A new study in the journal Neuroimage has found that participants at the highest risk for Alzheimer’s disease significantly improved in standard neuropsychological measures of speed, attention, and working memory, and showed higher neuronal connectivity in brain imaging, after using exercises from the brain training program BrainHQ (as compared to an active control group).
In terms of target groups, the study looked at patients diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) are likely to develop dementia (one study found 66 percent of those affected advanced to dementia within three years), while those with amnestic MCI are at the highest risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease.
MCI is a medical classification for people with age-related declines in thinking skills that are significantly greater than average, but which are not yet classified as dementia. Amnestic MCI is a sub-classification of people with MCI who show significant memory impairment, and who are among those at highest risk for Alzheimer’s disease.
The finding has been reported by researchers at Stanford University and the University of Rochester. The study consisted of 84 patients with aMCI, randomized into an intervention group (using BrainHQ exercises) and an active control group (using brain games, such as sudoku, solitaire and word games).
Each group was asked to engage in their activity four times a week, for an hour a session, for six weeks. The results showed that the intervention group using BrainHQ showed significant improvement in standard measures of speed, attention, and working memory, as compared to the control. Neither group showed significant gains in a measure of episodic memory.
The scientists investigated the neural mechanisms underlying the improvements in cognitive function. To do so they used an advanced form of brain imaging, that allowed them to measure the strength of connections between different neural networks in the brain.
In the brain-training group, it was found that changes in cross-network connectivity predicted changes in generalized cognitive abilities.
This finding suggests that one way that brain training improves cognitive function is by improving how disparate brain networks communicate with each other.
The research builds on earlier studies concerning the exercises in BrainHQ leading to gains in standard measures of cognition (attention, speed, memory, executive function, social cognition). This includes an overview article that appeared in Digital Journal in 2020.
The study is titled “Enhancing cortical network-level participation coefficient as a potential mechanism for transfer in cognitive training in aMCI.”
