Efficacy of smartphone application-based multi-domain cognitive training in older adults without dementia

Background As the population ages and the prevalence of dementia increases, there is a growing emphasis on the importance of cognitive training to prevent dementia. A smartphone application-based cognitive training software program, BeauBrain Trainer (BBT), has been developed to provide better access to cognitive training for older adults. Numerous studies have revealed the effectiveness of cognitive training using a cognitive assessment tool. However, relatively few studies have evaluated brain activation using brain imaging as a result of improved cognitive function. Methods All participants were required to download the BBT, an Android-based application for cognitive training, onto their own smartphone or tablet computer and to engage in cognitive training at home. Older adults without dementia were enrolled in this study, including 51 participants in the intervention group and 50 participants in the control group. The BBT comprised a set of 12 cognitive tasks, including two tasks in each of the following six cognitive domains: attention, language, calculation, visuospatial function, memory, and frontal/executive function. Each cognitive task was divided into four blocks based on its level of difficulty. A 16-week cognitive training was designed to carry out cognitive tasks using a total of 48 blocks (12 tasks × 4 levels) for at least 1.5 h per day, 5 days per week. All participants in the intervention group were given BBT tasks that gradually increased in difficulty level, which they submitted through a smartphone application daily for 16 weeks. The researchers monitored the participants’ task performance records on the website and encouraged participants to engage in cognitive training through regular contact. This study was conducted to investigate the improvement in cognitive function and the activation pattern of the frontal cortex in older adults participating in smartphone application-based cognitive training. The cognitive assessment tool was the BeauBrain cognitive screening test (CST), a tablet-based computerized cognitive screening test. The activation pattern of the frontal cortex was measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Additionally, this study aimed to determine the positive effects of cognitive training on everyday functioning and psychological states using a questionnaire. Results Of 101 participants, 85 older adults without dementia (84.1%) who completed the study protocol were included in the statistical analysis. There were 41 participants (80.3%) in the intervention group and 44 participants (88.0%) in the control group. A two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the cognitive scores over a 16-week period between the intervention and control groups. According to the CST results, the intervention group exhibited a statistically significant increase in the language subtest scores, specifically the phonemic word fluency test, compared to those of the control group. The fNIRS results revealed greater activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during the STROOP incongruent task in the intervention group than did the control group. However, the effectiveness of cognitive training was not observed across a variety of rating scales, including everyday functioning, depression, self-efficacy, attention, and subjective memory complaints. Conclusion This study revealed that a smartphone-based cognitive training application led to improvements in phonemic generative naming ability and activation of the prefrontal cortex in older adults without dementia. This study is meaningful because it confirmed that cognitive training is partially effective in enhancing frontal lobe function. It also provided information on the brain mechanisms related to the effects of cognitive training using fNIRS.