occurs in short CSI(300 ms,600 ms).The training effect has a significant near-transfer effect for switch task on post-test,but only appears on the switch cost index of short CSI conditions(300 ms,600 ms),which shows that training improved the efficiency of using preparation time under short CSI conditions.The training effect was not found in the task of measuring the far-transfer effect of training.The results of training and near-transfer indicate that the improvement of endogenous preparation efficiency may be the mechanism of attention-switching plasticity.In the second research,in order to validate the results of study 1,we explored the plasticity mechanism and transfer effects of task switching training based on the difference of individual working memory capacity(WMC).Firstly,158 college students aged 18-24 completed the task of measuring the WMC operation span(Ospan)task and the switch task.The participants with the lowest score(n = 30,low WMC group)and the highest score(n = 34,high WMC group)of Ospan task received task-switching training during 21 days.The same CSI(300 ms,600 ms,800 ms)was manipulated throughout the experiment,and the same transfer tasks and Ospan tasks were measured pre-and post-training.The results indicate that there is a significant correlation between Ospan task performance and switch cost under short CSI conditions(300 ms,600 ms).The switch cost of low WMC group under short CSI condition(300 ms,600 ms)was significantly reduced during the whole training process.The results of transfer tasks showed that training improved the performance of low WMC subjects in task switching and Ospan tasks,but the far-effect was not found in other measure tasks.These results indicate that task-switching training can improve the attention switching ability and WMC on low WMC group.Because of the significant correlation between WMC and switch cost and endogenous preparation efficiency,which is further proved that the improvement of endogenous preparation efficiency is the plasticity mechanism of attention switching.In conclusion,this study finds that the essence of attention switching plasticity is the improvement of endogenous preparation efficiency,and the far-transfer effect of attention switching training has not been found.