Willis et al.4141 Willis SL, Tennstedt SL, Marsiske M, Ball K, Elias J, Koepke KM, et al. ACTIVE Study Group. Long-term effects of cognitive training on everyday functional outcomes in older adults. JAMA. 2006;296(23):2805-14. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.296.23.2805 https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.296.23.2805...
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n=2,832 (mean age, 73.6 years) |
To determine the effects of cognitive training on daily function and durability of training on cognitive abilities. |
Ten-session training for memory (verbal episodic memory), reasoning (inductive reasoning), or speed of processing (visual search and identification); four-session booster training at 11 and 35 months after training in a random sample of those who completed training. |
Reasoning training resulted in less functional decline in self-reported IADL. CT cognitive training improved cognitive abilities specific to the abilities trained that continued 5 years after initiation of intervention. |
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Gross and Rebok4040 Gross AL, Rebok GW. Memory training and strategy use in older adults: results from the ACTIVE study. Psychol Aging. 2011;26(3):503-17. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022687 https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022687...
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n=1,401 (mean age, 73.8 years) |
To report long-term impact of memory training on strategy use and longitudinal associations between strategy clustering, memory performance, and everyday functioning. |
Data from the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly (ACTIVE) study (n=1,401) were used to describe strategy use in a community-dwelling sample of older adults. Strategy clustering scores on verbal list learning tasks of episodic memory were used to test the impact of memory training on strategy use and study longitudinal associations between strategy clustering, memory performance, and everyday functioning. |
Memory training improved strategy use. Effects were maintained for up to 5 years. The strategies were positively associated with memory performance and everyday functioning. |
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Ball et al.4343 Ball KK, Ross LA, Roth DL, Edwards JD. Speed of processing training in the ACTIVE study: how much is needed and who benefits? J Aging Health. 2013;25(8 Supl):65S-84S. https://doi.org/10.1177/0898264312470167 https://doi.org/10.1177/0898264312470167...
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n=2,802 (mean age, 73.6 years) |
To examine the longitudinal impact of dosage (number of training sessions) on improvement and maintenance of cognitive abilities and everyday functions. |
Participants were randomly assigned to one of four groups: 10-session group training for memory (verbal episodic memory; n=711), or reasoning (ability to solve problems that follow a serial pattern; n=705), or speed of processing (visual search and identification; n=712); or a no-contact control group (n=704). For the three treatment groups, four-session booster training was offered to a 60% random sample 11 months later. |
Initial SOPT effects were maintained over 5 years and amplified by booster sessions. A single booster session counteracted 4.92 months of age-related processing speed decline. |
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Borella et al.3636 Borella E, Carretti B, Zanoni G, Zavagnin M, De Beni R. Working memory training in old age: an examination of transfer and maintenance effects. Arch Clin Neuropsychol. 2013;28(4):331-47. https://doi.org/10.1093/arclin/act020 https://doi.org/10.1093/arclin/act020...
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n=36 (above 75 years of age) |
To examine whether WM training can improve WM performance in old-old individuals and produce and maintain transfer effects on untrained tasks. |
2 weeks, 60 min per session, memory training (n=18), active control (n=18); assessments: pre and post-test; follow-up: after 8 months; tests: CWMS task, Dot Matrix, Forward and Backward Digit Span, Cattell, pattern comparison task, and Stroop Color task. |
The WM training program produced benefits maintained over time even in old-old adults, confirming there is still room for plasticity in the basic mechanisms of cognition in advanced old age. |
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Gross et al.3737 Gross AL, Rebok GW, Brandt J, Tommet D, Marsiske M, Jones RN. Modeling learning and memory using verbal learning tests: results from ACTIVE. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2013;68(2):153-67. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbs053 https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbs053...
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n=1,401 (mean age, 73.8 years) |
To investigate the influence of memory training on initial recall and learning. |
Each ACTIVE intervention was administered in 10 small-group training sessions, each lasting 60–75 min, offered over a course of 10 weeks. The first of 10 sessions provided didactic training on how memory works and how to maximize benefits of training. |
Memory strategy training was associated with significant long-term gains in learning, stemming from both the highly significant effect of the training and from a slower decline, for up to 5 years, in memory span. |
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Jones et al.4242 Jones RN, Marsiske M, Ball K, Rebok G, Willis SL, Morris JN, et al. The ACTIVE cognitive training interventions and trajectories of performance among older adults. J Aging Health. 2013;25(8 Suppl):186S-208S. https://doi.org/10.1177/0898264312461938 https://doi.org/10.1177/0898264312461938...
