“Keep up the good work!”: A case study of the effects of a specific cognitive training in Alzheimer’s disease

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative condition characterized by significant impairment in multiple cognitive domains. In recent years, the development of cognitive trainings in AD has received significant attention. In the present case study we designed a cognitive training program (GEO, Geographical Exercises for cognitive Optimization) based on an errorless paradigm and tailored to the patient’s cultural interests. The aim of this training was to investigate the potential for acquiring and possibly retaining both procedural and verbal knowledge in early-stage AD. This study involved an 80-year-old female patient diagnosed with early-stage AD, and 10 matched healthy subjects. Participants were asked to perform the two GEO training tasks: a “puzzle-like” task for procedural memory, and an “association” task for verbal memory. Both the patient and the healthy controls were subsequently trained with GEO using the same two tasks for 2 months. Although the patient’s performance before training in both tasks was poor compared to healthy controls, after the training these differences disappeared. Our results showed that the patient was able to acquire new procedural abilities and verbal knowledge, and that her achievements were stable at the follow-up testing scheduled 3 months after the end of the intervention. This case study suggests a potentially useful strategy for cognitive training in AD.

Keywords:

• Alzheimer’s disease
• Cognitive deficits
• Memory
• Neuropsychology
• Rehabilitation

We would like to thank the participants involved in the study for their time and efforts. We would also like to thank Professor Pier Maria Furlan for his continuous support. The submission of this paper was encouraged by the Forum of Young Researchers (FYRE), affiliated with the World Federation of Neurology—Research Group on Aphasia and Cognitive Disorders (WFN-RGACD). While preparing this manuscript, Dr. Marco Cavallo was receiving a research scholarship from the Department of Medical Sciences, “Amedeo Avogadro” University of Eastern Piedmont, Novara (Italy), as well as a research contract from the Department of Mental Health “San Luigi Gonzaga” Hospital Medical School, The University of Torino (Italy). Dr. Michal Harciarek was receiving a “START” scholarship from the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP), a scholarship from the Kosciuszko Foundation, and a scholarship from the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education.