scholarly journals Cognitive Training in the Elderly: Bottlenecks and New Avenues

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (9) ◽  
pp. 1473-1482 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nahid Zokaei ◽  
Christopher MacKellar ◽  
Giedrė Čepukaitytė ◽  
Eva Zita Patai ◽  
Anna Christina Nobre
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Cognitive Training ◽  
Cognitive Functions ◽  
Cognitive Rehabilitation ◽  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Elderly Population ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Assessment Protocol ◽  
Training Interventions ◽  
Computer Based

Development of measures to preserve cognitive function or even reverse cognitive decline in the ever-growing elderly population is the focus of many research and commercial efforts. One such measure gaining in popularity is the development of computer-based interventions that “exercise” cognitive functions. Computer-based cognitive training has the potential to be specific and flexible, accommodates feedback, and is highly accessible. As in most budding fields, there are still considerable inconsistencies across methodologies and results, as well as a lack of consensus on a comprehensive assessment protocol. We propose that the success of training-based therapeutics will rely on targeting specific cognitive functions, informed by comprehensive and sensitive batteries that can provide a “fingerprint” of an individual's abilities. Instead of expecting a panacea from training regimens, focused and personalized training interventions that accommodate individual differences should be developed to redress specific patterns of deficits in cognitive rehabilitation, both in healthy aging and in disease.

scholarly journals Physical, Cognitive and Social Rehabilitation in Relation to Sleep Quality and Cognitive Functions in the Elderly

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 5148
Author(s):  
Karolina Filipczyk ◽  
Joanna Smolarczyk-Kosowska ◽  
Łukasz Kunert ◽  
Przemysław Filipczyk ◽  
Paweł Dębski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Sleep Quality ◽  
Cognitive Functions ◽  
Cognitive Rehabilitation ◽  
Cognitive Disorders ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Athens Insomnia Scale ◽  
Complex Figure ◽  
Figure Test ◽  
Two Stages

The aim of the study was to assess cognitive functions and sleep quality after a 3-month holistic intervention including physical, social and cognitive rehabilitation in patients 65+. Twenty-nine people participated in the study. The study was divided into two stages. In the first stage, a self-administered questionnaire consisting of sociodemographic questions was used, and cognitive functions were assessed using the Rey-Osterrieth complex figure test, Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination III (ACE III) test, Montreal Cognitive Function Assessment Scale (MoCA) and digit repetition test. All patients were also assessed for sleep quality using the Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS). After three months, the patients were assessed for cognitive functions and sleep quality, which was the second stage of the study. Analysis of the results obtained by patients in the study showed a statistically significant improvement in sleep quality and cognitive function. Rehabilitation activities, including physical training, cognitive exercises and occupational therapy, reduce the severity of mild cognitive disorders and reduce insomnia.

scholarly journals A Dialogue-Based System with Photo and Storytelling for Older Adults: Toward Daily Cognitive Training

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seiki Tokunaga ◽  
Kazuhiro Tamura ◽  
Mihoko Otake-Matsuura
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Cognitive Training ◽  
Question Answering ◽  
Design Method ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Assistive Robots ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
At Home

As the elderly population grows worldwide, living a healthy and full life as an older adult is becoming a topic of great interest. One key factor and severe challenge to maintaining quality of life in older adults is cognitive decline. Assistive robots for helping older adults have been proposed to solve issues such as social isolation and dependent living. Only a few studies have reported the positive effects of dialogue robots on cognitive function but conversation is being discussed as a promising intervention that includes various cognitive tasks. Existing dialogue robot-related studies have reported on placing dialogue robots in elderly homes and allowing them to interact with residents. However, it is difficult to reproduce these experiments since the participants’ characteristics influence experimental conditions, especially at home. Besides, most dialogue systems are not designed to set experimental conditions without on-site support. This study proposes a novel design method that uses a dialogue-based robot system for cognitive training at home. We define challenges and requirements to meet them to realize cognitive function training through daily communication. Those requirements are designed to satisfy detailed conditions such as duration of dialogue, frequency, and starting time without on-site support. Our system displays photos and gives original stories to provide contexts for dialogue that help the robot maintain a conversation for each story. Then the system schedules dialogue sessions along with the participant’s plan. The robot moderates the user to ask a question and then responds to the question by changing its facial expression. This question-answering procedure continued for a specific duration (4 min). To verify our design method’s effectiveness and implementation, we conducted three user studies by recruiting 35 elderly participants. We performed prototype-, laboratory-, and home-based experiments. Through these experiments, we evaluated current datasets, user experience, and feasibility for home use. We report on and discuss the older adults’ attitudes toward the robot and the number of turns during dialogues. We also classify the types of utterances and identify user needs. Herein, we outline the findings of this study, outlining the system’s essential characteristics to experiment toward daily cognitive training and explain further feature requests.

scholarly journals The Effect of Smartphone-Based Cognitive Training on the Functional/Cognitive Markers of Schizophrenia: A One-Year Randomized Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 3681
Author(s):  
Marek Krzystanek ◽  
Krzysztof Krysta ◽  
Mariusz Borkowski ◽  
Katarzyna Skałacka ◽  
Jacek Przybyło ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Cognitive Training ◽  
Cognitive Rehabilitation ◽  
Reference Group ◽  
Paranoid Schizophrenia ◽  
Randomized Study ◽  
Functional Markers ◽  
Open Label ◽  
Antipsychotic Therapy ◽  
The Impact