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n=1,659 (mean age, 73.7 years) |
To determine the influence of CT in the ACTIVE study on the pace of cognitive aging. |
Briefly, older adults (aged 65–94) were randomly assigned to one of the three cognitive training or no contact control arms. Training lasted 5–6 weeks, and participants were assessed pre- and post-intervention, and at 1, 2, 3, 5, and 10 years after post-test. This analysis considers outcomes through 5 years, as the 10-year main results are currently under analysis. |
Reasoning training attenuated aging-related training. Memory gains were maintained but about half of reasoning and speed gains were lost. All trained groups performed better than controls at 5 years. Performance differences at end of follow-up were equivalent to about 6, 4, and 8 years of aging for memory, reasoning, and speed training, respectively. |
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Kwok et al.3333 Kwok TC, Bai X, Li JC, Ho FK, Lee TM. Effectiveness of cognitive training in Chinese older people with subjective cognitive complaints: a randomized placebo-controlled trial. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2012;28(2):208-15. https://doi.org/10.1002/gps.3812 https://doi.org/10.1002/gps.3812...
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n=223 (mean age, 75.4 years) |
To examine the short- and long-term effects of a cognitive training (CT) program in enhancing cognitive function of older people with subjective memory complaints. |
A single-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial was carried out in a sample of 223 older adults aged 65 years or above with subjective memory complaints in Hong Kong. They were randomly assigned to either receive CT (intervention group, n=111) or attend health-related educational lectures only (control group, n=112). Participants’ cognitive abilities were assessed by the Chinese version of Mattis Dementia Rating Scale at baseline, immediately after the training, and 9 months after the training. |
Cognitive training was effective in enhancing the overall cognitive functioning of less educated older adults with subjective memory complaints. The positive effect was durable for at least 9 months in conceptualization and memory. |
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Sisco et al.3939 Sisco SM, Marsiske M, Gross AL, Rebok GW. The influence of cognitive training on older adults’ recall for short stories. J Aging Health. 2013;25(8 Suppl):230S-48S. https://doi.org/10.1177/0898264313501386 https://doi.org/10.1177/0898264313501386...
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n=1,912 (mean age, 72.9 years) |
To investigate how a multicomponent memory intervention affected memory for prose. |
Participants were randomized into one of the three training arms (i.e., memory, reasoning, and speed of processing) or a no-contact control group; about half of the trained participants received additional booster training 1 and 3 years post intervention. |
Multi-factorial memory training can improve verbatim recall for prose, but the effect does not last without continued intervention. |
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Gross et al.4444 Gross AL, Brandt J, Bandeen-Roche K, Carlson MC, Stuart EA, Marsiske M, et al. Do older adults use the method of loci? Results from the ACTIVE study. Exp Aging Res. 2014;40(2):140-63. https://doi.org/10.1080/0361073X.2014.882204 https://doi.org/10.1080/0361073X.2014.88...
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n=1,401 (mean age, 73.3 years) |
To evaluate whether training can increase the use of MoL and whether MoL is associated with better memory maintained over time. |
The authors analyzed skip patterns on response forms for the Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) in the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly (ACTIVE; n=1,401) trial using 5 years of longitudinal follow-up. |
The use of MoL was associated with improved memory sustained over time. Changes in strategies resulted in differences in memory performance. |
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Linde et al.3535 Linde K, Alfermann D. Single versus combined cognitive and physical activity effects on fluid cognitive abilities of healthy older adults: a 4-month randomized controlled trial with follow-up. J Aging Phys Act. 2014;22(3):302-13. https://doi.org/10.1123/japa.2012-0149 https://doi.org/10.1123/japa.2012-0149...
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n=70 (mean age, 66.8 years) |
To analyze the short- and long-term effects of PT, combined CT, and PT plus CT programs on age-sensitive fluid cognitive abilities. |
70 healthy senior citizens (age 60–75) were allocated to a physical, cognitive, combined physical plus cognitive, and waiting control group. The trial assessed information processing speed, short-term memory, spatial relations, concentration, reasoning, and cognitive speed. |
Physical, cognitive, and combined physical plus cognitive activity can be seen as cognition-enrichment behaviors in healthy older adults that show different rather than equal intervention effects. |
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Rebok et al.1010 Rebok GW, Ball K, Guey LT, Jones RN, Kim HY, King JW, et al. ACTIVE Study Group. Ten-year effects of the advanced cognitive training for independent and vital elderly cognitive training trial on cognition and everyday functioning in older adults. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2014;62(1):16-24. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.12607 https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.12607...
