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Prospective memory is very important for everyday life of all people. Patients with brain injury often have problems with their prospective memory, the ability to remember what they would like to do in the future and to remember that intention at the right time. Rehabilitation and prospective memory training differ in the literature as well as its efficacy results. The thesis deals with the issues of prospective memory and its rehabilitation with people with acquired brain injury. The aim of this work is to create a summary of existing knowledge about prospective memory, design and implementation of prospective memory training program with patiens with acquired brain injury. The theoretical part of the thesis summarizes basic information about prospective memory, its division and overview of theories. An important part of the thesis is an overview of methods for prospective memory diagnostics. The end of the theoretical part of thesis is about different ways of rehabilitation prospective memory. The empirical part presents the theoretical basis for the cognitive rehabilitation. On this basis a prospective memory training was developed and subsequently tested with patiens with acquired brain injury. The thesis also includes a detailed manual for prospective memory training. The effectivness of the...

Basée sur une approche en neuropsychologie et neuroimagerie, cette étude visait à (i)caractériser le déficit du voyage mental dans le temps (VMT : mémoire autobiographique et projection future) chez des patients atteints de sclérose en plaques de forme rémittente et (ii) à améliorer leur performance. Nous avons montré que le déficit du VMT s’accompagne de changements d’activations cérébrales spontanés dans des régions clés du réseau cérébral du VMT, en comparaison de sujets sains. Par ailleurs, l’utilisation d’un programme de facilitation cognitive a permis une amélioration significative des fonctions étudiées, non attribuable à un effet « placebo » ou d’apprentissage. Le bénéfice clinique s’est traduit par une augmentation de l’activité cérébrale dans des régions cérébrales clés du réseau, mais distinctes selon la direction temporelle.Les huit expériences ont ainsi démontré que le déficit du VMT entraîne une plasticité cérébrale spontanée et que intervention cognitive est efficace et sous-tendue par des processus cérébraux détectables / Based on a double approach in clinical neuropsychology and neuroimaging, the aim of thepresent thesis was twofold: (i) to study relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RR-MS)patients presenting with autobiographical memory (AM) and episodic future thinking (EFT) impairment, and (ii) to improve AM and EFT functioning in the same patients.Thus, we showed a deficit in both AM and EFT in RR-MS patients, which was expressed by spontaneous brain activity changes in key brain regions of the AM and EFT networks,relatively to healthy controls. Then, we documented that the use of a mental visual imagery (MVI)-based facilitation programme led to AM and EFT improvement, which was notattributable to nursing or learning effects. This clinical benefit was accompanied with anincreased reliance on distinct key brain regions of the core AM and EFT network.Overall, we documented the effectiveness of cognitive facilitation for AM and EFT, and the occurrence of spontaneous and induced brain plasticity changes during AM and EFT performance in RR-MS patients, which were sustained by both common and distinct cerebral mechanisms.

The objective of the study was to assess the effectiveness of the Feuerstein's Instrumental Enrichment training (FIE) in respondents with Parkinson's disease (PD) in comparison with another type of cognitive training. The specific aim of the study was to verify whether there were differences between the effectiveness of the FIE and the training of the individual cognitive domains for cognitive functions in respondents with PD. The study included patients with PD who underwent an examination by a neuropsychological battery before the beginning of the training in order to evaluate the level of cognitive functions. Based on the demographic characteristics and the overall score in the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale-II (DRS-II), the respondents (n = 24) were randomly divided into two research groups. The experimental group (EXP) trained using the FIE method for 60 minutes once a week during three months. The control group (CON) trained the individual cognitive domains. After the cognitive training the respondents were examined again in order to detect changes of the level of each one of the cognitive functions. The examination revealed significant differences in the first and the second phases of testing in the EXP respondents (n = 12) in the level of current anxiety (p = 0.024), memory for non-verbal...

