Assessment of a Cognitive-Motor Training Program in Adults at Increased Risk for Developing Dementia

With the prevalence of dementia increasing each year, preclinically implemented therapeutic interventions are critically needed. It has been suggested that cascading neural network failures may bring on behavioural deficits associated with Alzheimers disease. Previously we have shown that cognitive-motor integration (CMI) training in adults with mild cognitive impairments generalized to improved global cognitive and activities of daily living scores. Here we employ a novel movement-control based training approach involving CMI rather than traditional cognition-only brain training. We hypothesized that such training would stimulate widespread neural networks and enhance rule-based visuomotor ability in at-risk individuals. We observed a significant improvement in bimanual coordination in the at-risk training group. We also observed significant decreases in movement variability for the most complex CMI condition in the at-risk and healthy training groups. These data suggest that integrating cognition into action in a training intervention may be effective at strengthening vulnerable brain networks in asymptomatic adults at risk for developing dementia

Thinking-While-Moving Exercises May Improve Cognition in Elderly with Mild Cognitive Deficits: A Proof-of-Principle Study

Background: Noninvasive interventions to aid healthy cognitive aging are considered an important healthcare priority. Traditional approaches typically focus on cognitive training or aerobic exercise training. In the current study, we investigate the effect of exercises that directly combine cognitive and motor functions on visuomotor skills and general cognition in elderly with various degrees of cognitive deficits. Subjects and Methods: A total of 37 elderly, divided into four groups based on their level of cognition, completed a 16-week cognitive-motor training program. The weekly training sessions consisted of playing a videogame requiring goal-directed hand movements on a computer tablet for 30 minutes. Before and after the training program, all participants completed a test battery to establish their level of cognition and visuomotor skills. Results: We observed an overall change in visuomotor behavior in all groups, as participants completed the tasks faster but less accurately. More importantly, we observed a significant improvement in measures of overall cognition in the subaverage cognition group and the mild-to-moderate cognitive deficits group. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that (1) cognitive-motor exercises induce improved test scores, which is most prominent in elderly with only mild cognitive deficits, and (2) cognitive-motor exercises induce altered visuomotor behavior and slight improvements in measures of general cognition