Improving Executive Functions
Through Real-World Interventions:
The Role of Social Media
Betty Glisky
Department of Psychology
University of Arizona
Background


Laboratory training on cognitive tasks is often
effective but highly specific:

Improves performance on trained tasks and other
highly similar tasks, but

Does not transfer to other cognitive domains

Generally little transfer to everyday life
Carrying out interventions in the real-world
environment rather than in the laboratory
might be more effective
Rationale

The rationale for our study came from 2 sources:

Intervention studies in which “social interaction” provided
cognitive benefits equivalent to or greater than cognitive
training or aerobic exercise (e.g., Park et al., 2013; Mortimer et al., 2012)

Longitudinal studies suggesting that
 An active lifestyle may reduce age-related cognitive
decline (Fratiglioni et al., 2000), but also
 Declining cognitive function may lead to social
disengagement (e.g., Seeman et al., 2011; Small et al, 2012).

We decided to see if connecting socially-isolated older adults
through social media would improve their cognitive function
Method
Three Groups of Older
Adults Average age = 79;
lived alone

Pretest-posttest Design

Group 1

(N = 13)
Group 2
(N = 13)
Group 3

Penzu
Waitlist
Tests of working memory/
executive function, memory,
and processing speed
Given before and after the
Facebook/Penzu
intervention
Interventions


6 hours of training over a
week
7 weeks of daily postings in
Facebook or Penzu
(N = 14)
Myrhe & Glisky, 2013
Procedure
Pretests
2 weeks
Training
1 week
Home-Use Posttests
7 weeks
2 weeks
Intervention
What we’re looking for is differential changes in
performance on the cognitive tests from Time 1
(pretests) to Time 2 (post-tests) 8-weeks later as a
function of the intervention
Executive Function Tests
Adapted from Miyake et al, 2000

Shifting



Updating/Working Memory



Number-Letter Task
Global-Local Task
Consonant Updating
Keep Track Task
Inhibition


Stroop Task
Simon Task
Updating Tasks
Consonant Updating
Participants were shown a serial list of letters and were required to
continually recall out loud only the last four letters presented. The
number of letters presented during a trial varied from 5 to 11.
Updating Tasks
Keep Track
Participants are shown a list of 15 words from different categories and
were asked to keep track of the last word from one or more specified
categories. There were three trials of 1, 2, 3, and 4 categories.
Shifting Tasks
Letter-Number
Local-Global
Inhibition Tasks
Simon Task
Stroop Task
Name the Ink Color
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
GREEN
BLUE
RED
Results
Changes in Updating
Significant Group x Time interaction, F(2,37) = 5.95, p = .006
The Facebook group showed a significant increase in performance
compared to no significant change in the other two groups.
Global Shifting Costs
Significant Group x Time interaction, F(2,33) = 4.01, p = .028. Only the Waitlist
group showed a significant change from Time 1 to Time 2
Processing Speed
Trails A
Trails B
Significant Time x Group interaction, F(2,38) = 3.40, p = .044, for
Trails B; similar trend for Trails A performance, F(2,38) = 2.52, p =
.094. No differential slowing for Trails B across groups
Summary

We found a specific cognitive benefit associated
with using Facebook



Only the Facebook group showed improvements in
updating/working memory
There were no changes in the other measures of
executive function or in memory
Both intervention groups showed increases in
processing speed
What accounts for the improvements in the
Facebook group relative to the Penzu group?



Increased social interaction in Facebook group
relative to Penzu
Facebook may be more cognitively challenging
than Penzu or may place greater demands on
working memory or the updating component of
executive function.
Social interactions in general may involve
working memory and executive control and may
present real-world opportunities for maintaining
cognitive function
Specific Advantages of
Online Social Networking



People who are truly socially isolated can
stay connected, reducing the likelihood of
cognitive decline
People who are experiencing cognitive
decline can continue social interactions at
their own pace
People who may be experiencing declines in
vision or hearing can make adjustments so
that they can remain socially connected
Specific Advantages of
Online Social Networking

People can be selective in their social
interactions, maintaining those that are
positive and discarding those that are
negative


Some evidence suggests that negative social
interactions increase stress and have negative
effects on cognitive function (e.g., Tun etal., 2013)
Ultimately, older people can age in place for
a longer period of time, remaining socially
connected and cognitively challenged
Conclusions



Social interaction is likely to be
beneficial and may be a very
acceptable way to reduce cognitive
decline, whether it occurs in face-toface interactions or through online
social media
Training programs that focus on realworld functional tasks that require
executive control and working
memory may be more effective than
laboratory tasks, and they don’t
require transfer to make a difference.
Training in the use of new technologies
for solving everyday problems may be
a meaningful way to keep people
engaged and cognitively healthy.
Ivy Bean, 104 years old, has
4,000 friends on Facebook
Thanks!
Thanks to all of the older adults from the Tucson
community and from La Posada in Green Valley
who contributed their time to this study.
Annual Conference on Successful Aging 2013
Thanks also to the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain
Research Foundation for support.