Category Learning and Cognitive Aging: Effects of working memory supports

Harada, Etsuko; Wang, Ziyan · 2019 · Crossref

DOI: 10.4992/pacjpa.83.0_1c-043

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Summary

This study investigates the impact of working memory supports on category learning in the context of cognitive aging. The research addresses the difficulty older adults often face in utilizing novel artificial objects, hypothesizing that this stems from challenges in acquiring category knowledge. Specifically, the authors examine how providing access to previous examples (memory support) affects learning across different category types and age groups, while also analyzing the cognitive judgment process using mouse trajectory analysis. The experiment employed a mixed-design factorial approach involving three factors: the number of prior examples displayed on screen (0, 1, or 4; between-subjects), age group (young adults vs. older adults), and task type (Type 1: simple rule, Type 2: logical disjunction, Type 4: family resemblance; within-subjects). The participants included 24 older adults (mean age 74.70) and 24 young adults (mean age 21.21) from the University of Tsukuba. Participants categorized geometric figures into two groups by clicking with a mouse, with performance measured via accuracy, response time, and mouse trajectories. Subjective evaluations regarding confidence, difficulty, and fatigue were also collected. Data for the zero-example condition were drawn from a previous study by the same authors. The results indicated that older adults generally had lower accuracy than young adults, and Type 1 categories were easier to learn than Types 2 and 4. However, learning improved across all conditions with practice. Crucially, memory support facilitated learning differently depending on age and category type. For older adults, presenting even a single prior example significantly promoted learning of Type 2 (logical disjunction) categories, regardless of whether one or four examples were shown. In contrast, for both age groups, learning of Type 4 (family resemblance) categories was enhanced only when all four examples were displayed. Mouse trajectory analysis revealed that young adults exhibited stronger competitive reactions in Type 2 categories compared to other types, but the memory support conditions did not interact with these trajectory metrics. Subjectively, older adults reported reduced difficulty and increased confidence for Type 2 categories when one example was provided, though memory support did not affect feelings of fatigue. The study concludes that working memory supports, specifically the visual availability of prior examples, effectively aid category learning in older adults, particularly for complex logical rules. However, these facilitative effects on learning accuracy are independent of the inhibitory control mechanisms reflected in mouse trajectories. This suggests that while memory aids improve explicit learning outcomes, they do not necessarily alter the underlying cognitive conflict processes during decision-making.

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