Transferring Speed of Processing Gains to Everyday Cognitive Tasks after Stroke

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ABSTRACT This Diversity Supplement application is connected to funded grant R01 AG070049 (Title: Transferring Speed of Processing Gains to Everyday Life; PI: E. Taub; Project Period: 9/5/2021- 8/31/2022). This application requests funds to provide training in neurorehabilitation research to the proposed Diversity Supplement candidate in association with the clinical study supported by the parent grant. The purpose of the parent grant is to conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the efficacy of a new treatment, Constraint-Induced (CI) Cognitive Therapy, for improving cognitive impairment in patients with chronic stroke. CI Cognitive Therapy combines two repeatedly validated rehabilitation methods: the Transfer Package of CI Movement Therapy and Speed of Cognitive Processing Training. The purpose of doing so is to produce a marked enhancement in the transfer of cognitive improvement from the training setting to instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) in everyday situations. Both halves of the new combination therapy are founded on the investigators’ own basic research. In both cases, efficacy is supported by positive results from multiple single-site RCTs and a large multisite RCT. However, the effect of Speed of Processing Training (SOPT) has been found to have limited generalization to cognitive-based IADL in everyday situations. In contrast, one of the main strengths of CI Therapy is that it produces a robust and extensive transfer of treatment effect to everyday life situations by means, in part, of its Transfer Package (TP). The parent grant involves a single-blind RCT with two arms: SOPT with the TP vs. SOPT without the TP. Participants will be 120 adults more than 1-year post-stroke with mild to moderate cognitive impairment. Performance on cognitive tasks will be measured in daily life and in the lab before and after baseline, after treatment, and 6- and 12-months afterwards. To expand the research skills of the Diversity Supplement candidate and foster her development as a career as an independent scientist, this application proposes a two-year, structured program of didactic training in grant writing and data analysis, hands-on training in the design and conduct of neuro-rehabilitation research, independent research activity, manuscript and grant application development, and presentation of data at scientific conferences.