Deficient executive functioning influences significantly the ability to manage every day life requirements. Nowdays different structured programmes for EF rehabilitation are available for aquired brain damage patiens. Their efficiency had been confirmed by meta- analysis, yet cognitive-behavioural rehabilitation programmes in clinical praktice still lack some kind of systematic intervention particularly aimed at EF. The topic of the theoretical part is an introduction of selected theoretical models of EF and a summary of existing knowledge about EF rehabilitation. I have created a rehabilitation programme specificly focused on the ability of planning and organizing acitivities, which are complex abilities closely linked to the primary components of EF. This programme was created to help patiens with aquired brain damage to work on improvment of such abilities, whose disruption makes managing every day life requirements difficult. Along with that we tried to improve the quality of their lifes. This programme is also being introduced wihin the theoretical part of this work. Further the process of research is being analyzed. The rehabilitation programme was used with 9 aquired brain damage patiens and it's efficiency was measured. Reasons why I used small-n design are analyzed in detail as well as the...

L’objectif de ce travail de thèse était d’évaluer l’état des processus de récupération en mémoire dans la maladie d’Alzheimer afin de développer des programmes de prise en charge cognitive novateurs. Les deux premières études ont porté sur la caractérisation de ces processus à travers l’évaluation des performances de patients avec une maladie d’Alzheimer à des tâches de reconnaissance mnésique. Les deux études suivantes se sont intéressées au développement de programmes d’intervention cognitive ayant pour objectif de réduire les troubles cognitifs et leur retentissement, l’un en améliorant les processus cognitifs altérés à partir d’un entraînement cognitif appliquant la répétition-lag procédure et l’autre, en sollicitant les processus cognitifs préservés à partir d’un apprentissage par des techniques de réhabilitation cognitive, à recourir à l’utilisation d’aides externes. Les résultats ont mis en évidence une détérioration sélective des processus de reconnaissance chez les patients à un stade léger de la maladie ; la recollection serait particulièrement altérée alors que la familiarité resterait préservée. De plus, le déficit des capacités de reconnaissance de la source serait lié à l’altération des processus stratégiques de reconnaissance de la source, les processus associatifs resteraient préservés. Ensuite, le programme d’entraînement cognitif expérimental s’est révélé efficace, des gains cognitifs ont été objectivés à des tâches cognitives de transfert. De même, le programme de réhabilitation cognitive par le biais d’un apprentissage combinant les techniques de la récupération espacée et de l’apprentissage sans erreur a permis de réduire l’impact des troubles cognitifs dans la vie quotidienne / The main objective of this thesis was to evaluate retrieval memory processes in Alzheimer’s disease in order to develop innovative cognitive interventions. The first two studies focused on the characterization of these processes through performance evaluation of patients with Alzheimer’s disease in recognition memory tasks. The next two studies became interested in development of cognitive intervention programs aimed at reducing cognitive impairment and their impact. One tries to improve impaired cognitive processes from a cognitive training using the repetition-lag procedure and the other one uses different cognitive rehabilitation techniques that involve preserved cognitive processes to learn to resort to the use of external aids. The results showed a selective deficit in recognition processes in patients with a mild stage of Alzheimer’s disease, recollection would be particularly affected as familiarity remains preserved. In addition, source recognition deficit could be explained by a specific alteration of source recognition strategic processes whereas associative processes should remain preserved. Secondly, the experimental cognitive training program was effective, cognitive gains were objectified in transfer tasks. Similarly, the cognitive rehabilitation program using spaced retrieval technique and errorless learning has reduced the impact of cognitive impairment in everyday life

