Aging is typically related to changes in brain and decline in cognitive performance; however, contrary to the stereotypes depicting older people as subject to an inevitable decline, psychological research has shown that decay is not inevitable. It has been observed that the cognitive performance of the older people is characterized by flexibility, so that the difficulties in some cognitive processes are compensated through the recruitment of preserved skills. Alongside the concept of cognitive plasticity comes the idea that it is possible to learn throughout the whole life span and that it is possible to improve performance in different cognitive tasks through specific procedures: cognitive training. Given the lack of literature, it seemed interesting to propose to older people a training to promote Pragmatic skills, which are fundamental abilities for maintaining interpersonal skills and to counteract isolation, but tend to decay during aging. Therefore a longitudinal study was conducted, with the main aim of evaluating the efficacy of an intervention to improve pragmatic skills in the elderly population, and with the secondary aim to verify a potential positive effect of this same intervention also on Theory of Mind. Participants were 74 healthy older adults, who were randomly assigned to one of two groups: the Pragmatic training group (Mage = 70.7, DS = 6.0) and the control group, in which people participate to general cognitive activities (Mage = 67.9, DS = 5.6). Training effects were measured using the irony test, the test of metaphors and APACS, as indices of pragmatic abilities; the strange stories and the animation task have been used as indices of TOM's abilities. Results revealed specific benefits of training in understanding metaphors; furthermore, the results suggested that the Pragmatic training may extend their positive effects on Theory of Mind ability, in fact, the performances in strange stories improve from pre-test to post-test.
L'invecchiamento è tipicamente associato al decadimento delle prestazioni cognitive e a modificazioni a livello cerebrale; tuttavia, contrariamente agli stereotipi che raffigurano l'anziano come soggetto ad un inevitabile declino, la ricerca psicologica ha dimostrato che il decadimento non è inevitabile. È stato osservato che la prestazione cognitiva degli anziani è caratterizzata da una certa flessibilità, per cui le difficoltà in alcuni processi cognitivi vengono compensate attraverso il reclutamento delle abilità che si mantengono. Accanto al concetto di plasticità cognitiva nasce l'idea che sia possibile apprendere lungo tutto larco di vita e che sia possibile migliorare le prestazioni in differenti compiti cognitivi attraverso procedure specifiche: i training cognitivi. Vista la mancanza di letteratura in merito, ci sembrava interessante proporre agli anziani un training di Pragmatica, abilità soggetta a decadimento durante l'invecchiamento ma fondamentale per il mantenimento delle capacità relazionali nell'anziano e per contrastare l'isolamento. È stato dunque condotto uno studio longitudinale, con lo scopo principale di valutare l'efficacia di un intervento volto a migliorare le abilità pragmatiche nella popolazione anziana, e di verificare un potenziale effetto positivo di questo stesso intervento anche sulla Teoria della Mente. Hanno partecipato 74 anziani sani, i quali sono stati assegnati casualmente ad uno di due gruppi: un gruppo sperimentale che ha svolto il training di Pragmatica (Metà = 70.7, DS = 6.0) e un gruppo di controllo (Metà = 67.9, DS = 5.6). Gli effetti del training di Pragmatica sono stati misurati usando la prova di ironia, la prova di metafore e APACS, come indici delle abilità pragmatiche; le strange stories e l'animation task sono stati usati come indici delle abilità di TOM. I risultati mostrano benefici specifici del training di Pragmatica nella comprensione delle metafore; inoltre i risultati suggeriscono che il training di Pragmatica possa avere un effetto sulla Teoria della Mente, infatti, le prestazioni nella prova delle strange stories migliorano dal pre-test al post-test.
Training di Pragmatica nell'anziano e i suoi effetti sulle abilità sociocomunicative
REMONDINO, CORINNE
2018/2019
Abstract
Aging is typically related to changes in brain and decline in cognitive performance; however, contrary to the stereotypes depicting older people as subject to an inevitable decline, psychological research has shown that decay is not inevitable. It has been observed that the cognitive performance of the older people is characterized by flexibility, so that the difficulties in some cognitive processes are compensated through the recruitment of preserved skills. Alongside the concept of cognitive plasticity comes the idea that it is possible to learn throughout the whole life span and that it is possible to improve performance in different cognitive tasks through specific procedures: cognitive training. Given the lack of literature, it seemed interesting to propose to older people a training to promote Pragmatic skills, which are fundamental abilities for maintaining interpersonal skills and to counteract isolation, but tend to decay during aging. Therefore a longitudinal study was conducted, with the main aim of evaluating the efficacy of an intervention to improve pragmatic skills in the elderly population, and with the secondary aim to verify a potential positive effect of this same intervention also on Theory of Mind. Participants were 74 healthy older adults, who were randomly assigned to one of two groups: the Pragmatic training group (Mage = 70.7, DS = 6.0) and the control group, in which people participate to general cognitive activities (Mage = 67.9, DS = 5.6). Training effects were measured using the irony test, the test of metaphors and APACS, as indices of pragmatic abilities; the strange stories and the animation task have been used as indices of TOM's abilities. Results revealed specific benefits of training in understanding metaphors; furthermore, the results suggested that the Pragmatic training may extend their positive effects on Theory of Mind ability, in fact, the performances in strange stories improve from pre-test to post-test.È consentito all'utente scaricare e condividere i documenti disponibili a testo pieno in UNITESI UNIPV nel rispetto della licenza Creative Commons del tipo CC BY NC ND.
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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14239/7067