A New App for At-Home Cognitive Training: Description and Pilot Testing on Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract Introduction To demonstrate the broad utility of the remotely supervised transcranial direct current stimulation (RS-tDCS) protocol developed to deliver at-home rehabilitation for individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS). Methods Stimulation delivered with the RS-tDCS protocol and paired with adaptive cognitive training was delivered to three different study groups of MS patients to determine the feasibility and tolerability of the protocol. The three studies each used consecutively increasing amounts of stimulation amperage (1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 mA, respectively) and session numbers (10, 20, and 40 sessions, respectively). Results High feasibility and tolerability of the stimulation were observed for n = 99 participants across three tDCS pilot studies. Conclusions RS-tDCS is feasible and tolerable for MS participants. The RS-tDCS protocol can be used to reach those in locations without clinic access and be paired with training or rehabilitation in locations away from the clinic. This protocol could be used to deliver tDCS paired with training or rehabilitation activities remotely to service members and veterans.

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Remotely Supervised Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Increases the Benefit of At-Home Cognitive Training in Multiple Sclerosis

Neuromodulation Technology at the Neural Interface ◽

10.1111/ner.12583 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 21 (4) ◽

pp. 383-389 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Leigh Charvet ◽

Michael Shaw ◽

Bryan Dobbs ◽

Ariana Frontario ◽

Kathleen Sherman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Multiple Sclerosis ◽

Cognitive Training ◽

Direct Current ◽

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation ◽

Direct Current Stimulation ◽

At Home

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Faculty Opinions recommendation of Parental smoking at home and the risk of childhood-onset multiple sclerosis in children.

Faculty Opinions – Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature ◽

10.3410/f.1095946.544292 ◽

2007 ◽

Author(s):

Robyn Lucas

Keyword(s):

Multiple Sclerosis ◽

Parental Smoking ◽

Childhood Onset ◽

At Home

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

Frontiers in Robotics and AI ◽

10.3389/frobt.2021.644964 ◽

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.

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Two Years Follow up of Domain Specific Cognitive Training in Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience ◽

10.3389/fnbeh.2016.00028 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 10 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Flavia Mattioli ◽

Fabio Bellomi ◽

Chiara Stampatori ◽

Leandro Provinciali ◽

Laura Compagnucci ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Multiple Sclerosis ◽

Clinical Trial ◽

Randomized Clinical Trial ◽

Cognitive Training ◽

Domain Specific ◽

Relapsing Remitting ◽

Remitting Multiple Sclerosis ◽

Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis

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EXPLORING FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO JOINING AND REGULARLY PRACTICING IN COGNITIVE TRAINING AMONG HEALTHY OLDER ADULTS: A ONE-YEAR FOLLOW-UP QUALITATIVE STUDY

Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease ◽

10.14283/jpad.2020.14 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-7

Author(s):

P. Srisuwan ◽

D. Nakawiro ◽

S. Chansirikarnjana ◽

O. Kuha ◽

S. Kengpanich ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Qualitative Study ◽

Cognitive Training ◽

Individual Characteristics ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Notification System ◽

Healthy Older Adults ◽

Effective Program ◽

One Year ◽

At Home

BACKGROUND: Cognitive interventions have the potential to enhance cognition among healthy older adults. However, little is known of the factors associated with the joining and participating of older people in group-based multicomponent cognitive training (CT). OBJECTIVES: To explore factors that contribute to joining and regularly practicing CT over 1 year among healthy older adults. DESIGN: A qualitative study. SETTING: Geriatric clinic in Bangkok, Thailand. PARTICIPANTS: 40 nondemented community-dwelling older adults INTERVENTION: The CT of executive functions, attention, memory and visuospatial functions (TEAM-V) program was conducted over 5 sessions, with a 2-week interval between each session. MEASUREMENTS: An inductive qualitative approach, based on semi-structure interviews with 40 healthy older adults, was employed. The interviews explored factors of joining CT at baseline, factors of regularly participating in class at 6 months and at home at 1 year. Data were coded and analyzed using and the thematic analysis approach. RESULTS: After analyzing factors concerning joining CT, 3 core themes emerged: (1) individual characteristics with 3 subthemes of “health status”, “time arrangement”, and “financial status”; (2) individual perceptions with 2 subthemes of “perceived susceptibility to dementia” and “perceived severity of dementia” and (3) encouragement from families and friends. After analyzing factors of practicing CT in class, 3 core themes emerged: (1) program with 3 subthemes of “session”, “group facilitators” and “notification before class”; (2) accessibility with 2 subthemes of “distance” and “transportation” and (3) encouragement from families and friends. After analyzing factors of practicing CT at home, 2 core themes emerged: (1) contents of the training program and (2) encouragement from families and friends. CONCLUSIONS: Increased awareness of holistic factors including older adults’ characteristic and perceptions, support from families and friends and accessibility should be emphasized in planning CT. Designing the content of CT that could be applied or adapted in daily living and effective program components such as a notification system could increase practicing.

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COMPUTERIZED COGNITIVE TRAINING, WITH OR WITHOUT EXERCISE, TO PROMOTE COGNITIVE FUNCTION: A RANDOMIZED TRIAL

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igz038.215 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. S55-S56

Author(s):

Lisanne F ten Brinke ◽

John R Best ◽

Joey L Chan ◽

Cheyenne Ghag ◽

Kirk I Erickson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Physical Exercise ◽

Executive Functions ◽

Cognitive Training ◽

Verbal Learning ◽

Stroop Test ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Computerized Cognitive Training ◽

Improved Performance ◽

At Home

Abstract Given the world’s aging population, it is important to identify strategies that promote healthy cognitive aging. Computerized cognitive training (CCT) may be a promising method to combat cognitive decline in older adults. Moreover, physical exercise immediately prior to CCT might provide additional cognitive benefits. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to examine the effect of a CCT intervention, alone or preceded by physical exercise, on memory and executive functions in older adults. 124 community-dwelling older adults aged 65-85 years were randomly assigned to either 8-weeks of: 1) 3x/week group-based CCT plus 3x/week CCT sessions at home; 2) 3x/week group-based CCT combined with a 15-minute brisk walk (Ex-CCT) plus 3x/week Ex-CCT sessions at home; or 3)3x/week group-based sham exercise and education sessions (CON). At baseline and 8-weeks standard neuropsychological tests of verbal memory and learning and executive functions were administered, including the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), Stroop test, Flanker test, Trail Making Tests (TMT B-A), and Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) Test. At trial completion, there were no differences in RAVLT performance. Compared with CON, FBT and Ex-FBT participants significantly improved performance on the Stroop test (p = .001 and p = .023, respectively). Additionally, those randomized to Ex-CCT improved performance on the Flanker test (p = .002), TMT B-A (p = .047), and the DCCS Test (p = .023) compared with BAT. These findings suggest that an 8-week CCT program could benefit executive functions, and that implementing exercise immediately prior to CCT could provide broader benefits.

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