Improving General Cognitive Functioning in Seniors via Executive Control Training

通过执行控制训练改善老年人的一般认知功能

• 批准号: 7480716
• 负责人: Catrin Rode
• 金额: $ 23.04万
• 依托单位: OREGON CENTER FOR APPLIED SCIENCE, INC.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-06-01 至 2010-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7480716
• 关键词: Activities of Daily Living; Aerobic Exercise; Affect; Age; Age-associated memory impairment; Aging; Attention; CD-ROM; Code; Cognitive; Daily; Dementia; Elderly; Evaluation; Exercise; Exposure to; Focus Groups; Health; Impaired cognition; Incentives; Individual; Intelligence; Internet; Intervention; Intranet; Lead; Life; Life Expectancy; Maintenance; Marketing; Materials Testing; Memory; Methods; Nature; Numbers; Online Systems; Performance; Phase; Population; Public Health; Randomized Controlled Clinical Trials; Range; Recruitment Activity; Reporting; Sampling; Short-Term Memory; Societies; Stimulus; Structure; Testing; TimeLine; Training; Training Programs; Week; Writing; age effect; aging brain; base; cognitive function; cost; design; executive function; falls; follow-up; improved; intervention program; long term memory; programs; prototype; response; usability

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): As people age, their intellectual abilities show substantial decline that generalizes across a wide range of cognitive functions and that is associated with a number of objective costs for both the individual (e.g., decreased ability to perform activities of daily living, reduced life expectancy, falls) and for society as a whole. However, with the possible exception of aerobic exercise, there is no easily accessible, evidence-based remedy available to counter these negative aging effects. In response to this situation, we propose to develop a web-based cognitive training program that targets executive control functions. Because executive control functions are key to higher-level cognitive functioning in a domain-general manner, their enhancement is expected to lead to widespread benefits. Moreover, recent empirical evidence suggests that executive control functions do in fact improve with intensive training and that this improvement generalizes to other non-trained cognitive abilities. In addition to focusing on executive control functions, the core features of the training program are (a) that it will tailor the intervention exercises to each individual's ability profile, (b) that it will automatically adapt exercise difficulty to user performance, (c) that it will distribute the necessarily intensive training across short, easily manageable units, and (d) that it will be multi-component in nature, targeting three distinct executive control abilities (working memory, long-term memory control, and executive task management). In Phase I, we plan to design a prototype of the full web-based program consisting of two components (working memory and long-term memory control) and to assess its efficacy in a randomized trial using a sample of 60 older adults and including assessments at posttest and one-month follow-up. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Reduced cognitive functioning due to aging is a major health concern. However, cognitive training programs that target executive control functions have been shown to generalize to other cognitive functions and may delay the onset and progression of cognitive decline, which would help older adults live longer independently and would have a significant public health impact.

描述（由申请人提供）：随着人们年龄的增长，他们的智力表现出实质性的下降，这种下降概括了广泛的认知功能，并且与个体的许多客观成本（例如，进行日常生活活动的能力下降、预期寿命缩短、福尔斯）和整个社会。然而，除了有氧运动之外，没有容易获得的，基于证据的补救措施可以对抗这些负面的衰老影响。针对这种情况，我们建议开发一个基于网络的认知训练计划，目标是执行控制功能。由于执行控制功能是以领域一般方式实现高级认知功能的关键，因此它们的增强有望带来广泛的益处。此外，最近的经验证据表明，执行控制功能实际上提高了强化训练，这种改善推广到其他未经训练的认知能力。除了专注于执行控制功能之外，培训计划的核心特征是：（a）它将根据每个人的能力概况定制干预练习，（B）它将自动调整练习难度以适应用户的表现，（c）它将把必要的强化培训分布在简短、易于管理的单元中，以及（d）它将是多组分的性质，针对三种不同的执行控制能力（工作记忆，长期记忆控制和执行任务管理）。在第一阶段，我们计划设计一个完整的基于网络的程序的原型，包括两个组成部分（工作记忆和长期记忆控制），并使用60名老年人的样本在随机试验中评估其有效性，包括在测试后和一个月的随访评估。公共卫生相关性：由于衰老导致的认知功能下降是一个主要的健康问题。然而，针对执行控制功能的认知训练计划已被证明可以推广到其他认知功能，并可能延迟认知衰退的发作和进展，这将有助于老年人独立生活更长时间，并将对公共卫生产生重大影响。