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...

Stroke is a leading cause of disability in the world and cognitive impairments post stroke are common. Driving is an occupation of great importance to many individuals and enables participation in society but due to cognition deficits after stroke it can be a difficult task to perform adequately. The aim of this study was to review and map interventions used to improve driving ability after stroke within occupational therapy practice. A literature search was conducted using Arksey and O’Malley's six-stage framework [1], and a search was made in four different databases. Seven articles were found and used for further analysing. Results showed two main categories of interventions. Task-specific training consisting of either simulator-based training or behind the wheel training in real traffic, and training of raw cognitive functions focused on driving related abilities. Both interventions overall showed improvement of driving ability, with task specific training being somewhat superior. Considering the easy implementation possibilities, cognitive training with specific focus on driving skills could be used in current occupational therapy practices. Larger studies might prove task-specific training to be much more superior which can then motivate more simulator-based intervention possibilities. Future studies could also focus on improving self-awareness as a factor.

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.

This research study examines the differences between two types of learning presentation formats and their correlation to learning media, and delivery preferences. A research study was conducted with Fall semester-2000, college freshmen, to determine if there was a significant difference in learning via Computer Based Training (CBT) with or without Multimedia information such as: color, photographs, music, or speech. The major questions researched were: (1) Is learning via CBT more effective with or without multimedia information? (2) Which sequence is more effective, that is: (a) presenting non-multimedia information ahead of multimedia information, or (b) presenting multimedia information ahead of non-multimedia information? A set of non-multimedia and multimedia lessons and questions was developed using current courseware development technology, and recorded on CD-ROMs. A demographic questionnaire was used to correlate performance scores and completion times with the two learning presentation formats. Demographic factors researched included student age range, skill level with computers and applications, educational learning media, and educational delivery preferences that is, learning face-to-face (FTF) vs. learning in a distance-learning (DL) environment. Findings revealed that there were no significant statistical differences in learning between non-multimedia and multimedia presentation formats with performance score as the outcome. However, performance score was improved when the participant first experienced a multimedia presentation format. Using participants who had non-multimedia first, completion time in non-multimedia and multimedia sessions did not differ significantly. However, completion time in multimedia was significantly longer than that in non-multimedia condition when the participant first experienced multimedia. With respect to demographic factors, age and skill level did not reveal significant statistical results in performance score as an outcome. However, completion time was significantly reduced when linked with a higher skill level. On average, participants preferred FTF to DL. However, those participants, who preferred DL, scored approximately 10% higher than their FTF counterparts. Recommendations for incorporating multimedia and distance learning are included in the dissertation. Educational leaders are encouraged to review these findings particularly, during the decision-making process. Following the (Recommendations for Practice) section can help to demystify technological applications and arm educational administrators with information for a fruitful request-for-bid process.

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Compared with students with normal mental abilities, the mentally retarded student in a competency-based vocational education program generally experience much more difficulty learning and retaining the required competencies. Studies have shown that persons who are mentally retarded do not spontaneously apply efficient learning strategies as do persons with average mental abilities. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of remedial cognitive training on the abilities of adolescent mildly retarded students to learn and retain occupational competencies and to determine the effects of selected cognitive teaching strategies on learning and retention. The sample used in the study consisted of 40 subjects randomly selected from approximately 90 tenth grade EMR students of Richmond Public Schools (Virginia). These students entered vocational education training for the first time at the beginning of the 1982-83 school term. The 40 students were further assigned to four subgroups of 10 persons each. The three experimental groups and one control group were subjected to the following treatments: cognitive training plus cognitive teaching (group I), cognitive training plus traditional teaching (group II), no training but cognitive teaching (group III), or no training but traditional teaching (group IV). Pretests and posttests were used to measure knowledge of learning strategies and learning and retention of vocational competencies among the subjects. From these scores, the means and standard deviations were computed for each group and one-way analyses of variance were used to test the hypotheses of interest. The analyses resulting in significant F ratios were then followed by the Scheffé multiple comparison method. It was concluded that the EMR students who had been cognitively trained were superior in their knowledge of learning strategies over those who had not been trained. In the area of skill learning, it was found that cognitive training plus cognitive teaching was significantly more effective than traditional teaching and without cognitive training. Information learning proved superior for EMR subjects provided with cognitive training plus traditional teaching over those provided no training and cognitive teaching. The cognitive training and/or cognitive teaching was not effective in altering significantly learning retention among these subjects in either of the three categories of skill, information or recall of tools and procedures. / Ph. D.

Humans have an innate ability to deal with numerosity and other aspects of magnitude. This ability is generally honed through education in and experience with mathematics, which necessarily changes the brain structurally and functionally. These changes can be further manipulated through non-invasive electrical brain stimulation. Studying these processes in the case of maths not only constitutes research of great practical impact – given the importance of numerical skills in today's society – but also makes use of maths as a suitable domain in which to study plasticity. In this thesis, I aimed to explore how expertise with numbers shapes brain and behaviour, and also the degree to which processing numbers is similar to other domains in terms of the necessity of healthy brain regions believed to underlie normal processing within and across these domains. In Study 1, behavioural and structural brain differences were found cross-sectionally between mathematicians and non-mathematicians. A double dissociation between those groups was found between grey matter density in the frontal lobe and behavioural performance: their correlation was positive for mathematicians but negative for controls. These effects may have been caused by years of experience, by congenital predispositions, or, plausibly, by both of these factors, whose disambiguation is non-trivial. Study 2 used transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) to assist arithmetic learning. A novel montage was used to enhance brain function during the stage when it is believed to be most involved. Real as compared to sham tRNS enhanced reaction times (RTs) and learning rate on a calculation-based task, but not on a retrieval-based task. The effects were only observed in conditions of high task difficulty. Study 3 examined structural MRI measures before and after arithmetic training to determine how either frontal or parietal tRNS applied with the task changes the structure of the brain longitudinally as compared to sham. Previous results (including those of Study 2) of behavioural facilitation in terms of enhanced RTs to calculation problems were replicated, and further interpreted. Both frontal and parietal tRNS modulated the changes that occurred, pre-to-post training, in terms of cortical volume and gyrification of frontal, parietal and temporal areas. Study 4 investigated the shared neural and cognitive resources used for processing numerical magnitude and musical pitch, by probing how stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) effects for each of the two dimensions compare in a group of mainly temporoparietal lesion patients with numerical impairments versus controls. A double dissociation was found in that numerically impaired patients did not show the number-based SRC effect but did show the pitch-based one, while control subjects demonstrated the opposite trend. Overall, the results of these studies leave us with three main messages. First, expertise in numbers and mathematics, whether acquired through years of experience (Study 1) or through a few days of tRNS-assisted training (Study 3), appears to be associated with complex changes in the morphology of several brain structures. Some – but not all – of these structures are maths-relevant, and, in the case of tRNS-assisted training, they are distal to the site of the stimulating electrodes. Second, tRNS can improve performance in arithmetic (Studies 2 and 3), although the mechanisms by which this occurs are not yet fully understood, neither neurally nor behaviourally. Third, I found (Study 4) that brain lesions leading to impairment in the number domain do not necessarily affect processing in other domains – such as pitch – that are otherwise linked to number via a putative common code in the parietal lobes.