Siberski James, Shatil Evelyn, Siberski Carol, Eckroth-Bucher Margie, French Aubrey, Horton Sara, Loefflad Rachel F, Rouse Phillip
Assistant Professor Gerontology, Misericordia University, Dallas, PA, USA
Chief Scientist, Head of Cognitive Science, CogniFit Inc, Hafia, Israel.
Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen. 2015 Feb;30(1):41-8. doi: 10.1177/1533317514539376. Epub 2014 Jun 24.
There is a growing focus in the United States on preserving cognitive functioning. However, individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/DD) are not provided with opportunities to prevent cognitive decline. To investigate whether participants with ID/DD would improve in cognitive function after cognitive training, a cognitive training group (N = 11) was compared to 2 control groups, a computer games group (N = 11) and a waitlist group (N = 10) on performance on 15 cognitive functions.
(1) Very high adherence rates (94%) of the sample and 100% of the cognitive training group indicate that when given adequate individual support, adults with ID/DD can successfully use a cognitive stimulation program. (2) No significant between- or within-group effects were observed for cognitive training when a stringent α, corrected for multiple comparisons, was used. (3) Trends of improvement in cognitive function were observed for the cognitive training group.