Background: Training visual processing skills, a domain implicated in sport performance and injury risk, could reduce injuries among youth athletes. The useful field of view (UFOV) cognitive training program improves visual processing efficiency. While UFOV training has been extensively studied in aging populations and yields significant cognitive and functional benefits, it has yet to be examined in adolescents. Objective: The aim of this study is to preliminarily assess the #feasibility and acceptability of UFOV training in youth and report on the magnitude of change in visual processing efficiency from pre- to posttraining. Methods: Six adolescent athletes (aged 14‐18 years) completed a 5-week adaptive, online, remote UFOV training program. The UFOV training program has a gamelike interface and increases in difficulty as participants accurately identify and locate targets that are rapidly displayed in the center and at the periphery of their screen amid distractors. Participants were assigned a total training dose of 250 levels across 5 weeks, with 5 scheduled sessions per week, each lasting approximately 25 minutes (equating to approximately 10.42 hours of assigned training time). Individuals met remotely with research staff weekly to receive coaching. We examined #feasibility by calculating overall dose adherence (percentage of assigned levels completed) and regimen adherence (percentage of scheduled training sessions completed). Average overall acceptability, program #usability, adoptability, and perceived benefit were calculated using responses to a posttraining survey, where item-level responses ranged from 1 to 7 on a Likert scale (responses greater than 4 reflected a view more positive than neutral toward the program). Participants completed the Double Decision Assessment pre- and posttraining to quantify the magnitude of change in visual processing efficiency. Results: In this pilot cohort, we observed strong dose (mean 95.33%, SD 11.43%) and regimen (mean 90.67%, SD 12.56%) adherence. Participants’ responses to the acceptability survey suggested positive views of the program overall (mean 5.47, SD 0.4) and in terms of #usability (mean 5.69, SD 0.43), perceived benefit (mean 5.36, SD 0.69), and adoptability (mean 5.17, SD 0.61). All participants demonstrated improved visual processing efficiency from pre- to posttraining (mean difference of 168.67, SD 112.05 ms; Cohen =1.51). Conclusions: Though preliminary, results suggest that UFOV training may be feasible and acceptable for adolescent athletes. All participants in this pilot study demonstrated improvements in visual processing efficiency after completing 5 weeks of training. Further research is needed to investigate the #feasibility of implementing this training in other contexts, such as without research team support or in a group setting. Future work should also evaluate the extent to which UFOV training improves visual processing more than an active control intervention and whether visual processing improvements transfer to untrained skills to reduce the risk of sport-related injury.

Background: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation induces neural plasticity, which may be maximized via adjunctive interventions. Objective: This study aimed to examine the feasibility and acceptability of interleaving computerized cognitive training (CCT) with accelerated intermittent theta burst (iTBS) repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in 2 open-label phase I trials of amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI; NCT04503096) and poststroke mild cognitive impairment (psMCI; NCT04655963). Methods: Participants (aMCI: n=21; and psMCI: n=14) received 24 sessions of accelerated iTBS over 3 days (8 sessions per day). During the 10‐ to 15-minute intervals between iTBS sessions, participants engaged in CCT via the BrainHQ platform. During the 4-week follow-up period, participants were asked to complete 20 minutes daily of BrainHQ. Both studies offered identical compensation for daily practice, but the aMCI group received weekly reminders, whereas the psMCI group did not. Study-specific questionnaires assessed BrainHQ acceptability (administered post-treatment and at follow-up). Results: During in-laboratory treatment, the groups completed similar amounts of BrainHQ (aMCI: median 107, IQR 92-121 min; and psMCI: median 111, IQR 93-137 min; =.51). However, engagement differed during the unmonitored follow-up (aMCI: median 450, IQR 167-581 min,; and psMCI: median 142, IQR 0-477 min); practice time increased in the aMCI group but decreased in the psMCI group over the 4 weeks (=.001). Both groups generally rated BrainHQ positively at both time points in terms of their experience with the platform, exercises, and perceived benefit for their mood and functioning. Conclusions: Combined treatment with CCT and accelerated iTBS is feasible and acceptable in people with mild cognitive impairment. Standardized dosing of CCT is feasibly achieved when interleaved with iTBS sessions and completed in-laboratory, but ecological adherence to CCT in an unmonitored, self-directed context likely requires additional supports and may be influenced by patient characteristics. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04503096; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04503096 and NCT04655963; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04655963