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INTRODUÇÃO: O Comprometimento Cognitivo Leve amnéstico (CCL-A) frequentemente representa a zona de transição entre o envelhecimento saudável e a demência, sendo considerado um problema de saúde pública, sobretudo devido ao crescimento da população idosa. Assim, é crucial o desenvolvimento de tratamentos eficazes que possam minimizar os déficits cognitivos presentes, tal como o treino de estratégia de memória (TEM). Destaca-se o TEM com foco na associação entre faces e nomes, alvo relevante, uma vez que esquecer nomes é uma queixa frequente em idosos com CCL-A. Entretanto, até o momento há pouca evidência quanto à eficácia dessa modalidade de intervenção a essa população, assim como à generalização dos possíveis efeitos, e o correlato neural subjacente. OBJETIVO: Investigar a eficácia do TEM com foco na associação face-nome e o correlato neural através da ressonância magnética funcional (RMf), em comparação a um grupo controle ativo (Psicoeducação - PED), em idosos com CCL-A. MÉTODOS: Trinta idosos com CCL-A foram randomizados em dois grupos: Grupo Experimental (GE, N=15), submetido ao TEM, e o Grupo Controle (GC, N=15), submetido a PED. Em cada programa, os participantes completaram quatro sessões de uma hora cada, duas vezes por semana. Os participantes foram avaliados nos momentos pré e pós intervenção, através de testes neuropsicológicos, tarefas de associação face-nome, escalas de humor e metamemória, além de uma tarefa na RMf. Ademais, no momento préintervenção, os participantes realizaram a coleta do líquido cefalorraquidiano; e, após a intervenção, responderam a um questionário de avaliação dos programas. A fim de investigar a manutenção dos efeitos ao longo do tempo, os voluntários foram reavaliados após um mês e após três meses. RESULTADOS: Não houve diferenças significativas entre ambos os grupos quanto ao perfil clínico, neuropsicológico e biomarcadores liquóricos. Quanto às mudanças após as intervenções, o GE apresentou melhor desempenho que o GC na tarefa de associação face-nome para o material treinado, o que generalizou em parte para o material não-treinado, com benefícios persistindo após três meses. No que se refere à generalização para as medidas neuropsicológicas, o GE exibiu melhora em teste de memória visual, porém não houve mudanças em testes de memória verbal e de atenção após ambos os programas. Além disto, em relação ao GC, o GE reportou uso mais frequente de estratégia associativa, e menor frequência de falhas de memória no cotidiano. Após os programas, ambos os grupos reportaram sentimentos mais positivos quanto à própria memória e avaliaram positivamente as intervenções. Ademais, não foram observadas mudanças em sintomas de depressão e ansiedade após os programas. Os achados de neuroimagem indicam que após as intervenções o GE mostrou maior ativação cerebral que o GC em regiões parietais (pré-cuneo, cíngulo posterior e giro angular bilaterais) e frontais (giro frontal medial à esquerda, giros frontal médio e pré-central à direita) ao codificarem o material treinado. Quanto ao material não-treinado, o GE mostrou maior ativação cebrebral que o GC em região anterior temporal (sulco temporal superior, giro temporal superior e médio). CONCLUSÃO: Os benefícios do TEM são observáveis tanto nos estímulos treinados, como transferem, em parte, para estímulos não-treinados e testes neuropsicológicos padronizados. Além disto, após o TEM, houve aumento no uso de estratégias associativas e ganhos de metamemória. Embora o GE tenha reportado menos falhas de memória que o GC, este aspecto não parece associado ao humor, uma vez que não ocorreram mudanças em sintomas de depressão e ansiedade após os programas. Os dados de neuroimagem corroboram os achados comportamentais sugerindo que o cérebro de idosos com CCL-A permanece altamente plástico. O GE mostrou maior aumento de ativação cerebral que o GC em regiões consistentes com as estratégias treinadas, envolvendo recursos atencionais, memória episódica, semântica e subjetiva, imageria mental, pensamento associativo, processamento de faces e cognição social / INTRODUCTION: Amnestic mild cognitive impairment (A-MCI) often represents the transitional stage between healthy aging and dementia, and has been considered a public health matter due to the growth of elderly population. Thus, it is critical to develop effective treatments that can minimize the cognitive deficits, such as mnemonic strategy training (MST). We highlight the MST focused on face-name associations, a relevant target since forgetting names is a frequent complaint in elders with MCI. However, at the moment there is little evidence of the efficacy of this modality of MST to this population, as well as, its transfer effects and underlying neural correlate. OBJECTIVE: Investigate the efficacy of MST focused on face-name associations, and the underlying neural correlate, in comparison with an active control group (Psychoeducation - PED) in elders with A-MCI. METOHDS: Thirty elders with A-MCI were randomized in two groups: Experimental Group (EG, N=15), underwent to MST, and the Control Group (CG, N=15), underwent to PED. In each program, the participants completed four individual one-hour sessions, twice a week. The participants were assessed at pre and post intervention through neuropsychological tests, face-name association tasks, mood and metamemory scales, beside a fMRI task. Moreover, at pre-intervention, the participants performed the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) puncture; and at post-intervention, answered a questionnaire to evaluate the programs. In order to investigate the maintenance of the effects over the time, the volunteers were reassessed after 1 and 3-months. RESULTS: There was no significant differente between groups regarding the clinical and neuropsychological profiles, as well as, the CSF biomarkers. With respect to the changes after intervention, the EG showed a better performance than CG in the face-name association task to the trained material, and transfered, in part, to the untrained material, with the benefits persisting after three months. Regarding the transfer effects to the neuropsychological measures, the EG exhibited an improvement in the visual memory test, however no changes were observed in the verbal memory and attention tests after both programs. In comparison to CG, the EG reported a more frequent use of associative strategy, and less frequent memory mistakes. After the programs, both groups reported more positive feelings regarding their own memory and evaluated positively the interventions. In addition, there was no change in depression and anxiety symptoms after the programs. The neuroimaging findings indicate that after the interventions the EG showed greater cerebral activation than CG in parietal (bilateral precuneus, posterior cingulare and angular gyru), and frontal regions (left medial frontal gyru, right precentral and middle frontal gyrus), when enconding the trained material. For the untrained material, the EG showed greater brain activation than CG in an anterior temporal region (superior temporal sulcus, superior and middle temporal gyru). CONCLUSION: The MST benefits were observed in the trained and transfer, in part, to the untrained stimuli and neuropsychological tests Moreover, after the MST, there was an increase of associative strategy use and gains in metamemory. Despite the EG has been reported less memory mistakes than the CG, this aspect does not seem related to mood, since there was no changes in depression and anxiety symptoms after the programs. The neuroimaging data corroborate the behavioral findings suggesting that the brain of elders with a-MCI remains highly plastic. The EG showed greater increase of brain activation than the CG in regions consistent with the training, involving attentional resourses, episodic, semântic and subjective memory, mental imagery, associative thinking, face processing and social cognition

INTRODUÇÃO: O Comprometimento Cognitivo Leve amnéstico (CCL-A) frequentemente representa a zona de transição entre o envelhecimento saudável e a demência, sendo considerado um problema de saúde pública, sobretudo devido ao crescimento da população idosa. Assim, é crucial o desenvolvimento de tratamentos eficazes que possam minimizar os déficits cognitivos presentes, tal como o treino de estratégia de memória (TEM). Destaca-se o TEM com foco na associação entre faces e nomes, alvo relevante, uma vez que esquecer nomes é uma queixa frequente em idosos com CCL-A. Entretanto, até o momento há pouca evidência quanto à eficácia dessa modalidade de intervenção a essa população, assim como à generalização dos possíveis efeitos, e o correlato neural subjacente. OBJETIVO: Investigar a eficácia do TEM com foco na associação face-nome e o correlato neural através da ressonância magnética funcional (RMf), em comparação a um grupo controle ativo (Psicoeducação - PED), em idosos com CCL-A. MÉTODOS: Trinta idosos com CCL-A foram randomizados em dois grupos: Grupo Experimental (GE, N=15), submetido ao TEM, e o Grupo Controle (GC, N=15), submetido a PED. Em cada programa, os participantes completaram quatro sessões de uma hora cada, duas vezes por semana. Os participantes foram avaliados nos momentos pré e pós intervenção, através de testes neuropsicológicos, tarefas de associação face-nome, escalas de humor e metamemória, além de uma tarefa na RMf. Ademais, no momento préintervenção, os participantes realizaram a coleta do líquido cefalorraquidiano; e, após a intervenção, responderam a um questionário de avaliação dos programas. A fim de investigar a manutenção