Since antiquity, philosophers, theologians, and scientists have been interested in human memory; however, researchers today are still working to understand the capabilities, boundaries, and architecture. While the storage capabilities of long-term memory are seemingly unlimited (Bahrick, 1984), working memory, or the ability to maintain and manipulate information held in memory, seems to have stringent capacity limits (e.g., Cowan, 2001). Individual differences, however, do exist and these differences can often predict performance on a wide variety of tasks (cf. Engle, 2001). Recently, researchers have promoted the enticing possibility that simple behavioral training can expand the limits of working memory which indeed may also lead to improvements on other cognitive processes as well (cf. Morrison&Chein, 2011). The current study investigated this possibility. Recommendations from the skill training literature (cf. Schneider, 1985) were incorporated to create optimized verbal and spatial working memory training tasks. Significant performance improvements were evident across eight days of cognitive training using verbal and spatial adaptive n-back procedures. Training-related improvements were also evident for some untrained measures of visual short-term memory, attentional control, and working memory. These training effects, however, were not universal. Other measures of visual short-term memory and attentional control, as well as measures of fluid intelligence were unaffected by training.

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Speech Pathology and Audiology, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 44-50).

Crianças e adolescentes com Transtornos Mentais apresentam déficits atencionais. Na literatura encontram-se estudos de treino cognitivo com TDAH que sugerem melhoras nos testes neuropsicológicos, porém, sem generalização dos benefícios para outros contextos. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar os resultados de um Programa de Estimulação da Atenção (PEA) estruturado com treino cognitivo da atenção, psicoeducação e orientação aos pais de crianças e adolescentes que realizavam tratamento psiquiátrico e apresentavam queixas de atenção.Participaram deste estudo 29 crianças e adolescentes (8-17 anos) organizados em dois grupos: Experimental-GE (n=17), submetidos a 10 sessões de treino cognitivo associados à psicoeducação e orientação de pais / responsáveis e Grupo Controle-GC (n=12), que receberam apenas o treino cognitivo (10 sessões). Foi aplicada a escala MTASNAP- IV nos pais, professores e pacientes e uma bateria neuropsicológica nas fasespré e pós-intervenção. Os resultados evidenciaram melhoras no desempenho dos testes nos dois grupos após o treino cognitivo de atenção. No entanto, o GE apresentou melhora significativa no teste de atenção concentrada, com diminuição das omissões e aumento de estímulos detectados, indicando maior precisão e menos erros. Além disso, o GE também apresentou maior redução dos sintomas de desatenção, hiperatividade e comportamento opositor desafiador de acordo com Escala MTA-SNAP-IV. Esse dado representa um novo achado para literatura, já que até então os trabalhos existentes indicavam, apenas, os benefícios do treino cognitivo para os testes neuropsicológicos, sem mostrar a generalização dos benefícios para outros ambientes, inclusive na diminuição dos sintomas de desatenção ao levar em conta a percepção dos responsáveis. Acredita-se que os resultados alcançados indicam um quadro promissor em termos de formas de intervenções que auxiliem no tratamento dos Transtornos Mentais com queixas de atenção / Children and adolescents with Mental Disorders present attention deficits. In the literature, there are studies of cognitive training with ADHD that suggest improvements in neuropsychological tests, however, without generalization of benefits to other contexts. The objective of this study was to evaluate the results of an Attention Stimulation Program (ASP) structured with cognitive training of attention, psychoeducation and orientation to parents of children and adolescents who performed psychiatric treatment and presented complaints of attention.A total of 29 children and adolescents (8-17 years old) participated in this study organized in two groups: Experimental-GE (n = 17), undergone 10 sessions of cognitive training associated with psychoeducation and orientation of parents / guardians and Control Group-CG (n = 12), who received only the cognitive training (10 sessions).The MTASNAP- IV scale was administered in the parents, teachers and patients and a neuropsychological battery in the pre- and post-intervention phases. The results showed improvements in the performance of the tests in both groups after cognitive attention training. However, the GE showed a significant improvement in the concentrated attention test, with a decrease in omissions and an increase in detected stimuli, indicating greater precision and less errors. In addition, GE also showed greater reduction of the symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity and oppositional defiant behavior according to the MTA-SNAP-IV Scale. This data represents a new finding for literature, since until then the existing studies only indicated the benefits of cognitive training for neuropsychological tests, without showing the generalization of the benefits to other environments, including the reduction of the symptoms of inattention by taking into account the perception of those responsible.It is believed that the results indicate a promising scenario regarding the forms of interventions that assist in the treatment of Mental Disorders with complaints of attention

