Affiliations: Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute
for Human Development, Berlin, Germany | Department of Psychology, Lund University, Lund,
Sweden | Institute of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität
Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Note: [] Corresponding author: Hannes Noack, Center for Lifespan
Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Lentzeallee 94, 14195
Berlin, Germany; E-mail: noack@mpib-berlin.mpg.de
Abstract: Interventions enabling aging individuals to fulfill their plastic
potential promise to postpone, attenuate, or even reverse the adverse effects
of senescent brain changes on cognitive abilities and everyday competence in
old age. Based on an overview of the concept of plasticity in lifespan
development, we selectively review evidence from cognitive intervention studies
and conclude that most of them have failed to observe generalizable performance
improvements, as documented by the small size and scope of positive transfer to
untrained tasks. We further note that generally accepted criteria for defining
transfer distance are lacking, rendering the relevant evidence difficult to
interpret. Hence, we propose a taxonomy of transfer distance based on the
structure of human intellectual abilities.