dos efeitos ao longo do tempo, os voluntários foram reavaliados após um mês e após três meses. RESULTADOS: Não houve diferenças significativas entre ambos os grupos quanto ao perfil clínico, neuropsicológico e biomarcadores liquóricos. Quanto às mudanças após as intervenções, o GE apresentou melhor desempenho que o GC na tarefa de associação face-nome para o material treinado, o que generalizou em parte para o material não-treinado, com benefícios persistindo após três meses. No que se refere à generalização para as medidas neuropsicológicas, o GE exibiu melhora em teste de memória visual, porém não houve mudanças em testes de memória verbal e de atenção após ambos os programas. Além disto, em relação ao GC, o GE reportou uso mais frequente de estratégia associativa, e menor frequência de falhas de memória no cotidiano. Após os programas, ambos os grupos reportaram sentimentos mais positivos quanto à própria memória e avaliaram positivamente as intervenções. Ademais, não foram observadas mudanças em sintomas de depressão e ansiedade após os programas. Os achados de neuroimagem indicam que após as intervenções o GE mostrou maior ativação cerebral que o GC em regiões parietais (pré-cuneo, cíngulo posterior e giro angular bilaterais) e frontais (giro frontal medial à esquerda, giros frontal médio e pré-central à direita) ao codificarem o material treinado. Quanto ao material não-treinado, o GE mostrou maior ativação cebrebral que o GC em região anterior temporal (sulco temporal superior, giro temporal superior e médio). CONCLUSÃO: Os benefícios do TEM são observáveis tanto nos estímulos treinados, como transferem, em parte, para estímulos não-treinados e testes neuropsicológicos padronizados. Além disto, após o TEM, houve aumento no uso de estratégias associativas e ganhos de metamemória. Embora o GE tenha reportado menos falhas de memória que o GC, este aspecto não parece associado ao humor, uma vez que não ocorreram mudanças em sintomas de depressão e ansiedade após os programas. Os dados de neuroimagem corroboram os achados comportamentais sugerindo que o cérebro de idosos com CCL-A permanece altamente plástico. O GE mostrou maior aumento de ativação cerebral que o GC em regiões consistentes com as estratégias treinadas, envolvendo recursos atencionais, memória episódica, semântica e subjetiva, imageria mental, pensamento associativo, processamento de faces e cognição social / INTRODUCTION: Amnestic mild cognitive impairment (A-MCI) often represents the transitional stage between healthy aging and dementia, and has been considered a public health matter due to the growth of elderly population. Thus, it is critical to develop effective treatments that can minimize the cognitive deficits, such as mnemonic strategy training (MST). We highlight the MST focused on face-name associations, a relevant target since forgetting names is a frequent complaint in elders with MCI. However, at the moment there is little evidence of the efficacy of this modality of MST to this population, as well as, its transfer effects and underlying neural correlate. OBJECTIVE: Investigate the efficacy of MST focused on face-name associations, and the underlying neural correlate, in comparison with an active control group (Psychoeducation - PED) in elders with A-MCI. METOHDS: Thirty elders with A-MCI were randomized in two groups: Experimental Group (EG, N=15), underwent to MST, and the Control Group (CG, N=15), underwent to PED. In each program, the participants completed four individual one-hour sessions, twice a week. The participants were assessed at pre and post intervention through neuropsychological tests, face-name association tasks, mood and metamemory scales, beside a fMRI task. Moreover, at pre-intervention, the participants performed the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) puncture; and at post-intervention, answered a questionnaire to evaluate the programs. In order to investigate the maintenance of the effects over the time, the volunteers were reassessed after 1 and 3-months. RESULTS: There was no significant differente between groups regarding the clinical and neuropsychological profiles, as well as, the CSF biomarkers. With respect to the changes after intervention, the EG showed a better performance than CG in the face-name association task to the trained material, and transfered, in part, to the untrained material, with the benefits persisting after three months. Regarding the transfer effects to the neuropsychological measures, the EG exhibited an improvement in the visual memory test, however no changes were observed in the verbal memory and attention tests after both programs. In comparison to CG, the EG reported a more frequent