Estudos de treino de memória operacional (MO) para idosos mostraram que esta intervenção tem beneficío específico para a MO e, muitas vezes, efeito de generalização para outras habilidades cognitivas não treinadas. As questões sobre o impacto da escolaridade dos participantes, do número de sessões e da modalidade da intervenção (individual versus grupo) sobre o efeito do treino não foram respondidas em estudos anteriores. Esta pesquisa teve como objetivos: 1. traduzir e adaptar o protocolo de avaliação e treino de MO verbal desenvolvido por Borella et al. (2010); 2. examinar a influência da escolaridade dos participantes (quatro versus oito anos e mais), 3. da dose do treino (três versus seis sessões); e 4. da modalidade (individual versus grupo), sobre os efeitos do treino de MO verbal oferecido a idosos saudáveis. Para atingir esses objetivos, 129 idosos participaram de diferentes experimentos. O Experimento 1 (replicação) contou com 11 idosos randomizados na condição treino e na condição controle ativo, todos com escolaridade acima de oito anos. O Experimento 2 (efeito da escolaridade) incluiu os participantes do estudo de replicação que foram comparados à 7 idosos randomizados na condição treino e 13 na condição controle ativo, que tinham quatro anos de escolaridade, As intervenções nos Experimentos 1 e 2 foram realizadas em três sessões individuais. No Experimento 3, 23 idosos foram randomizados na condição treino com seis sessões e 27 na condição controle ativo com seis sessões, todos com oito ou mais anos de escolaridade, e esta nova amostra foi comparada às respectivas condições dos Experimentos 1 e 2 reunidas em uma única amostra. Por fim, os participantes do Experimento 1 foram comparados a uma nova amostra de idosos com oito ou mais anos de escolaridade,16 idosos randomizados na condição treino e na condição controle ativo, que realizaram o treino de três sessões em grupo. Os resultados do estudo de replicação mostraram efeitos semelhantes aos relatados por Borella et al. (2010), isto é, apenas a condição treino aumentou seu desempenho em testes de MO e em testes de função executiva e velocidade de processamento, mantidos após seis meses. Participantes com quatro anos de escolaridade mostraram ganhos semelhantes ao grupo treino com oito ou mais anos de escolaridade, no pós-teste e após seis meses. Os resultados sobre o número de sessões indicaram que o treino com três ou seis sessões gera ganhos cognitivos equivalentes, mas há maior possibilidade de generalização do efeito para outras variáveis no treino com seis sessões. Os resultados sobre a modalidade do treino (individual versus grupo) indicaram que não existe diferença entre as modalidades nas variáveis de desfecho no pós-teste e na avaliação de seguimento. Em conclusão, os experimentos sugeriram que o treino de MO desenvolvido por Borella et al. (2010) é eficaz em diferentes contextos sócio-culturais, entre participantes com escolaridade igual a quatro anos ou superior a oito anos. Os treinos realizados em três e seis sessões mostraram efeitos semelhantes para as variáveis de desfecho, assim como o treino realizado individualmente e em grupo, sugerindo que este treino em MO promove a plasticidade cognitiva dos participantes / Working memory (WM) training studies for older adults have shown specific benefit for WM and, often, generalization effect for other untrained cognitive abilities. Questions regarding the impact of schooling, number of sessions and intervention modality (individual versus group) on the training effect have not been answered in previous studies. This research aimed to: 1. translate and adapt the verbal WM training and evaluation protocol developed by Borella et al. (2010); 2. to examine the influence of schooling (four versus eight years and more), 3. dose of training (three vs. six sessions); and 4. modality (individual vs. group) on the effects of verbal WM training offered to healthy older adults. To answer these questions, 129 older adults participated of different experiments. Experiment 1 (replication) included 11 older adults randomized in the training condition and 15 in the active control condition, all with more than eight years of schooling. Experiment 2 (effect of schooling) included the participants in the replication study who were compared to the older adults with four years of schooling, composed of 7 older adults randomized in the training condition and 13 in the active control condition. The interventions in Experiment 1 and Experiment 2 had three individual sessions. In Experiment 3, 23 older adults were randomized in the training condition with six sessions and 27 in the active control condition with six sessions, all with eight or more years of schooling, and this new sample was compared to the respective conditions of Experiments 1 and 2 united in a single sample. Finally, the sample of Experiment 1 was compared to a new sample of older adults with eight or more years of schooling, 16 older adults in the training condition and 17 in the active control condition, who underwent three group sessions. The results of the replication study showed effects similar to those reported by Borella et al. (2010), that is, only the training condition increased performance in WM, executive function and processing speed tests, maintained after six months. Participants with four years of schooling showed similar gains to the training group with eight or more years of schooling, in the post-test and after six months. The results indicated that training with three or six sessions generates equivalent cognitive gains, but there is a greater possibility of generalization of the effect in the six-session training. The results on the training modality (individual vs group) indicated that there is no difference between the modalities in the outcome variables in post-test and follow-up evaluation. In conclusion, the experiments suggested that the WM training developed by Borella et al. (2010) is effective in different socio-cultural contexts, among participants with schooling equal to or greater than eight years. The three and six sessions showed similar effects for the outcome variables, as well as individual and group training, suggested that this WM training promove a cognitive plasticity on participants

