Cognitive Aging and Training With Video-games
Condition: Aging; Healthy
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The ageing of the population will inevitably lead to a growing number of older people living
      alone and in need of care. Given the high cost of geriatric care, a critical research issue
      is exploring ways to improve or maintain cognitive and functional status in old age.
      Unfortunately, it has been shown that training those specific cognitive processes most
      sensitive to ageing (such as speed of processing or working memory), produces only limited
      beneficial effects. However, research also suggests that factors such as cognitive
      engagement, physical activity and social context may act as more general modulators of
      cognitive decline. This project is a longitudinal study with experimental and control groups.
      It is inspired from the engagement model of cognitive optimization suggesting that a
      lifestyle marked by social and intellectual engagement may mitigate age-related declines on
      cognitive functioning. It uses new cutting-edge information computing technology (ICT)
      solutions to improve or simply maintain cognitive functions in the elderly. This research
      investigates how the treatment reduces the effects of cognitive age-related decline in
      executive control processes and episodic (explicit) memory using behavioral and imaging
      measures. The results will provide significant knowledge on the potential of new ICT
      technologies to delay, compensate, and even prevent common chronic problems experienced by
      the elderly population. The hypothesis is that cognitive training with video-games through
      ICT solutions will promote brain and mental health and independence. Ultimately, the
      objective is to contribute to the understanding of factors that help avoiding the (personal
      and economic) consequences of long-term care in geriatric institutions.
    

Detailed description: 
      The aim of the present project was to investigate whether older adults could benefit from
      brain training with video games in a series of cognitive tasks. Two groups of healthy older
      adults participated in the study. The experimental group received 20 1-hr video game training
      sessions using a commercially available brain-training package (Lumosity) involving problem
      solving, mental calculation, working memory and attention tasks. The control group did not
      practice this package and, instead, attended meetings with the other members of the study
      several times along the course of the study. Both groups were evaluated before and after the
      training (experimental group) or a similar period of time (control group) using different
      cognitive tasks in a 2 (Group: Experimental, control) x 2 (Time os assessment: Pre, post)
      mixed factorial design.
    

Intervention name(s): Non-action video game training
Intervention type(s): Other
Intervention description(s): Based on cognitive training Lumosity
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single (Participant)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Cognitive aging; Video games training; Attention; Memory; Wellbeing; Speed of processing; Executive functions