Benefits of cognitive training in dementia patients unclear
"The effects of cognitive training in dementia patients have been studied actively during recent decades but the quality and reliability of the studies varies," says licensed neuropsychologist Eeva-Liisa Kallio. She reviewed 31 randomized controlled trials on cognitive training in dementia patients. Kallio's reserch paper "Cognitive Training Interventions for Patients with Alzheimer's Disease: A Systematic Review" was published in Journal of Alzheimer's Disease . Some of the studies in the review focused primarily on cognitive training and in others cognitive training was part of broader cognitive or multi-component intervention. "Many of the studies reported effects on cognitive functions immediately after the intervention but only few studies included follow-up of the patients or showed improvement in cognitive functions that were not directly linked to the skills trained in the intervention," Kallio says. In the studies, cognitiv...