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n=2,832 (mean age,73.6 years) |
To determine the effects of cognitive training on cognitive abilities and everyday function over 10 years. |
Ten training sessions for memory, reasoning, or speed of processing; four sessions of booster training 11 and 35 months after initial training. |
Ten training sessions for memory, reasoning, or speed of processing, four sessions of booster training 11 and 35 months after initial training tests; tests: RAVLT, HVLT, RBPR, Letter Series, Letter Sets, Word Series, UFOV, MDS-HC, EPT, OTDL, CRT, and TIADL. |
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Eggenberger et al.3232 Eggenberger P, Schumacher V, Angst M, Theill N, Bruin ED. Does multicomponent physical exercise with simultaneous cognitive training boost cognitive performance in older adults? A 6-month randomized controlled trial with a 1-year follow-up. Clin Interv Aging. 2015;17(10):1335-49. https://doi.org/10.2147/CIA.S87732 https://doi.org/10.2147/CIA.S87732...
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n=89 (mean age, 78.9 years) |
To evaluate synergistic effects of multicomponent PT complemented with novel simultaneous CT on cognition in older adults. |
Seniors, older than 70 years, without cognitive impairment, were randomly assigned to either: (1) virtual reality video game dancing (DANCE), (2) treadmill walking with simultaneous verbal memory training (MEMORY), or (3) treadmill walking (PHYS). Each program was complemented with strength and balance exercises. Two 1-h training sessions per week over 6 months were applied. |
Particular executive functions benefit from simultaneous cognitive–physical training compared to exclusively physical multicomponent training. Cognitive–physical training programs may counteract widespread cognitive impairments in the elderly. |
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Li et al.3434 Li T, Yao Y, Cheng Y, Xu B, Ca X, Waxman D, et al. Cognitive training can reduce the rate of cognitive aging: a neuroimaging cohort study. BMC Geriatr. 2016;16:12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-016-0194-5 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-016-0194-...
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n=270 (mean age, 69.8 years) |
To examine the relationship between changes in spontaneous brain activity and cognitive performance that occur after CT. |
Participants were trained for 1 h, twice a week, for 12 weeks. Cognition was assessed in all participants and magnetic resonance images were obtained at baseline and 1 year after training. To assess spontaneous fluctuations in brain activity, we acquired resting-state fMRI data. Two indices—functional entropy and time-domain entropy—were used to measure the effects of training. Functional entropy increases with aging and indicates disruptions in functional connectivity. Time-domain entropy decreases with aging and indicates structural alterations in the brain and blood-flow reduction. |
Seventy participants completed the study: 26 in the multidomain cognitive training group (70.38±3.30 years), 27 in single-domain group (70.48±3.93 years), and 17 in a control group (68.59±3.24 years). Functional entropy increased significantly less in the multi-domain (p=0.047) and single-domain groups (p=9.51×10−4) compared with the control group. In the multi-domain group, this was true in the paracentral lobule (p=0.004, Bonferroni corrected p<0.05). Time-domain entropy also improved with training. Compared with controls, time-domain entropy in the multi-domain group decreased less in the inferior frontal gyrus pars opercularis (p=3.59×10−4), the medial part of superior frontal gyrus (p=1.17×10−5), and the thalamus (p=4.72×10−5), while that in the single-domain group decreased less in the cuneus (p=2.58×10−4, Bonferroni corrected p<0.05). |
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Ross et al.3838 Ross LA, Sprague BN, Phillips CB, O’Connor ML, Dodson JE. The impact of three cognitive training interventions on older adults’ physical functioning across 5 years. J Aging Health. 2018;30(3):475-98. https://doi.org/10.1177/0898264316682916 https://doi.org/10.1177/0898264316682916...
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n=2,802 (mean age, 73.6 years) |
To assess the impact of three CT programs on objective measures of physical functioning across 5 years. |
Older adults randomized into a processing speed (n=702), reasoning (n=694), or memory (n=703) training intervention were compared to those randomized into a no-contact control condition (n=698). Intention-to-treat (ITT) and treatment-received (time-varying number of training sessions) analyses were conducted. |
There were no transfer effects in the ITT analyses. Treatment-received models demonstrated that training sessions (i.e., higher dosage) across all intervention arms transferred to better maintained Digit Symbol Copy and Turn 360 performance relative to the control group. More reasoning training transferred to better grip strength. |
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