Dissociable effects of attention vs working memory training on cognitive performance and everyday functioning following fronto-parietal strokes.
Polly V Peers, Duncan E Astle, John Duncan and 4 others
PMID 30569816WHAT IT FOUND
Compared with waiting, home computer training with weekly phone support reduced spatial bias after selective attention training, improved a closely related memory task after working memory training, and reduced reported everyday cognitive difficulty.
Key findings
01Selective attention training reduced spatial bias and improved visual short-term memory capacity.
02Working memory training improved a closely related working-memory task and made attention performance more consistent.
03Both training groups reported fewer core symptoms and fewer cognitive symptoms after training, while the waitlist group did not.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study analysed 20 participants, so it was small. Three participants were excluded from analyses of improvement on the training tasks. Participants were selected by lesion location rather than by having measurable attention or neglect symptoms. Most patients were not impaired on standard clinical attention tasks at baseline. The waitlist control received less stimulation than training and could have been affected by expectancy. Participants were recruited from a research panel already motivated to take part. The study reported assessments only before and after training, not at later follow-up. Formal statistical testing of everyday function was limited to two questionnaire domains. The analyses used many outcome measures and were exploratory.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that computerised cognitive training is proven to improve everyday function after stroke. The study was small, chronic, and selected from a motivated research panel, and standard clinical attention tasks showed no significant effects.