Groundbreaking 3-year study of 4,000 adults aged 19-94 shows brain health can improve at ANY age - even in your 90s! Brief daily training produced measurab… #Aging #Brainhealth #Cognitivetraining #Longevity #Neuroplasticity

Email phone-based quick FYI post.  Open access article👍   Technological Devices for Developing Working Memory in Children...

A three-year longitudinal study of nearly 4,000 adults found that age-related cognitive decline is not inevitable and that cognitive performance can improve through ongoing, targeted brain-healthy practices. ...

Speed-of-processing cognitive training in older adults significantly reduced dementia risk over 20 years, outperforming memory and reasoning training. Its adaptive, implicit learning approach may explain the benefit.

Background: Cognitive decline in the aging population presents an unprecedented challenge worldwide. Recent research has shown the potential of cognitive training programs to mitigate cognitive decline. However, these interventions require sustained adherence to be effective, which can be challenging. Objective: In this study, we aim to enhance the accuracy of predicting adherence patterns in cognitive training programs for older adults, with the goal of developing personalized support systems that promote adherence and improve cognitive outcomes. Methods: A major challenge in developing deep neural networks for predicting adherence patterns is the limited availability of individual participants’ training data. Although domain adaptation techniques can address this issue by leveraging training data from other clinical studies, our research considers a more practical scenario where the use of such data from other studies is restricted due to privacy and confidentiality concerns. Therefore, we used source-free domain adaptation (SFDA), which uses models trained on other cognitive studies without requiring access to the corresponding datasets. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first effort to use SFDA to predict older adults’ daily adherence to cognitive training programs. Results: Using data from 3 previously conducted cognitive training intervention studies, our results demonstrated the efficacy of deep learning models combined with SFDA to accurately predict adherence lapses while addressing data privacy concerns. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that deep learning and SFDA techniques can be useful in the development of adherence support systems for computerized cognitive training, aimed at improving the health and well-being of older adults.

Background: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is an intermediate state between normal aging and dementia, characterized by subjective cognitive decline and objective memory impairment. Cognitive training has consistently shown short-term benefits for individuals with MCI, but evidence on the long-term effectiveness is extremely limited. Given the progressive nature of MCI and the need for sustainable strategies to delay cognitive decline, research on the long-term impact of cognitive training is necessary and timely. Mobile-based platforms offer a promising solution by enhancing accessibility and adherence, but their durability of effect over extended periods remains underexplored. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the long-term effects of a mobile-based cognitive training app on the cognitive function of older adults with MCI. Methods: In total, 28 older adults with MCI used Cogthera, a mobile cognitive training app based on metamemory training. Participants completed 2 training sessions daily for 3 months, and 9 (32%) continued for an additional 12 months. Cognitive function and quality of life were assessed using the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subscale 14 and EQ-5D-5L. Results: Cognitive function improved over 15 months, as measured by Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subscale (F2,35.56=7.08; P=.003). EQ-5D-5L scores increased at 3 months but did not show sustained change at 15 months (F2,42.14=3.40; P=.04). Greater cognitive improvements were associated with younger age, higher functional status, and lower baseline cognitive function. Conclusions: This study showed that long-term use of a mobile-based metamemory cognitive training app was associated with cognitive improvements over 15 months. Although limited by the small sample size and the absence of a control group, these findings suggest potential for mobile cognitive training as a sustainable intervention that warrants validation in larger trials.