cognitive--disorders

Study: Harnessing a virtual reality brain training game to diagnose mild cognitive impairment (MCI)

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virtual supermarket.

Vir­tu­al real­i­ty brain train­ing game can detect mild cog­ni­tive impair­ment, a con­di­tion that often pre­dates Alzheimer’s dis­ease (press release):

“Geek researchers demon­strat­ed the poten­tial of a vir­tu­al super­mar­ket cog­ni­tive train­ing game as a screen­ing tool for patients with mild cog­ni­tive impair­ment (MCI) among a sam­ple of old­er adults…

In an arti­cle pub­lished in the Jour­nal of Alzheimer’s Dis­ease, the researchers [Read more…] about Study: Har­ness­ing a vir­tu­al real­i­ty brain train­ing game to diag­nose mild cog­ni­tive impair­ment (MCI)

Study: Internet-based screening can help detect aging-related cognitive deficits

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Cogniciti_assessment—

We just came across a new and fas­ci­nat­ing sci­en­tific paper, titled Devel­op­ment and eval­u­a­tion of a self-admin­is­tered on-line test of mem­o­ry and atten­tion for mid­dle-aged and old­er adults, and pub­lished at Fron­tiers in Aging Neu­ro­science. Here is the very read­able abstract:

“There is a need for rapid and reli­able Inter­net-based screen­ing tools for cog­ni­tive assess­ment in mid­dle-aged and old­er adults. We report the psy­cho­me­t­ric prop­er­ties of an on-line tool designed to screen for cog­ni­tive deficits that [Read more…] about Study: Inter­net-based screen­ing can help detect aging-relat­ed cog­ni­tive deficits

Does Brain Training Work? Depends. Better Question is, How, When, for Whom Can Brain Training Work?

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brain training question and answersYou may have read a new wave of arti­cles claim­ing that “brain train­ing does­n’t work”, based on the recent research meta-ana­lyt­ic review Is Work­ing Mem­o­ry Train­ing Effec­tive? (Devel­op­men­tal Psy­chol­o­gy, May 2012), whose abstract says:

“It has been sug­gest­ed that work­ing mem­o­ry train­ing pro­grams are effec­tive both as treat­ments for atten­tion-deficit/hy­per­ac­tiv­i­ty dis­or­der (ADHD) and oth­er cog­ni­tive dis­or­ders in chil­dren and as a tool to improve cog­ni­tive abil­i­ty and scholas­tic attain­ment in typ­i­cal­ly devel­op­ing chil­dren and adults… [Read more…] about Does Brain Train­ing Work? Depends. Bet­ter Ques­tion is, How, When, for Whom Can Brain Train­ing Work?

Study: Cognitive Training in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)

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We just came across a new sci­en­tif­ic study on the val­ue and lim­i­ta­tions of cog­ni­tive train­ing in Mild Cog­ni­tive Impair­ment (MCI), based on a pro­gram of cog­ni­tive exer­cis­es pro­vid­ed by Lumos Labs (devel­op­ers of lumosity.com).

Study: Com­put­erised Cog­ni­tive Train­ing for Old­er Per­sons With Mild Cog­ni­tive Impair­ment: A Pilot Study Using a Ran­domised Con­trolled Tri­al Design (Brain Impair­ment): [Read more…] about Study: Cog­ni­tive Train­ing in Mild Cog­ni­tive Impair­ment (MCI)

Brain Failure and Brain Fitness: A Farewell to Dementia?

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A dread­ed diag­no­sis, that dimmed and doom­ing dilem­ma. Feared, some­times fought, too often for­got­ten. It is the grayest, ghastli­est ele­phant in the room: dementia.

What is demen­tia? I, like many oth­ers who ded­i­cate their pro­fes­sion­al efforts to its study and treat­ment, have no good answer. I believe we are lost in our lex­i­con, try­ing to define a brain state so vex­ing and elu­sive it dri­ves us out of our minds.

I hope we can do bet­ter, and I am not alone. In a sen­si­tive and for­ward-look­ing edi­to­r­i­al enti­tled Demen­tia: A Word to be For­got­ten, Drs. Tra­cht­en­berg and Tro­janows­ki of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Penn­syl­va­nia argue that alter­nate terms are more appro­pri­ate for research, clin­i­cal, and every­day set­tings. From sci­en­tif­ic and bio­log­i­cal per­spec­tives, demen­tia is unspe­cif­ic and sub­jec­tive. With­in the walls of the physician’s office, deliv­er­ing the diag­no­sis of demen­tia can erect unin­tend­ed walls around patients and fam­i­lies; vul­ner­a­ble indi­vid­u­als, assum­ing that the “cru­el con­no­ta­tions in the lay lan­guage” actu­al­ly apply to them, are unnec­es­sar­i­ly iso­lat­ed. [Read more…] about Brain Fail­ure and Brain Fit­ness: A Farewell to Dementia?