title: Improvement in memory with plasticity-based adaptive cognitive training: results of the 3-month follow-up.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate maintenance of training effects of a novel brain plasticity-based computerized cognitive training program in older adults after a 3-month no-contact period.
  
  
  METHODS
  Multisite, randomized, controlled, double-blind trial with two treatment groups.
  
  
  METHODS
  Communities in northern and southern California and Minnesota.
  
  
  METHODS
  Four hundred eighty-seven community-dwelling adults aged 65 and older without diagnosis of clinically significant cognitive impairment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Random assignment into a broadly available brain plasticity-based computerized cognitive training program experimental group or a novelty- and intensity-matched cognitive stimulation active control. Assessments at baseline, after training, and at 3 months.
  
  
  METHODS
  The primary outcome was a composite of auditory subtests of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status. Secondary measures included trained task performance, standardized neuropsychological assessments of overall memory and attention, and participant-reported outcomes (PROs).
  
  
  RESULTS
  A significant difference in improvement from baseline to 3-month follow-up was seen between the experimental training and control groups on the secondary composite of overall memory and attention, (P=.01, d=0.25), the trained processing-speed measure (P<.001, d=0.80), word list total recall (P=.004, d=0.28), letter-number sequencing (P=.003, d=0.29), and the cognitive subscale of PRO (P=.006, d=0.27). Previously significant improvements became nonsignificant at the 3-month follow-up for the primary outcome, two secondary measures of attention and memory, and several PROs. Narrative memory continued to show no advantage for the experimental group. Effect sizes from baseline to follow-up were generally smaller than effect sizes from baseline to posttraining.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Training effects were maintained but waned over the 3-month no-contact period.
authors.affiliation: Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, San Francisco, California, USA. zelinski@usc.edu
authors.forename: Elizabeth M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Zelinski
authors.forename: Laila M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Spina
authors.forename: Kristine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yaffe
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ruff
authors.forename: Robert F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Kennison
authors.forename: Henry W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Mahncke
authors.forename: Glenn E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D020127:Recovery of Function; D016896:Treatment Outcome