Neuropsychological Assessment of a New Computerized Cognitive Task that Was Developed to Train Several Cognitive Functions Simultaneously.

Satoe Ichihara-Takeda,Nozomu Ikeda,Kazuyoshi Takeda,Kiyoji Matsuyama,Shintaro Funahashi

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00497

Abstract

Recent studies have indicated that computerized cognitive training is effective as therapy for reducing the cognitive decline with aging and the dysfunction associated with neuropsychiatric illness. Although cognitive trainings that targets a specific function and multi-domain cognitive training have both been shown to have significant effects, we need one simple behavioral training paradigm to improve multiple domains of cognitive functions easily and simultaneously. We had developed a new computerized task that seeks to engage the cognitive functions of planning, mental calculation, and divergent thinking based on a working memory task in a single task. The purpose of this study was to assess the cognitive features of our new task by comparing the scores of seven known neuropsychological batteries in healthy elderly subjects. The relationships between performance in our task and the scores obtained by the neuropsychological batteries were examined. The percentage of correct performance on our task was correlated with the scores on the category fluency test, the digit span backward task, and the Trail making test B. Stepwise multiple regression analyses revealed that the scores on the category fluency test and the Trail making test B showed significant positive correlations with the percentage of correct performance on our task. Although the present study did not show high correlations between the percentage of correct performance on our task and working memory functions as a primary target, we observed mid-level correlations between the percentage of correct performance on our task and functions for divided attention and word fluency. Our new task requires not only working memory, but also attention and divergent thinking. Thus, this task might be a useful tool for training multiple cognitive functions simultaneously.

Highlights

In our daily life, we often encounter situations that require various cognitive functions simultaneously, such as thinking, planning, and decision-making
We often encounter situations that require various cognitive functions simultaneously, such as thinking, planning, and decision-making. These cognitive functions have been known to deteriorate with aging, as well as with various diseases, such as dementia, schizophrenia, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and stroke
We evaluated whether our new task is related to the intended cognitive functions

Summary

Introduction

We often encounter situations that require various cognitive functions simultaneously, such as thinking, planning, and decision-making These cognitive functions have been known to deteriorate with aging, as well as with various diseases, such as dementia, schizophrenia, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and stroke. It has even been suggested that the effects of this training can transfer to better performance of untrained tasks and untrained functions (Brehmer et al, 2012; Heinzel et al, 2014; Salminen et al, 2015) Attention training such as dual-task training method is known to be useful for improving an ability of divided attention (Lussier et al, 2012). A cooking program improved executive control processing (Wang et al, 2011)

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