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A Novel Program to Improve Cognitive Function in Individuals With Dementia Using Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) and Tutored Cognitive Exercises

The effects of cognitive exercises on the healthy aging population is controversial. Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is considered a promising tool for modulating brain oscillation. Research is lacking on its long-lasting cognitive/therapeutic effect. This is the first pilot stud...

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Autores principales: Moussavi, Zahra, Kimura, Kazushige, Kehler, Lonnie, de Oliveira Francisco, Cristina, Lithgow, Brian
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9261296/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35822057
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fragi.2021.632545
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author Moussavi, Zahra
Kimura, Kazushige
Kehler, Lonnie
de Oliveira Francisco, Cristina
Lithgow, Brian
author_facet Moussavi, Zahra
Kimura, Kazushige
Kehler, Lonnie
de Oliveira Francisco, Cristina
Lithgow, Brian
author_sort Moussavi, Zahra
collection PubMed
description The effects of cognitive exercises on the healthy aging population is controversial. Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is considered a promising tool for modulating brain oscillation. Research is lacking on its long-lasting cognitive/therapeutic effect. This is the first pilot study to explore the effect of a regimen of cognitive exercises with and without tACS on older adults with dementia. The study groups were 28 individuals (age 56–83 years) enrolled into two groups: Exr Group, who received cognitive exercises only and the Exr + tACS Group who received tACS at 40 Hz simultaneously with cognitive exercises for a period of 4 consecutive weeks, 5 days/week, two 30 min-sessions/day; all the training sessions were tutored. The cognitive exercises were applied using the MindTriggers app. They were assessed at pre and post intervention and also one month after the end of trial (follow-up) with an independent assessment (WMS-IV) as the primary outcome measure. The results show significant cognitive improvement at post-intervention in both groups, while the Exr + tACS protocol lead to superior cognitive improvement at follow-up session. The most important outcomes of this study are: 1) The tutored repeated practice of the MindTriggers app exercises does significantly improve the cognitive functions of older adults with dementia and that that improvement lasts for at least one month after the end of the intervention, and 2) The application of tACS increases the positive effects of cognitive exercises with the positive effect lasting an even longer period of time than exercises alone; in other words we speculate that it may lead to long-term potentiation.
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spelling pubmed-92612962022-07-11 A Novel Program to Improve Cognitive Function in Individuals With Dementia Using Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) and Tutored Cognitive Exercises Moussavi, Zahra Kimura, Kazushige Kehler, Lonnie de Oliveira Francisco, Cristina Lithgow, Brian Front Aging Aging The effects of cognitive exercises on the healthy aging population is controversial. Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is considered a promising tool for modulating brain oscillation. Research is lacking on its long-lasting cognitive/therapeutic effect. This is the first pilot study to explore the effect of a regimen of cognitive exercises with and without tACS on older adults with dementia. The study groups were 28 individuals (age 56–83 years) enrolled into two groups: Exr Group, who received cognitive exercises only and the Exr + tACS Group who received tACS at 40 Hz simultaneously with cognitive exercises for a period of 4 consecutive weeks, 5 days/week, two 30 min-sessions/day; all the training sessions were tutored. The cognitive exercises were applied using the MindTriggers app. They were assessed at pre and post intervention and also one month after the end of trial (follow-up) with an independent assessment (WMS-IV) as the primary outcome measure. The results show significant cognitive improvement at post-intervention in both groups, while the Exr + tACS protocol lead to superior cognitive improvement at follow-up session. The most important outcomes of this study are: 1) The tutored repeated practice of the MindTriggers app exercises does significantly improve the cognitive functions of older adults with dementia and that that improvement lasts for at least one month after the end of the intervention, and 2) The application of tACS increases the positive effects of cognitive exercises with the positive effect lasting an even longer period of time than exercises alone; in other words we speculate that it may lead to long-term potentiation. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-03-12 /pmc/articles/PMC9261296/ /pubmed/35822057 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fragi.2021.632545 Text en Copyright © 2021 Moussavi, Kimura, Kehler, de Oliveira Francisco and Lithgow. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Aging
Moussavi, Zahra
Kimura, Kazushige
Kehler, Lonnie
de Oliveira Francisco, Cristina
Lithgow, Brian
A Novel Program to Improve Cognitive Function in Individuals With Dementia Using Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) and Tutored Cognitive Exercises
title A Novel Program to Improve Cognitive Function in Individuals With Dementia Using Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) and Tutored Cognitive Exercises
title_full A Novel Program to Improve Cognitive Function in Individuals With Dementia Using Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) and Tutored Cognitive Exercises
title_fullStr A Novel Program to Improve Cognitive Function in Individuals With Dementia Using Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) and Tutored Cognitive Exercises
title_full_unstemmed A Novel Program to Improve Cognitive Function in Individuals With Dementia Using Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) and Tutored Cognitive Exercises
title_short A Novel Program to Improve Cognitive Function in Individuals With Dementia Using Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) and Tutored Cognitive Exercises
title_sort novel program to improve cognitive function in individuals with dementia using transcranial alternating current stimulation (tacs) and tutored cognitive exercises
topic Aging
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9261296/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35822057
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fragi.2021.632545
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