Higher-order cognitive training effects on processing speed–related neural activity: a randomized trial

Higher-order cognitive training has shown to enhance performance in older adults, but the neural mechanisms underlying performance enhancement have yet to be fully disambiguated. This randomized trial examined changes in processing speed and processing speed-related neural activity in older participants (57-71 years of age) who underwent cognitive training (CT, N = 12) compared with wait-listed (WLC, N = 15) or exercise-training active (AC, N = 14) controls. The cognitive training taught cognitive control functions of strategic attention, integrative reasoning, and innovation over 12 weeks. All 3 groups worked through a functional magnetic resonance imaging processing speed task during 3 sessions (baseline, mid-training, and post-training). Although all groups showed faster reaction times (RTs) across sessions, the CT group showed a significant increase, and the WLC and AC groups showed significant decreases across sessions in the association between RT and BOLD signal change within the left prefrontal cortex (PFC). Thus, cognitive training led to a change in processing speed-related neural activity where faster processing speed was associated with reduced PFC activation, fitting previously identified neural efficiency profiles.

[1]  Jeffrey N. Browndyke,et al.  Aerobic Exercise and Neurocognitive Performance: A Meta-Analytic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials , 2010, Psychosomatic medicine.

[2]  Paul A. Taylor,et al.  FMRI Clustering in AFNI: False-Positive Rates Redux , 2017, Brain Connect..

[3]  J. Alvarez,et al.  Executive Function and the Frontal Lobes: A Meta-Analytic Review , 2006, Neuropsychology Review.

[4]  Denise C. Park,et al.  Alterations in cerebral metabolic rate and blood supply across the adult lifespan. , 2011, Cerebral cortex.

[5]  Jeffrey S. Spence,et al.  Enhancing latent cognitive capacity in mild cognitive impairment with gist reasoning training: a pilot study , 2016, International journal of geriatric psychiatry.

[6]  A. Jensen,et al.  THE IMPORTANCE OF INTRAINDIVIDUAL VARIATION IN REACTION TIME , 1992 .

[7]  Bart Rypma,et al.  Age-dependent relationships between prefrontal cortex activation and processing efficiency , 2011, Cognitive neuroscience.

[8]  Mark S. Cohen,et al.  Parametric Analysis of fMRI Data Using Linear Systems Methods , 1997, NeuroImage.

[9]  Asha K. Vas,et al.  Higher-Order Reasoning Training Years After Traumatic Brain Injury in Adults , 2011, The Journal of head trauma rehabilitation.

[10]  Ruth B. Ekstrom.  Cognitive factors: Their identification and replication. , 1979 .

[11]  S. Chapman,et al.  Effects of Higher-Order Cognitive Strategy Training on Gist-Reasoning and Fact-Learning in Adolescents , 2010, Front. Psychology.

[12]  Claudia Voelcker-Rehage,et al.  Structural and functional brain changes related to different types of physical activity across the life span , 2013, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.

[13]  S. Chapman,et al.  Gist reasoning training in cognitively normal seniors , 2011, International journal of geriatric psychiatry.

[14]  Jeffrey S. Spence,et al.  Reasoning training in veteran and civilian traumatic brain injury with persistent mild impairment , 2016, Neuropsychological rehabilitation.

[15]  A. Mackey,et al.  Differential effects of reasoning and speed training in children. , 2011, Developmental science.

[16]  S. Chapman,et al.  Enhancement of cognitive and neural functions through complex reasoning training: evidence from normal and clinical populations , 2014, Front. Syst. Neurosci..

[17]  Martin Bellander,et al.  Neural correlates of training-related working-memory gains in old age , 2011, NeuroImage.

[18]  Ayanna K. Thomas,et al.  Theoretical Perspectives on Cognitive Aging , 2019, Handbook of Medical Neuropsychology.

[19]  D. Wechsler,et al.  Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV) , 2010 .

[20]  Bart Rypma,et al.  When less is more and when more is more: The mediating roles of capacity and speed in brain-behavior efficiency. , 2009, Intelligence.

[21]  P. Vernon.  Speed of Information Processing and General Intelligence. , 1983 .

[22]  Pamela K. Smith,et al.  Models of visuospatial and verbal memory across the adult life span. , 2002, Psychology and aging.

[23]  Jennifer Rusted,et al.  Aerobic exercise to improve cognitive function in older people without known cognitive impairment. , 2015, The Cochrane database of systematic reviews.

[24]  K. Berman,et al.  Meta‐analysis of neuroimaging studies of the Wisconsin Card‐Sorting task and component processes , 2005, Human brain mapping.

[25]  Reaction time measures of processing speed: Are they yielding new information about intelligence? , 1991 .

