Cognitive Multi-Tasking Training in Healthy Older Adults

Cognitive Training in a Multi-task Daily Life Task: a Feasibility Study in Healthy Older Adults

This study evaluated the feasibility of a remote web-based ecological cognitive training protocol to healthy older adults. The training protocol involves 5 training sessions.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Age-related Cognitive Decline
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Multi-tasking Training

Detailed Description

Previous research demonstrated the relevance in training cognitive abilities that typically decline with age, such as those associated with executive control (e.g., abstract thinking, selective and divided attention, planning, task-switching and inhibitory control). The aim of the present study is to investigate the feasibility of a web-based cognitive training focused on executive control to cognitively healthy older adults. The participants will undergo the web-training in a daily type situation of meal preparation (i.e., Breakfast Game). The training protocol combines the tasks of table setting and cooking in a multi-tasking fashion. In some sessions Emphasis Change approach will be apply to the training, in order to assess it feasibility and potential effects in optimizing the performance. In addition, participants will undergo a brief web-based cognitive evaluation before and after training. If feasible, the investigators protocol will allow training older adults in critical cognitive skills for daily life situations. The web-based training is an advancement since it can be delivered at-home, remotely supervised, and is easily scalable. Recently, remote interventions have been particularly relevant to older adults due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which may limit in-person research participation.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 24
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • New York
    • New York, New York, United States, 10032
      • Columbia University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 60 years to 75 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Cognitively healthy older adults

Exclusion Criteria:

• Low test scores (below 26 on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment - MoCA)
• Presence of certain medical conditions (i.e., major neurological or psychiatric disorder, or a medical condition that may impact cognitive functioning).
• Subjects which English is not the primary language, or with lack of capacity to consent will not be enrolled.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Computerized Cognitive Training (Breakfast Game); Participants will undergo a pilot training protocol where they will have to perform two tasks concomitantly, in a multi-tasking fashion. The tasks are related to everyday activities as "cooking" and "setting tables".	Behavioral: Multi-tasking Training; Participants will undergo training protocol where they will have, concomitantly, to cook different meals and set the table under different instructions, rules and difficulty level.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Cooking Time Discrepancy Scores	Change in cooking time (milliseconds) in each food type. In the computerized task, participants are asked to cook different food types. Scores reflect the average absolute values of the difference between the required and actual cooking time of each item. Lowers scores (closest to zero) represent a better outcome.	Up to 3 weeks
Change in Range of Stop Times Score	Change in cooking time (milliseconds) between food items. In the computerized task, participants are asked to cook different food types. Scores reflect is the difference between the first and last food item stopped cooking. Lowers scores (closest to zero) represent a better outcome.	Up to 3 weeks
Change in the Number of Tables Set Score	Change in the total number of tables set. In the computerized task, participants are asked to set tables for four guests, when finished, one point is given. Higher scores represent a better outcome.	Up to 3 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Post-training feasibility questionnaire	Questionnaire assessing participant´s opinions about performing the web-based training based on Breakfast Game (e.g., difficulty, satisfaction). Higher scores reflect feasibility of the intervention.	Within one week after the intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Columbia University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Yaakov Stern, Ph.D., Columbia University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 2, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): November 5, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): November 5, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 9, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 10, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): December 11, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): February 28, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 25, 2022
• Last Verified: February 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Attention; Aging; Healthy Adults; Executive Functions; Web-based Cognitive Training; Multi-tasking
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Neurocognitive Disorders; Cognition Disorders; Cognitive Dysfunction
• Other Study ID Numbers: AAAS6529

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: De-identified individual participant data for all primary and secondary outcome measures will be made available.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Data will be available within 6 months of study completion.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Data access requests will be reviewed by the principal investigator.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP; ICF; ANALYTIC_CODE

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No