Abstract
In the present study we investigated the efficacy of the differential outcomes procedure (DOP) to improve visuospatial working memory in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The DOP associates correct responses to the to-be-remember stimulus with unique outcomes. Eleven patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, 11 participants with MCI, and 17 healthy matched controls performed a spatial delayed memory task under the DOP and a control condition (non-differential outcomes –NOP-). We found that performance (terminal accuracy) was significantly better in the DOP condition relative to the NOP condition in all three groups of participants. AD patients performed worse, and took longer to benefit from the DOP. In line with previous animal and human research, we propose that the DOP activates brain structures and cognitive mechanisms that are less affected by healthy and pathological aging, optimizing in this way the function of the cognitive system.
Highlights
According to the WHO, 47.5 million of people lived with dementia in 2015 and this number is expected to increase by 59%(75.6 millions) until 2030 (WHO, 2015)
Based on previous studies with the differential outcomes procedure (DOP) (e.g., Plaza et al, 2012), we expect that spatial working memory will be significantly improved in the group of AD patients when unique outcomes are associated with each target spatial location
In the present study we investigated if the DOP, an easy-toimplement technique, would be effective in improving spatial working memory in people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD
Summary
According to the WHO, 47.5 million of people lived with dementia in 2015 and this number is expected to increase by 59%(75.6 millions) until 2030 (WHO, 2015). A different approach to enhance cognitive performance is to activate processes that are less affected by aging and dementia by applying, for example, basic principles of learning and reinforcement that were discovered early on in animals (e.g., Trapold, 1970; Trapold and Overmier, 1972), instead of training specific cognitive skills that might be already impaired, and difficult to recover Following this rational, Estévez et al (2001, 2003, 2007) first employed the differential outcomes procedure (DOP) in humans to improve performance in conditional discriminative learning tasks, in which a correct choice response to a specific stimulus-stimulus association is reinforced with a particular outcome. Since aMCI has a pathology characteristic of early AD (Morris et al, 2001), we expect that spatial working memory will be improved in this group of participants
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