Improving memory in elderly adults by instructing them in professional actors' learning strategies

Noice, Helga; Noice, Tony; Perrig-Chiello, P.; Perrig, Walter J. (1999). Improving memory in elderly adults by instructing them in professional actors' learning strategies. Applied cognitive psychology, 13(4), pp. 315-328. Wiley

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This study examined a new type of cognitive intervention. For four weeks, participants (ages 65 to 82) were instructed in professional acting techniques, followed by rehearsal and performance of theatrical scenes. Although the training was not targeted in any way to the tasks used in pre- and post-testing, participants produced significantly higher recall and recognition scores after the intervention. It is suggested that the cognitive effort involved in analyzing and adopting theatrical characters' motivations (and then experiencing those characters' mental/emotional states during performance) is responsible for the observed improvement. A secondary strand of this study showed that participants who were given annotated scripts in which the implied goals of the characters were made explicit demonstrated significantly faster access to the stored material, as measured by a computer latency task.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Psychology > Psychological and Behavioral Health 07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Other Institutions > Teaching Staff, Faculty of Human Sciences
UniBE Contributor:	Perrig-Chiello, Pasqualina, Perrig, Walter
Subjects:	100 Philosophy > 150 Psychology 600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health
ISSN:	0888-4080
Publisher:	Wiley
Language:	English
Submitter:	Anna Maria Ruprecht Künzli
Date Deposited:	08 Aug 2014 16:36
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2022 14:34
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/53129