title: A Tablet for Healthy Ageing: The Effect of a Tablet Computer Training Intervention on Cognitive Abilities in Older Adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To test the efficacy of a tablet computer training intervention to improve cognitive abilities of older adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective randomized controlled trial.
  
  
  METHODS
  Community-based aging intervention study, Edinburgh, UK.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-eight healthy older adults aged 65 to 76 years were recruited at baseline with no or minimal tablet experience; 43 completed follow-up testing.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-two participants attended a weekly 2-hour class for 10 weeks during which they learned how to use a tablet and various applications on it.
  
  
  METHODS
  A battery of cognitive tests from the WAIS-IV measuring the domains of Verbal Comprehension, Perceptual Processing, Working Memory, and Processing Speed, as well as health, psychological, and well-being measures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A 2 × 2 mixed model ANOVA suggested that the tablet intervention group (N = 22) showed greater improvements in Processing Speed (η2= 0.10) compared with controls (N = 21), but did not differ in Verbal Comprehension, Perceptual Processing, or Working Memory (η2ranged from -0.03 to 0.04).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Engagement in a new mentally challenging activity (tablet training) was associated with improved processing speed. Acquiring skills in later life, including those related to adopting new technologies, may therefore have the potential to reduce or delay cognitive changes associated with ageing. It is important to understand how the development of these skills might further facilitate everyday activities, and also improve older adults' quality of life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Eleftheria
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vaportzis
authors.affiliation: Gerontology Center and University Research Priority Program "Dynamics of Healthy Aging", University of Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Mike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK; Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK. Electronic address: a.j.gow@hw.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Alan J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Gow
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000066492:Cognitive Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000072466:Cognitive Remediation / Q000379:methods*; D034201:Computers, Handheld; D005260:Female; D000073656:Healthy Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Cognitive aging; intervention; older adults; tablet computers; technology