Background: Cognitive impairment is associated with long-term disability that results in the deterioration of both the social and professional status of individuals with schizophrenia. The impact of antipsychotic therapy on cognitive function is insufficient. Cognitive training is therefore proposed as a tool for cognitive rehabilitation in schizophrenia. In this study we investigated the effect of self-administered cognitive training using a smartphone-based application on the cognitive function of paranoid schizophrenia patients focusing on response time, correct answer rate, incorrect answer rate, and fatigability to check, if these functions can be functional markers of successful cognitive-smartphone rehabilitation. Methods: 1-year multicenter, open-label randomized study was conducted on 290 patients in a state of symptomatic remission. 191 patients were equipped with the full version of the application and conducted cognitive training twice a week. Reference group (n = 99) was provided with a version of the application having only limited functionality, testing the cognitive performance of patients every 6 months. Results: Statistically significant improvement was observed in both the rate of correct answers (by 4.8%, p = 0.0001), and cognitive fatigability (by 2.9%, p = 0.0001) in the study group, along with a slight improvement in the rate of incorrect answers (by 0.9%, p = 0.15). In contrast, the reference group, who performed cognitive training every 6 months, demonstrated no significant changes in any cognitive activities. Conclusions: Cognitive trainings facilitated by a smartphone-based application, performed regularly for a longer period of time are feasible and may have the potential to improve the cognitive functioning of individuals with schizophrenia. Correct answers and cognitive fatigability have potential to be functional markers of successful smartphone-based psychiatric rehabilitations in schizophrenia patients.

Sleep Quality and Cognitive Function in the Elderly Population

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seyed Valiollah Mousavi ◽  
Elham Montazar ◽  
Sajjad Rezaei ◽  
Shima Poorabolghasem Hosseini
Keyword(s):  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Sleep Quality ◽  
Sleep Disorders ◽  
Elderly Population ◽  
Sleep Latency ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Poor Sleep ◽  
Subjective Sleep Quality ◽  
Subjective Sleep

Background and Objective: Physiological process of sleep is considered as one of the influential factors of human’s health and mental functions, especially in the elderly. This research aimed at studying the association between sleep quality and the cognitive functions in the elderly population. Materials and Methods: A total of 200 elderly people (65 years and older) who were the members of retirees associa-tion in Mashhad, Iran, participated in this cross-sectional study. The participants were asked to answer the questionnaire of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) test. Correlation between the total scores of PSQI and MoCA was evaluated by Pearson correlation coefficient. In order to predict the cognitive func-tion based on different aspects of PSQI, multiple regression analysis by hierarchical method was used after removing confounding variables. Results: A significant association was found between PSQI and MoCA (P < 0.001, r = -0.55) suggesting that the com-ponents of use of sleeping medication (P < 0.001, r = -0.47), sleep disorders (P < 0.001, r = -0.37), sleep latency (P < 0.001, r = -0.34), subjective sleep quality (P < 0.001, r = -0.32), sleep duration (P < 0.001, r = -0.27), sleep effi-ciency (P < 0.001, r = -0.26), and daytime dysfunction (P < 0.001, r = -0.15) had significant negative correlation with cognitive function, and the four components of subjective sleep quality (P = 0.010, β = -0.15), sleep latency (P = 0.040, β = -0.13), sleep disorders (P = 0.010, β = -0.26), and use of sleeping medication (P = 0.010, β = -0.26) played a role in prediction of cognitive function in regression analysis. Conclusion: Poor sleep quality, sleep latency, insomnia, sleep breathing disorder, and use of sleeping medication play a determining role in cognitive function of the elderly. Thus, taking care of the sleep health is necessary for the elderly.

scholarly journals Low Back Pain in Elderly from Belém-Pa, Brazil: Prevalence and Association with Functional Disability

Healthcare ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 1658
Author(s):  
Elaine Miyuka Sato ◽  
Mauricio Oliveira Magalhães ◽  
Beatriz Coelho Jenkins ◽  
Lays da Silva Ferreira ◽  
Hallyson Andrey Raposo da Silva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Low Back Pain ◽  
Back Pain ◽  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Elderly Population ◽  
Functional Disability ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Low Back ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Modifiable Factors

Background: This cross-sectional study aimed to determine the prevalence of low back pain (LBP) in the elderly population living in Belém-Pará and to assess the spectrum of problems related to these diseases including the demographic, socioeconomic, occupational characteristics and disability in this population. Methods: Three structured questionnaires were applied in a randomly selected representative sample of 512 elderly people aged ≥60 years. Results: LBP prevalence in the elderly population was 55.7%. Among then, 56.1% had pain at the time of the interview (punctual prevalence), 91.7% had LBP in the last 365 days (prevalence in the last year), and 85.3% at some point in life (prevalence at some point in life). Overall, most studies are above average. LBP was positively associated with hypertension and the influence of the physical and mental health on their social activities ranged from slightly to extreme. LBP was negatively associated with characteristics, such as education (over 11 years), class A or B income, physical activity, high satisfaction with previous work, and excellent self-perceived health, corroborating to the literature. Conclusions: Greater intensity of pain and functional disability were associated with the presence of comorbidities, smoking habits, and low physical activity. LBP prevalence was high, above the national average, mainly affecting the underprivileged classes related to several modifiable factors, highlighting the importance of preventive and interventionist actions for healthy aging.

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