The diploma thesis deals with the topic of neurocognitive changes in schizophrenia and the possibility of non-pharmacological interventions. It first summarizes current knowledge about schizophrenia, in connection with interdisciplinary overlaps enabling orientation in the topic. The thesis describes the individual cognitive disorders that are part of the disease. The main focus of the work is to inform about the possibilities of cognitive remediation. We focus on cognitive training and transcranial direct current stimulation in more detail. In particular, the use of stimulation methods has not yet been described in Czech literature. The work should thus contribute to the mapping of this issue. The theoretical part is followed by an empirical presentation of the results of our pilot study. In the study, we use a quantitative-qualitative methodology to map objective and subjective changes in cognitive functions before and after the application of stimulation and cognitive training in patients with schizophrenia. We included 9 patients who met the entry criteria. The results of the quantitative part did not reveal significant changes after the application of active tDCS stimulation in combination with cognitive training. The qualitative part of the study described subjectively perceived changes and...

The diploma thesis deals with the topic of neurocognitive changes in schizophrenia and the possibility of non-pharmacological interventions. It first summarizes current knowledge about schizophrenia, in connection with interdisciplinary overlaps enabling orientation in the topic. The thesis describes the individual cognitive disorders that are part of the disease. The main focus of the work is to inform about the possibilities of cognitive remediation. We focus on cognitive training and transcranial direct current stimulation in more detail. In particular, the use of stimulation methods has not yet been described in Czech literature. The work should thus contribute to the mapping of this issue. The theoretical part is followed by an empirical presentation of the results of our pilot study. In the study, we use a quantitative-qualitative methodology to map objective and subjective changes in cognitive functions before and after the application of stimulation and cognitive training in patients with schizophrenia. We included 9 patients who met the entry criteria. The results of the quantitative part did not reveal significant changes after the application of active tDCS stimulation in combination with cognitive training. The qualitative part of the study described subjectively perceived changes and...

Although cognitive rehabilitation is not a new field of intervention, as it dates back to the treatment of brain-injured soldiers during World War I, the use of cognitive rehabilitation intervention therapies for individuals with dementia and mild cognitive impairment has yet to draw definite conclusions about its effectiveness. Based on the conceptual framework of biopsychosocial theoretical model, this study explored to what extend cognitive rehabilitation intervention was effective in improving the memory and mood functioning of elderly adults with mild cognitive impairments. An archived data set of 216 elderly adults collected at a midwestern agency in the United States during the period of May 2012 through December 2013 was used. Wilcoxon matched pair tests were used to assess elders' changes in memory and mood functioning. Results indicated that there were no significant changes in memory skills or mood functioning found after the elderly individuals participated in the cognitive rehabilitation program within the 18-month period of continuous intervention training. Several limitations could explain these results including a small sample size of 88 participants that finished the 18-month program; the quality of the assessment process; and the lack of further information on the archived data such as demographics, patients' medication regimen, or type of family support. Health care professionals, families, and caretakers may use these results to understand the importance of closely monitoring the training and checking for positive results and adjusting the intervention as needed. Results of the study also highlighted the importance of focusing on promoting a take-charge collaborative approach to awareness and life satisfaction which is a salient implication for positive social change.

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Developers of Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) gaming software are making remarkable strides in increasing the realism of their software. This realism has caught the attention of the training community, which has traditionally sought system and operational replication in training systems such as flight simulators. Since games are designed and marketed for entertainment and not designed for training of tasks, questions exist about the effectiveness of games as a training system in achieving the desired transfer of skills to the actual environment. Numerous studies over the past ten years have documented that PC-based simulation training environments can offer effective training for certain types of training, especially aircraft piloting tasks. Desktop games have been evaluated from a case study approach for use in aviation training (Proctor, et al., 2004) and education planning and evaluating small unit tactics) (Proctor, et al., 2002) with positive results. Based on the review of selected studies in this area, PC-based simulator platforms have been found to have a positive training impact on cognitive skills (as opposed to psycho-motor skills). Specifically, the literature review has identified that skill sets involved in team resource management, intra- and inter-team coordination, and tactical team maneuvers have been shown to benefit from the use of PC-based simulation training. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the training transfer associated with a Tactical Decision-making game, using Close Combat: First to Fight as a case study. The null hypothesis tested was that traditional field training is equivalent to virtual training combined with field training. Measurements of the subjects' performance in live training were recorded. Additionally, self assessment questionnaires were administered.