IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/geronb/v75y2020i6p1155-1169..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of Learning Multiple Real-World Skills on Cognitive Abilities and Functional Independence in Healthy Older Adults

Author

Listed:
  • Shirley LeanosMA
  • Esra Kürüm
  • Carla M Strickland-Hughes
  • Annie S Ditta
  • Gianhu NguyenBA
  • Miranda Felix
  • Hara YumBA
  • George W Rebok
  • Rachel Wu
  • Brent Small

Abstract

ObjectiveThe natural learning experience from infancy to emerging adulthood, when considerable cognitive and functional growth is observed, mandates learning multiple real-world skills simultaneously. The present studies investigated whether learning multiple real-world skills simultaneously is possible in older adults and also whether it improves both their cognitive abilities (working memory, episodic memory, and cognitive control) and functional independence.MethodOver two studies (15 and 27 participants), older adults learned at least three new skills (e.g., Spanish, drawing, music composition) simultaneously for 3 months. Participants completed cognitive and functional assessments before, during, and after the intervention in both studies. Participants were recruited sequentially for an intervention or no-contact control group in Study 1, and Study 2 included only an intervention group, who also completed assessments 4–6 weeks prior to the start of the intervention (i.e., they served as their own control group).ResultsResults from both studies show that simultaneously learning multiple skills is feasible and potentially beneficial for healthy older adults. Learning multiple skills simultaneously increased cognitive abilities in older adults by midpoint of the intervention, to levels similar to performance in a separate sample of middle-aged adults, 30 years younger.DiscussionOur findings demonstrate the feasibility and potential of conducting a real-world skill-learning intervention involving learning three novel skills with older adults. Our multiskill intervention may provide broad cognitive gains, akin to the benefits experienced earlier in the life span.

Suggested Citation

  • Shirley LeanosMA & Esra Kürüm & Carla M Strickland-Hughes & Annie S Ditta & Gianhu NguyenBA & Miranda Felix & Hara YumBA & George W Rebok & Rachel Wu & Brent Small, 2020. "The Impact of Learning Multiple Real-World Skills on Cognitive Abilities and Functional Independence in Healthy Older Adults," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 75(6), pages 1155-1169.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:geronb:v:75:y:2020:i:6:p:1155-1169.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/geronb/gbz084
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:geronb:v:75:y:2020:i:6:p:1155-1169.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/psychsocgerontology .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.