Effect of working memory training task on visual contrast sensitivity for college students / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the influence on college students' contrast sensitivity how dual N-back working memory training task based on Gabor,and to provide new training method for improving the contrast sensitivity.Methods 42 college students were randomly divided into three groupsa control group (17 students) ; a working memory training group (13 students) ; and a Gabor orientation training group (12 students).The control group received no training,while the working memory training group and the Gabor orientation training group received N-back working memory training and Gabor training,respectively,over three weeks (5 days a week,approx.half an hour per day).The above-mentioned two training methods performed with the same visual stimulus,i.e.,the Gabor patch with a fixed spatial frequency and contrast.The contrast sensitivity of the 42 students was measured and recorded using OPTEC6500 before and after training.Results In the working memory training group,a salient gain in contrast sensitivity was observed after the training (before(1.48 ± 0.26) log,after(1.87 ± 0.13)log),with a statistically significant difference (t =-6.20,P ＜ 0.05),while both the Gabor orientation training group (before(1.75 ± 0.19) log,after(1.68 ± 0.30) log) and the control group (before(1.67 ±0.25) log,after(1.61 ± 0.26) log)) showed no statistically significant difference (P ＞ 0.05) in terms of contrast sensitivity.Conclusion N-back working memory training shows a positive effect on improving contrast sensitivity in Gabor identification training,and can be used as a means to improve contrast sensitivity.