Cortical Thickness Changes Correlate with Cognition Changes after Cognitive Training: Evidence from a Chinese Community Study.

Lijuan Jiang,Chunbo Li,Xinyi Cao,Ting Li,Yingying Tang,Raymond C Chan,Jijun Wang,Wei Li

doi:10.3389/fnagi.2016.00118

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate whether changes in cortical thickness correlated with cognitive function changes in healthy older adults after receiving cognitive training interventions. Moreover, it also aimed to examine the differential impacts of a multi-domain and a single-domain cognitive training interventions. Longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning was performed on participants 65–75 years of age using the Siemens 3.0 T Trio Tim with the Magnetization Prepared Rapid Gradient Echo (MPRAGE) sequence. The cortical thickness was determined using FreeSurfer Software. Cognitive functioning was evaluated using the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). There were significant group × time interaction effects on the left supramarginal, the left frontal pole cortical regions; and a marginal significant group × time interaction effects on visuospatial/constructional and delayed memory scores. In a multi-domain cognitive training group, a number of cortical region changes were significantly positively correlated with changes in attention, delayed memory, and the total score, but significantly negatively correlated with changes in immediate memory and language scores. In the single-domain cognitive training group, some cortical region changes were significantly positively associated with changes in immediate memory, delayed memory, and the total score, while they were significantly negatively associated with changes in visuospatial/constructional, language, and attention scores. Overall, multi-domain cognitive training offered more advantages in visuospatial/constructional, attention, and delayed memory abilities, while single-domain cognitive training benefited immediate memory ability more effectively. These findings suggest that healthy older adults benefit more from the multi-domain cognitive training than single-domain cognitive training. Cognitive training has impacted on cortical thickness changes in healthy elderly.

Highlights

As the average human lifespan increases and the world’s aging population grows, issues surrounding the health and care of the aging are gaining increasing attention (Hu et al, 2014)
We evaluated the effects of multi-domain and single-domain cognitive training interventions in healthy older adults
Due to some participants missing one magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning or one cognitive assessment at the 12-month follow-up, these results were excluded from data analysis, leading to the single-domain training group demonstrating a lower figure

Summary

Introduction

As the average human lifespan increases and the world’s aging population grows, issues surrounding the health and care of the aging are gaining increasing attention (Hu et al, 2014). Cognitive decline associated with aging, especially in episodic memory, attention, and executive functions, has been reported in both longitudinal (Meijer et al, 2009) and cross-sectional studies (Coubard et al, 2011; Kobayashi et al, 2015). Single-domain cognitive training focuses either on memory (Ball et al, 2002; Sisco et al, 2013), reasoning (Payne et al, 2012), strategy training (Kirchhoff et al, 2012) or processing speed (Cody et al, 2015). While multi-domain cognitive training combines several cognitive functions and demands their interplay (Corbett et al, 2015; Rahe et al, 2015). Beneficial changes at the behavioral level in cognitive function, as well as the structural level in the aging brain, have been proven possible as the result of cognitive training (Lustig et al, 2009; Reijnders et al, 2013; Rahe et al, 2015)

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