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Objectives:Previous research on age-related changes in Theory of Mind (ToM) showed a decline in older adults, particularly pronounced over 75 years of age. Evidence that ToM may be enhanced in healthy aging people has been demonstrated, but no study has focused on the role of age on the effects of ToM training for elderly people. The present study was designed to examine the efficacy of a ToM training on practiced (ToM Strange Stories) and transfer tasks (ToM Animations) in both young and older adults. Method:The study involved 127 older adults belonging to two age groups: young–old (Mage= 64.41; SD = 2.49; range: 60–69 years) and old–old (Mage= 75.66; SD = 4.38; range: 70–85 years), randomly assigned to either a ToM group or a control group condition. All participants took part in two 2-hour testing sessions and four 2-hour training sessions. Results:Results showed that both young–old and old–old adults in the ToM group condition improved their ability to reason on complex-mental states significantly more than participants in the control group condition. This positive effect of the training was evident on practiced and transfer ToM tasks. Crucially, age did not moderate the effect of the ToM training. Conclusion:These findings demonstrate that young–old and old–old adults equally benefit from the ToM training. Implications for the positive effect of the ToM training in old–old adults are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Given the multi-componential nature of executive functions, we compared 48 outpatients affected by Type 2 diabetes and 49 control subjects on the executive domains of inhibition, updating, shifting, and word fluency. Variables commonly associated with diabetes were considered in explaining the relationship between diabetes and executive functioning. Each participant underwent a clinical and cognitive (addressing the four executive domains) evaluation. Raw test scores were standardized per domain and compared between groups. Possible risk factors related to diabetes were examined. The diabetes group scored lower than the control subjects only in the inhibition measure, whereas no differences resulted in the other executive domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study examined cultural differences in stereotypes and attributions regarding aging and memory. Two subcultures belonging to the same country, Italy, were compared on general beliefs about memory. Sardinians live longer than other areas of Italy, which is a publically shared fact that informs stereotypes about that subculture. An innovative instrument evaluating simultaneously aging stereotypes and attributions about memory and memory change in adulthood was administered to 52 Sardinian participants and 52 Milanese individuals divided into three age groups: young (20–30), young–old (60–70), and old–old (71–85) adults. Both Milanese and Sardinians reported that memory decline across the life span is more typical than a pattern of stability or improvement. However, Sardinians viewed stability and improvement in memory as more typical than did the Milanese. Interestingly, cultural differences emerged in attributions about memory improvement. Although all Sardinian age groups rated nutrition and heredity as relevant causes in determining the memory decline, Sardinians’ rated typicality of life-span memory improvement correlated strongly with causal attributions to a wide number of factors, including nutrition and heredity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This study examined age and cultural differences on both personal and general beliefs about memory by comparing three age groups within two subcultures belonging to the same country: Milanese and Sardinian. Two innovative instruments on general and personal beliefs with graphic-rating-scale format (General Beliefs about Memory Instrument and Personal Beliefs about Memory Instrument) and a memory task (recall of 40 words) were administrated to participants. Sardinians held more positive attitudes about the effects of aging on memory reporting a later onset of declining memory ability and control over memory across the life span. They were also more optimistic in rating their global memory efficacy, control, and retrospective change. The two subcultural groups differed in terms of memory performance, with Sardinian individuals outperforming the Milanese. Findings are discussed in relation to the view of aging in different subcultural contexts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In nonpathological elders, cognitive decline is more evident by middle age and depends on different factors, such as speed of processing, nature of the task (i.e., storing versus processing), and type of stimuli (i.e., verbal versus visual and spatial) to be recalled. The present study aimed to investigate the impact of age and environmental factors (i.e., retirement home versus one's own home) on visuo-spatial working memory functions of healthy elderly (73 to 81 years old) and very old participants (83 to 90 years old). Results showed that visuo-spatial working memory processes in the institutionalized sample were comparable with those in free-living participants. A differential age effect was more evident for mnestic tasks involving the manipulation of stimuli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims: Many studies have focused on memory training in aging, showing that older adults can improve their performance. Unfortunately, the benefits of training can rarely be generalized to other tasks for which adults were not specifically trained. We investigated the benefits of instruction- based training in promoting transfer effects in older adults. Methods: In Experiment 1, we evaluated transfer effects in a training group who practiced using standard mnemonics to learn paired associates and word lists, and this group was given instructions about how the mnemonics could be used for two of the four transfer tasks (text learning, name-face learning, grocery list learning, place learning). In Experiment 2, we compared transfer effects for two different training groups: one practiced the strategies with the two trained tasks and did not receive instructions, and the other had the same practice but also received instructions on all the transfer tasks. Results: Transfer in text learning occurred in both experiments. This transfer is particularly interesting, as text learning was the most dissimilar task in terms of both the nature of the materials and the underlying processes that support performance. The transfer was reliably greater when training involved instructions about applicability than when it did not. Conclusions: Instructions to use practiced strategies on new materials may be a useful technique in promoting transfer in older adults. It seems that the lack of transfer does not necessarily arise from older adults' inabilities, but because they do not realize that trained strategies can (or should) be applied to new materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Research on aging has shown a significant decline in ToM after 65 years of age. Despite these age-related difficulties, no study has yet investigated the possibility to improve ToM in older adults. To address this gap we tested the efficacy of a conversation-based ToM training with age-appropriate ToM tasks and its transfer effects on metamemory. Method We examined 72 older adults ( M age = 67.61 years, SD = 6.39 years) assigned to three training conditions: a ToM training, a physical-conversation training and a social-contact group. All participants took part in two 2-h testing and to two 2-h training sessions. Results Results showed that after the intervention, older adults in the ToM training group improved their mental states’ understanding significantly more than participants in the physical-conversation training and in the social-contact groups. Crucially, the positive effect of the ToM intervention generalized to metamemory knowledge. Conclusions This is the first study investigating the efficacy of a ToM training and its transfer effect on metacognition in older adults. From a theoretical point of view, it supports the relation between ToM and metamemory. Practical implications of these data are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]