Researchers at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia found that training with Lumosity improved cognition in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). This research was published in the December 2011 issue of the peer-reviewed journal Brain Impairment.
The study was designed and conducted by clinical psychologist Maurice Finn, and involved 16 participants who completed 30 sessions of Lumosity training over the course of 8-10 weeks. Another group of participants served as controls and received regular treatment without cognitive training.
The assessment of transfer used in this study was Rapid Visual Presentation, a visual attention test from the Cambridge Automated Neuropyschological Test Battery (CANTAB). Finn’s evaluation of the results was promising:
“The results were very positive, with all participants recording significant improvements on all tasks they practiced during the training,” said Finn. “Importantly, the training also resulted in improvements on a task that participants had not practiced, that being fast, accurate performance on a measure of visual sustained attention. This is important as it means the brain has become more efficient at processing information.”
Mild cognitive impairment, which is associated with an increased risk of dementia, creates difficulties with recall, information processing, and planning. MCI is diagnosed when cognitive changes are more severe than expected in the normal course of aging.
These results are preliminary, and more research needs to be conducted to determine the full potential for using cognitive training as a treatment for mild cognitive impairment. This is a particularly encouraging result because researchers had previously questioned whether cognition could be improved in patients with mild cognitive impairment.
Lumosity continues to research all the positive outcomes of training. Why not try some training today to see the results for yourself?
Articles Cited:
Finn, M. and McDonald, S. Computerised Cognitive Training for Older Persons With Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Pilot Study Using a Randomised Controlled Trial Design. Brain Impairment 01 December 2011 12 : pp 187-199 http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8495377
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[...] million data points across its 20 million users. This results in independent articles such as the finding of the University of New South Wales in Australia that Lumosity can improve attention in older [...]