IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2019 Aug;66(8):2413-2420. doi: 10.1109/TBME.2019.2906758. Epub 2019 Jun 13.
In the past decade, cognitive training tools have been used to improve brain functioning, and some have been applied to cognitive decline in dementia. Recently, research studies have demonstrated that aerobic exercise could play an important restorative role toward cognitive impairments. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to present the innovative use of the SmartWalk tool, which combines aerobic exercise and cognitive protocols traditionally used to stimulate cognitive function.
The primary goal of this study to demonstrate if our tool is correlated with traditional computerized test in stimulating the cognitive system similarly, despite the fact that SmartWalk adds a supplementary physical load on the task. The SmartWalk tool was tested with a total of 49 subjects-29 healthy subjects and 20 subjects with Mild Cognitive Impairments. The participants were asked to perform both the tests to fulfil the proposed goal.
The results obtained considering the overall population show a good and significant (p < 0.05) correlation for the "correct," "error," and "omitted" scores (r = 0.54, r = 0.34, and r = 0.39, respectively).
The results suggest a good correlation between the two approaches with the advantage of adding aerobic exercise to the traditional cognitive task.
The results of this study may be useful in designing ecological and combined cognitive-physical tool to personalize interventions and delay the onset of cognitive disorders like dementia.
在过去的十年中，认知训练工具被用于改善大脑功能，并且一些工具已应用于痴呆症的认知能力下降。最近，研究表明，有氧运动可以对认知障碍起到重要的恢复作用。因此，本文的主要目的是介绍一种创新的工具，即 SmartWalk，它结合了传统的有氧运动和认知训练方法来刺激认知功能。
本研究的主要目的是证明尽管 SmartWalk 在任务中增加了额外的身体负荷，但它是否与传统的计算机测试一样与刺激认知系统相关。共有 49 名参与者接受了 SmartWalk 工具的测试，其中 29 名是健康受试者，20 名是轻度认知障碍患者。要求参与者完成这两项测试以达到预期的目标。
考虑到总体人群，“正确”、“错误”和“遗漏”得分的相关性较好且显著（p<0.05）（r=0.54、r=0.34 和 r=0.39）。
结果表明，这两种方法之间存在良好的相关性，并且将有氧运动添加到传统认知任务中具有优势。
这项研究的结果可能有助于设计生态和综合认知-身体工具，以个性化干预措施并延迟认知障碍（如痴呆症）的发病。
