Training And Transfer Effects Of Response Inhibition Training In Children And Adults

Response inhibition is crucial for mental and physical health but studies assessing the trainability of response inhibition are rare. The purpose of the present studies was to examine the effect of a training protocol using a standard go/no-go task on the performance on trained and non-trained cognitive functions.In the study 1, participants included thirty-nine children aged 10?12 years. They were assigned to an adaptive go/no-go inhibition training condition or an active control condition. The participants in the training group completed computerized training program for 20 sessions, while the participants from the control group made sand paintings. We used a relatively large battery of pre- and post-training tests, measuring transfer to:(1)a go/no-go inhibition task using other type of stimuli than those used during training(nearest transfer),(2)a task capturing another aspect of inhibition, namely inhibition of interfering information(near transfer), and(3)the other two aspects of executive functioning, specifically WM updating and set-shifting(also near transfer), and(4)general non-verbal fluid intelligence(far transfer). Nearest-, near-, and far-transfer effects were examined during immediate post-training and 3- and 6-month follow-up sessions. Significant training improvements and a nearest transfer effect were observed for children. Reliable but short-lived near-transfer effects were only found for the children, specifically for working memory updating and switching. However, there are no reliable far-transfer effects on general non-verbal fluid intelligence.In the study 2, participants included forty-six adults aged 18?24 years in order to assess potential age-related differences in training-induced transfer effects. They were also assigned to an adaptive go/no-go inhibition training condition or an active control condition. The participants in the training group completed the same computerized training program as described in Study 1, while the participants from the control group made sand paintings. All participants completed the go/no-go, Stroop, WM updating, and Switching tasks. Instead of the RSPM, all participants performed the Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices test. We used pre- and post-training tests toexamine nearest-, near-, and far-transfer effects during immediate post-training and 3-and 6-month follow-up sessions. For adults, significant training improvements and a nearest transfer effect were observed. However, there are no reliable near- and far-transfer effects on Stroop task, WM updating and set-shifting and general non-verbal fluid intelligence.To sum up, these results suggest a greater potential for response-inhibition training programs to enhance aspects of cognitive functioning in healthy children than healthy young adults.