[26]  N. Raz,et al.  Prefrontal cortex and executive functions in healthy adults: A meta-analysis of structural neuroimaging studies , 2014, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.

[27]  John B. Carroll,et al.  Individual differences in cognitive abilities. , 1979, Annual review of psychology.

[28]  T. Salthouse.  When does age-related cognitive decline begin? , 2009, Neurobiology of Aging.

[29]  R W Cox,et al.  AFNI: software for analysis and visualization of functional magnetic resonance neuroimages. , 1996, Computers and biomedical research, an international journal.

[30]  Jennifer L. Etnier,et al.  A meta-regression to examine the relationship between aerobic fitness and cognitive performance , 2006, Brain Research Reviews.

[31]  E. McAuley,et al.  Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience Aging Neuroscience , 2022 .

[32]  Vijay K. Venkatraman,et al.  Psychomotor speed and functional brain MRI 2 years after completing a physical activity treatment. , 2010, The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences.

[33]  B. Rypma,et al.  Investigating the neural bases for intra-subject cognitive efficiency changes using functional magnetic resonance imaging , 2014, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[34]  A. Kramer,et al.  Be smart, exercise your heart: exercise effects on brain and cognition , 2008, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[35]  P. Baltes,et al.  Emergence of a powerful connection between sensory and cognitive functions across the adult life span: a new window to the study of cognitive aging? , 1997, Psychology and aging.

[36]  Denise C. Park,et al.  The adaptive brain: aging and neurocognitive scaffolding. , 2009, Annual review of psychology.

[37]  T. Salthouse,et al.  Interrelations of age, health, and speed. , 1995, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.

[38]  T. Salthouse.  The processing-speed theory of adult age differences in cognition. , 1996, Psychological review.

[39]  Bart Rypma,et al.  Working memory component processes: Isolating BOLD signal changes , 2010, NeuroImage.

[40]  Jinsoo Uh,et al.  Forebrain-dominant deficit in cerebrovascular reactivity in Alzheimer's disease , 2012, Neurobiology of Aging.

[41]  Hans Knutsson,et al.  Cluster failure: Why fMRI inferences for spatial extent have inflated false-positive rates , 2016, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[42]  Jeffrey S. Spence,et al.  Neural Mechanisms of Brain Plasticity with Complex Cognitive Training in Healthy Seniors , 2013, Cerebral cortex.

[43]  A. Kramer,et al.  Fitness Effects on the Cognitive Function of Older Adults , 2003, Psychological science.

[44]  M. D’Esposito,et al.  Isolating the neural mechanisms of age-related changes in human working memory , 2000, Nature Neuroscience.

[45]  Bart Rypma,et al.  r Human Brain Mapping 32:1125–1140 (2011) r Increasing Measurement Accuracy of Age-Related BOLD Signal Change: Minimizing Vascular Contributions by Resting-State-Fluctuation-of-Amplitude Scaling , 2022 .

[46]  Feng Xu,et al.  Estimation of labeling efficiency in pseudocontinuous arterial spin labeling , 2010, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[47]  Norbert Kathmann,et al.  Neural correlates of training and transfer effects in working memory in older adults , 2016, NeuroImage.

[48]  S. Chapman,et al.  Inhibitory control gains from higher-order cognitive strategy training , 2014, Brain and Cognition.

[49]  Dinggang Shen,et al.  HAMMER: hierarchical attribute matching mechanism for elastic registration , 2002, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.

[50]  Jeffrey S. Spence,et al.  Distinct Brain and Behavioral Benefits from Cognitive vs. Physical Training: A Randomized Trial in Aging Adults , 2016, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[51]  Carter Wendelken,et al.  Characterizing Behavioral and Brain Changes Associated with Practicing Reasoning Skills , 2015, PloS one.

[52]  T. Salthouse.  What do adult age differences in the Digit Symbol Substitution Test reflect? , 1992, Journal of gerontology.

[53]  A. Kramer,et al.  Can training in a real-time strategy video game attenuate cognitive decline in older adults? , 2008, Psychology and aging.

[54]  R. Kail.  Developmental change in speed of processing during childhood and adolescence. , 1991, Psychological bulletin.

[55]  Jeffrey S. Spence,et al.  Enhancing Executive Function and Neural Health in Bipolar Disorder through Reasoning Training , 2016, Front. Psychol..

[56]  Pauline L. Baniqued,et al.  Working Memory, Reasoning, and Task Switching Training: Transfer Effects, Limitations, and Great Expectations? , 2015, PloS one.

[57]  Bharat B. Biswal,et al.  Task-Dependent Individual Differences in Prefrontal Connectivity , 2010, Cerebral cortex.

[58]  Daniel Y. Kimberg,et al.  Neural correlates of cognitive efficiency , 2006, NeuroImage.