use of associative strategy, and less frequent memory mistakes. After the programs, both groups reported more positive feelings regarding their own memory and evaluated positively the interventions. In addition, there was no change in depression and anxiety symptoms after the programs. The neuroimaging findings indicate that after the interventions the EG showed greater cerebral activation than CG in parietal (bilateral precuneus, posterior cingulare and angular gyru), and frontal regions (left medial frontal gyru, right precentral and middle frontal gyrus), when enconding the trained material. For the untrained material, the EG showed greater brain activation than CG in an anterior temporal region (superior temporal sulcus, superior and middle temporal gyru). CONCLUSION: The MST benefits were observed in the trained and transfer, in part, to the untrained stimuli and neuropsychological tests Moreover, after the MST, there was an increase of associative strategy use and gains in metamemory. Despite the EG has been reported less memory mistakes than the CG, this aspect does not seem related to mood, since there was no changes in depression and anxiety symptoms after the programs. The neuroimaging data corroborate the behavioral findings suggesting that the brain of elders with a-MCI remains highly plastic. The EG showed greater increase of brain activation than the CG in regions consistent with the training, involving attentional resourses, episodic, semântic and subjective memory, mental imagery, associative thinking, face processing and social cognition

L’objet de ce travail est de mieux comprendre les modifications cognitives et cérébrales liées à la sclérose en plaques (SEP) et les facteurs pouvant les affecter afin de contribuer à améliorer la prise en charge cognitive des personnes vivant avec une SEP. Nous avons orienté nos travaux selon 2 axes. Le premier visait à optimiser les évaluations cognitives. Nous avons montré une diminution de la qualité de vie (QdV) liée à l’atteinte cognitive et à son retentissement sur le statut professionnel, ainsi que l’intérêt d’utiliser l’Echelle d’Humeur Dépressive version auto-questionnaire que nous avons validée et dont la dimension « perte de contrôle émotionnel » était particulièrement associée à la QdV. Nous avons aussi élaboré des tâches « écologiques » en environnement virtuel et montré leur potentiel à évaluer plusieurs composantes cognitives, voire leurs interactions, suggérant leur intérêt pour évaluer l’impact des troubles cognitifs dans les activités quotidiennes. Le second, pour lequel nous avons présenté les bases théoriques, la méthodologie et les résultats préliminaires, consistait à améliorer la prise en charge cognitive grâce à son évaluation et à la réhabilitation (étude REACTIV, en cours). Nous avons créé des paradigmes en IRMf et un programme de réhabilitation spécifique visant à guider les phénomènes de plasticité cérébrale afin d’optimiser le transfert des acquis dans la vie quotidienne et améliorer la QdV. Lors des résultats préliminaires, nous avons identifié en imagerie multimodale des mesures IRM de deux structures prédictives de la progression de certaines performances cognitives au cours de nos thérapies : le thalamus et le corps calleux. / The purpose of this work is to better understand the cognitive and brain changes associated with multiple sclerosis and the influencing factors to help improve cognitive support for people living with MS. We organized our work according to two axes. The first one was to optimize cognitive assessments. We have shown i) a decrease in quality of life (QoL) linked to cognitive impairment and its impact on the professional status and ii) interest in the use of Depressed Mood Scale self-questionnaire that we validated and whose lack of emotional control dimension was particularly associated with QoL. We also developed ecological tasks in virtual environment and showed their potential to evaluate several cognitive components or their interactions, suggesting an interest in evaluating the functional impact of cognitive impairment in daily activities of PwMS. The second, for which we presented the theoretical basis, methodology and preliminary results, was to improve cognitive care through its assessment and rehabilitation (REACTIV study in progress). We created fMRI paradigms and a specific rehabilitation program to guide brain plasticity phenomena in order to optimize the transfer of training in daily life and improve QoL. Preliminary results in multimodal imaging revealed MRI measures of two structures, the thalamus and the corpus callosum, which would be predictive of progression of certain cognitive performance during our therapies.