Cognitive Training Changes Hippocampal Function in Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Pilot Study

Issue title: Imaging the Alzheimer Brain

Guest editors: J. Wesson Ashford, Allyson Rosen, Maheen Adamson, Peter Bayley, Osama Sabri, Ansgar Furst, Sandra E. Black and Michael Weiner

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Rosen, Allyson C.^{a; b; c; *} | Sugiura, Lisa^{a; c} | Kramer, Joel H.^d | Whitfield-Gabrieli, Susan^{c; e} | Gabrieli, John D.^{c; e}

Affiliations: [a] Department of Psychiatry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA | [b] Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, USA | [c] Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA | [d] Memory and Aging Center, UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA | [e] Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Allyson C. Rosen, Ph.D., Palo Alto VA Medical Center, 3801 Miranda Ave (151Y), Palo Alto, CA 94304-1207, USA. Tel.: (650) 279 3949; Fax: (650) 852 3297; E-mail: [email protected].

Abstract: A randomized pilot experiment examined the neural substrates of response to cognitive training in participants with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Participants performed exercises previously demonstrated to improve verbal memory and an active control group performed other computer activities. An auditory-verbal fMRI task was conducted before and after the two-month training program. Verbal memory scores improved significantly and left hippocampal activation increased significantly in the experimental group (gains in 5 of 6 participants) relative to the control group (reductions in all 6 participants). Results suggest that the hippocampus in MCI may retain sufficient neuroplasticity to benefit from cognitive training.

Keywords: MRI, dementia, cognition, MCI, mild cognitive impairment, fMRI, functional MRI, cognitive training, hippocampus, medial temporal lobe

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-2011-0009

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 26, no. s3, pp. 349-357, 2011