Beginning in the late 1990s, nearly 3,000 older adults received brain training as part of a study to evaluate the training's effect on thinking and memory. Twenty years later, participants continued to reap the benefits.
In the latest follow-up from the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly, or ACTIVE, study, researchers report that participants who received cognitive speed training, plus booster sessions one and three years later, were 25% less likely to be diagnosed with dementia in the next two decades.
Funded by the National Institute on Aging and the National Institute of Nursing Research, the multisite ACTIVE study involved 2,832 older adults who were randomly placed in groups for 10 training sessions in memory, reasoning or speed of processing. Training was conducted in 60- to 75-minute sessions over about six weeks. Some participants were randomly selected to receive booster training 11 and 35 months following the initial training. A control group received no training.
After five years, participants in all trained groups retained benefits. Participants reported less difficulty performing tasks such as cooking, taking medication and managing finances than their peers in the control group. Ten years on, researchers found that participants who received training in reasoning and speed of processing maintained cognitive improvements.
For the 20-year follow-up—those still living were now mostly in their 90s —the investigators reviewed participants' medical records to determine how many had been diagnosed with dementia. Those in the speed training group had cut their risk of dementia by one-quarter compared with participants in the control group.
Researchers say this is one of the first results from a large randomized, controlled trial to demonstrate that any intervention—whether it is cognitive training, brain games, physical exercise, diet or drugs—can lower the incidence of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.
Data from UF Health