This study is to investigate the effectiveness of computerized cognitive training, and corresponding neural substrates through multimodal neuroimaging assessment, in the elderly with normal cognition, subjective cognitive impairment, and mild cognitive impairment.
Computerized cognitive training has the advantage of easy accessibility for community-dwelling elderly. It can be much cheaper than traditional neuropsychological training methods, which require trained neuropsychologists. Furthermore, it may be more fun and easier to be optimized to an individual patients' cognitive status than other traditional methods. Clinical efficacy of these kinds of cognitive training applications has been validated through several studies. A recent systematic review reported that the domains of working memory, executive function, and processing speed benefited the most by classic computerized cognitive training tasks, and that these benefits were comparable with traditional cognitive training methods. Apart from neuropsychological data, neuroimaging studies focusing on the effectiveness of computerized cognitive training are scant. There have been no previous studies investigating the possible neural substrates of computerized cognitive training using multimodal neuroimaging modalities simultaneously. Thus, we aimed to investigate the effectiveness of computerized cognitive training and corresponding neural substrates in subjects with mild cognitive impairment, subjective memory impairment, and normal controls through a multimodal approach.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
26
CoCoTA was developed through collaborative research with the Korean Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) and Primpo Co. Ltd. (www.primpo.com). It was designed to stimulate numerous cognitive domains simultaneously by using sounds and objects familiar to Korean elderly. Training themes and scenarios were developed and evaluated by six board-certified neurologists and three neuropsychologists who specialize in dementia. Each subject participated in a total of 24 sessions of cognitive training, which consisted of 40 minutes of training, twice per week. To assure the consistency of cognitive training, trained personnel stayed nearby the subjects to help throughout the training process.
Clinical improvement in the follow-up neuropsychological tests
changes in memory and frontal domain subscores between the baseline and follow-up
Time frame: 12 weeks
Cortical thickness changes between baseline and follow-up volumetric MRI
surface-based morphometry using freesurfer software
Time frame: 12 weeks
White matter integrities changes between baseline and follow-up diffusion tensor imaging
tract-based spatial statistics using fsl software
Time frame: 12 weeks
Spectral ratio changes between baseline and follow-up EEG
EEG spectral ratio analysis
Time frame: 12 weeks
local activation pattern changes between baseline and follow-up Fludeoxyglucose PET
local activation pattern analysis using SPM
Time frame: 12 weeks
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