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Updated: Jun 27, 2025
A Computerized Functional Skills Assessment and Training Program Targeting Technology Based Everyday Functional Skills
Published on: February 13, 2020
The Effects of Computerized Cognitive Training in Older Adults' Cognitive Performance and Biomarkers of Structural
Hyun Kyu Lee1, Chandramallika Basak2, Sarah-Jane Grant1
1Department of Research and Development, Posit Science Corporation, San Francisco, California, USA.
Objectives:
Cognitive training (CT) has been investigated as a means of delaying age-related cognitive decline in older adults. However, its impact on biomarkers of age-related structural brain atrophy has rarely been investigated, leading to a gap in our understanding of the linkage between improvements in cognition and brain plasticity. This study aimed to explore the impact of CT on cognitive performance and brain structure in older adults.
Methods:
One hundred twenty-four cognitively normal older adults recruited from 2 study sites were randomly assigned to either an adaptive CT (n = 60) or a casual game training (active control, AC, n = 64).
Results:
After 10 weeks of training, CT participants showed greater improvements in the overall cognitive composite score (Cohen's d = 0.66, p < .01) with nonsignificant benefits after 6 months from the completion of training (Cohen's d = 0.36, p = .094). The CT group showed significant maintenance of the caudate volume as well as significant maintained fractional anisotropy in the left internal capsule and in left superior longitudinal fasciculus compared to the AC group. The AC group displayed an age-related decrease in these metrics of brain structure.
Discussion:
Results from this multisite clinical trial demonstrate that the CT intervention improves cognitive performance and helps maintain caudate volume and integrity of white matter regions that are associated with cognitive control, adding to our understanding of the changes in brain structure contributing to changes in cognitive performance from adaptive CT.
Clinical Trial Registration:
NCT03197454.
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