Brain training using cognitive apps can improve cognitive performance and processing speed in older adults

Bruno Bonnechère,Malgorzata Klass,Christelle Langley,Barbara Jacquelyn Sahakian

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-91867-z

Bruno Bonnechère, Malgorzata Klass + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-91867-z

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Abstract

Managing age-related decrease of cognitive function is an important public health challenge, especially in the context of the global aging of the population. Over the last years several Cognitive Mobile Games (CMG) have been developed to train and challenge the brain. However, currently the level of evidence supporting the benefits of using CMG in real-life use is limited in older adults, especially at a late age. In this study we analyzed game scores and the processing speed obtained over the course of 100 sessions in 12,000 subjects aged 60 to over 80 years. Users who trained with the games improved regardless of age in terms of scores and processing speed throughout the 100 sessions, suggesting that old and very old adults can improve their cognitive performance using CMG in real-life use.

Highlights

Managing age-related decrease of cognitive function is an important public health challenge, especially in the context of the global aging of the population
Since no particular guidelines are given in the app regarding the frequency of the training sessions, we first analyzed the number of days needed to reach the 100 sessions for each Cognitive Mobile Games (CMG)
This study aimed to determine the efficacy of a cognitive training performed using CMG in real-life use on cognitive performance in older adults

Summary

Introduction

Managing age-related decrease of cognitive function is an important public health challenge, especially in the context of the global aging of the population. Users who trained with the games improved regardless of age in terms of scores and processing speed throughout the 100 sessions, suggesting that old and very old adults can improve their cognitive performance using CMG in real-life use. In people with MCI, the currently available evidence could not determine whether or not cognitive training would prevent clinical dementia or improve or maintain cognitive function[13] The results of these studies suggest that the use of cognitive games could be effective in training cognition if used prior to the onset of dementia. The main objective of our study is to add to the current knowledge by evaluating the efficacy of 100 sessions of CMG used in real-life (independently and without specific guidelines on training frequency) in older adults and how the effect may vary as a function of age. We investigated whether there was an impact of the time needed to perform all the sessions on the performance

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