Enhancing latent cognitive capacity in mild cognitive impairment with gist reasoning training: a pilot study.
Cognitive training offers a promising way to mitigate cognitive deterioration in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). This randomized control pilot trial examined the effects of Gist Reasoning Training on cognition as compared with a training involving New Learning in a well-characterized MCI group.



Fifty participants with amnestic MCI were randomly assigned to the experimental Gist Training group or an active control New Learning group. Both groups received 8 h of training over a 4-week period. We compared pre-training with post-training changes in cognitive functions between the two training groups.



The Gist Training group showed higher performance in executive function (strategic control and concept abstraction) and memory span compared with the New Learning group. Conversely, the New Learning group showed gains in memory for details.



These findings suggest that cognitive training in general yields benefits, and more specifically, training programs that target top-down cognitive functions such as gist reasoning may have a broad impact on improving cognition in MCI. © 2016 The Authors. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Department of Speech and Hearing Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA.|Center for BrainHealth, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA.
Raksha A
RA
Mudar
Center for BrainHealth, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA.
Sandra B
SB
Chapman
Center for BrainHealth, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA.
Audette
A
Rackley
Center for BrainHealth, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA.
Justin
J
Eroh
Center for BrainHealth, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA.
Hsueh-Sheng
HS
Chiang
Center for BrainHealth, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA.
Alison
A
Perez
Center for BrainHealth, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA.
Erin
E
Venza
Center for BrainHealth, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA.
Jeffrey S
JS
Spence
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology
MCI; RCT; cognitive training; executive function; gist reasoning; memory