Dr. Didino erforscht die kognitiven Grundlagen der Zahlenverarbeitung und des arithmetischen Gedächtnisses, insbesondere wie Menschen Zahlenfakten abrufen und wie unbewusste Prozesse dabei eine Rolle spielen. Aktuelle Arbeiten untersuchen mittels experimenteller Methoden (maskierte Priming, EEG) die Mechanismen hinter dem Abruf von Multiplikationsfakten und die räumlich-numerischen Assoziationen, die beim Rechnen entstehen. Die Erkenntnisse sind relevant für Bildungstechnologie und Lerndiagnostik, da sie zeigen, wie Rechenleistung mit Aufmerksamkeit und Gedächtnisstrukturen zusammenhängt. Daneben hat sie Interventionsstudien mit älteren Erwachsenen durchgeführt, um die Wirksamkeit von Online-Trainings auf Wohlbefinden und körperliche Aktivität zu testen.
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Dr. Daniele Didino
HU-FIS-Profil ↗Förderer: DFG Eigene Stelle (Sachbeihilfe) Zeitraum: 03/2018 - 02/2020 Projektleitung: Dr. Daniele Didino
Förderer: DFG Eigene Stelle (Sachbeihilfe) Zeitraum: 06/2020 - 05/2023 Projektleitung: Dr. Daniele Didino
Journal of Neuroscience · DOI
Improvement in performance following cognitive training is known to be further enhanced when coupled with brain stimulation. Here we ask whether training-induced changes can be maintained long term and, crucially, whether they can extend to other related but untrained skills. We trained overall 40 human participants on a simple and well established paradigm assessing the ability to discriminate numerosity--or the number of items in a set--which is thought to rely on an "approximate number sense" (ANS) associated with parietal lobes. We coupled training with parietal stimulation in the form of transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS), a noninvasive technique that modulates neural activity. This yielded significantly better and longer lasting improvement (up to 16 weeks post-training) of the precision of the ANS compared with cognitive training in absence of stimulation, stimulation in absence of cognitive training, and cognitive training coupled to stimulation to a control site (motor areas). Critically, only ANS improvement induced by parietal tRNS + Training transferred to proficiency in other parietal lobe-based quantity judgment, i.e., time and space discrimination, but not to quantity-unrelated tasks measuring attention, executive functions, and visual pattern recognition. These results indicate that coupling intensive cognitive training with tRNS to critical brain regions resulted not only in the greatest and longer lasting improvement of numerosity discrimination, but importantly in this enhancement being transferable when trained and untrained abilities are carefully chosen to share common cognitive and neuronal components.
PeerJ · DOI
BACKGROUND: Intervention programs to promote physical activity in older adults, either in group or home settings, have shown equivalent health outcomes but different results when considering adherence. Group-based interventions seem to achieve higher participation in the long-term. However, there are many factors that can make of group exercises a challenging setting for older adults. A major one, due to the heterogeneity of this particular population, is the difference in the level of skills. In this paper we report on the physical, psychological and social wellbeing outcomes of a technology-based intervention that enable online group exercises in older adults with different levels of skills. METHODS: A total of 37 older adults between 65 and 87 years old followed a personalized exercise program based on the OTAGO program for fall prevention, for a period of eight weeks. Participants could join online group exercises using a tablet-based application. Participants were assigned either to the Control group, representing the traditional individual home-based training program, or the Social group, representing the online group exercising. Pre- and post- measurements were taken to analyze the physical, psychological and social wellbeing outcomes. RESULTS: After the eight-weeks training program there were improvements in both the Social and Control groups in terms of physical outcomes, given the high level of adherence of both groups. Considering the baseline measures, however, the results suggest that while in the Control group fitter individuals tended to adhere more to the training, this was not the case for the Social group, where the initial level had no effect on adherence. For psychological outcomes there were improvements on both groups, regardless of the application used. There was no significant difference between groups in social wellbeing outcomes, both groups seeing a decrease in loneliness despite the presence of social features in the Social group. However, online social interactions have shown to be correlated to the decrease in loneliness in the Social group. CONCLUSION: differences in physical skills but also suggests that online exercise might reduce the effect of skills on adherence in a social context. However, results from this pilot are limited to a small sample size and therefore are not conclusive. Longer term interventions with more participants are instead recommended to assess impacts on wellbeing and behavior change.
Cognitive Psychology · DOI