Functional anatomy of cognitive training using chunking in working memory in Alzheimers disease

阿尔茨海默病是一种以记忆障碍为特征的毁灭性疾病。工作记忆，即在短时间内记住信息的能力，在疾病的早期就会受到影响。我正在研究改善工作记忆的策略，比如组块。组块指的是将信息组合成组块以提高记忆能力的能力。在一项试点研究中，我研究了早期阿尔茨海默病患者，发现在疾病的早期阶段，个人可以使用组块策略来改善他们的工作记忆。因此，我打算教授早期阿尔茨海默病患者的组块策略。我将评估这是否显著改善了他们的工作记忆，并将使用大脑成像来研究与组块训练相关的大脑活动的潜在变化。在组块中使用认知训练可能被证明是保存阿尔茨海默病患者记忆的重要治疗方法。

Alzheimer‘s disease is a devastating illness characterised by memory impairment. ?Working memory?, the ability to remember information over short periods of time, is affected early in the disease. I am investigating strategies to improve working memory, such as chunking. Chunking refers to the ability to group information together into chunks to improve memory capacity.In a pilot study I examined patients with early Alzheimer‘s disease and found that individuals at the very early stage of the disease can use chunking strategies to improve their working memory. I therefore intend to teach patients with early Alzheimer‘s disease chunking strategies. I will assess whether this significantly improves their working memory and will use brain imaging to investigate underlying changes in brain activity associated with training in chunking.Using cognitive training in chunking could prove an important therapeutic approach to preserving memory in individuals suffering from Alzheimer‘s disease.