title: Structural brain changes after traditional and robot-assisted multi-domain cognitive training in community-dwelling healthy elderly.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate if multi-domain cognitive training, especially robot-assisted training, alters cortical thickness in the brains of elderly participants. A controlled trial was conducted with 85 volunteers without cognitive impairment who were 60 years old or older. Participants were first randomized into two groups. One group consisted of 48 participants who would receive cognitive training and 37 who would not receive training. The cognitive training group was randomly divided into two groups, 24 who received traditional cognitive training and 24 who received robot-assisted cognitive training. The training for both groups consisted of daily 90-min-session, five days a week for a total of 12 weeks. The primary outcome was the changes in cortical thickness. When compared to the control group, both groups who underwent cognitive training demonstrated attenuation of age related cortical thinning in the frontotemporal association cortices. When the robot and the traditional interventions were directly compared, the robot group showed less cortical thinning in the anterior cingulate cortices. Our results suggest that cognitive training can mitigate age-associated structural brain changes in the elderly.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  ClnicalTrials.gov NCT01596205.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, Ewha Womans University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea; Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Geon Ha
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Seun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jeon
authors.affiliation: Division of Newborn Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachustetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Kiho
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Im
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hunki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Byung Hwa
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Ga Young
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hana
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Noh Eul
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Sang Won
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Gangnam Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hanna
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Incheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Young
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Noh
authors.affiliation: Samsung Advanced Institute for Health Sciences and Technology, Sungkyunkwan University, Korea.
authors.forename: Sang Eon
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Samsung Advanced Institute for Health Sciences and Technology, Sungkyunkwan University, Korea.
authors.forename: Hojeong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Samsung Advanced Institute for Health Sciences and Technology, Sungkyunkwan University, Korea.
authors.forename: Jung Won
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Inha University Hospital, Inha University School of Medicine, Incheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Cindy W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hee Jin
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Byoung Seok
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea; Division of Newborn Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachustetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Ju Hee
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Chin
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jung-Hyun
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Mee Kyung
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Suh
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jong Min
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Sung Tae
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: School of Mechanical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Mun-Taek
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Center for Intelligent Robotics at Korea Institute Science and Technology, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Mun Sang
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Florida College of Medicine, and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America.
authors.forename: Kenneth M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Heilman
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, Ewha Womans University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jee Hyang
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Duk L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Na
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D003071:Cognition; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D003704:Dementia / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D057187:Independent Living; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009929:Organ Size; D012371:Robotics; D016896:Treatment Outcome