Study: Computerized cognitive training may help patients with mild cognitive impairment (less so once diagnosed with dementia)

Brain Gain: Com­put­er­ized Train­ing May Boost Cog­ni­tion in MCI (Med­scape):

“Com­put­er­ized cog­ni­tive train­ing (CCT) for patients with mild cog­ni­tive impair­ment (MCI) appears to have a ben­e­fi­cial effect on glob­al cog­ni­tion, mem­o­ry, and atten­tion and improves psy­choso­cial func­tion­ing, includ­ing depres­sive symp­toms, new research shows.

How­ev­er, the review also showed that CCT is of lim­it­ed ben­e­fit for demen­tia patients and has no impact on exec­u­tive func­tion or pro­cess­ing speed in patients with MCI…

This effect size was larg­er than those pre­vi­ous­ly report­ed for healthy old­er adults and for patients with Parkin­son’s dis­ease, the author note.

Par­tic­i­pants in CCT groups improved sig­nif­i­cant­ly dur­ing the inter­ven­tion peri­od, where­as patients receiv­ing con­trol inter­ven­tions did not show any cog­ni­tive change.”

Study: Com­put­er­ized Cog­ni­tive Train­ing in Old­er Adults With Mild Cog­ni­tive Impair­ment or Demen­tia: A Sys­tem­at­ic Review and Meta-Analy­sis (The Amer­i­can Jour­nal of Psychiatry)

• Objec­tive: Pre­vi­ous meta-analy­ses indi­cate that com­put­er­ized cog­ni­tive train­ing (CCT) is a safe and effi­ca­cious inter­ven­tion for cog­ni­tion in old­er adults. How­ev­er, effi­ca­cy varies across pop­u­la­tions and cog­ni­tive domains, and lit­tle is known about the effi­ca­cy of CCT in peo­ple with mild cog­ni­tive impair­ment or dementia.
• Con­clu­sions: CCT is effi­ca­cious on glob­al cog­ni­tion, select cog­ni­tive domains, and psy­choso­cial func­tion­ing in peo­ple with mild cog­ni­tive impair­ment. This inter­ven­tion there­fore war­rants longer-term and larg­er-scale tri­als to exam­ine effects on con­ver­sion to demen­tia. Con­verse­ly, evi­dence for effi­ca­cy in peo­ple with demen­tia is weak and lim­it­ed to tri­als of immer­sive technologies.

To learn more:

• Can brain train­ing work? Yes, if it meets these 5 conditions
• ACTIVE study: Well-tar­get­ed brain train­ing might sig­nif­i­cant­ly reduce demen­tia risk