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. 2019 Apr 16:2019:2657902.
doi: 10.1155/2019/2657902. eCollection 2019.

Repeated Working Memory Training Improves Task Performance and Neural Efficiency in Multiple Sclerosis Patients and Healthy Controls

Naiara Aguirre  1 , Álvaro Javier Cruz-Gómez  1 , Anna Miró-Padilla  1 , Elisenda Bueichekú  1 , Ricardo Broseta Torres  2 , César Ávila  1 , Carla Sanchis-Segura  1 , Cristina Forn  1
Affiliations

Repeated Working Memory Training Improves Task Performance and Neural Efficiency in Multiple Sclerosis Patients and Healthy Controls

Naiara Aguirre et al. Mult Scler Int. .

Abstract

Background/objective: To explore the effectiveness of a specific working memory (WM) training program in MS patients and healthy controls (HC).

Method: 29 MS patients and 29 matched HC were enrolled in the study. MS and HC were randomly split into two groups: nontraining groups (15HC/14 MS) and training groups (14 HC/15 MS). Training groups underwent adaptive n-back training (60 min/day; 4 days). Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to monitor brain activity during n-back performance (conditions: 0-back, 2-back, and 3-back) at 3 time points: (1) baseline, (2) post-training (+7days), and (3) follow-up (+35days).

Results: In post-training and follow-up fMRI sessions, trained groups (HC and MS patients) exhibited significant reaction time (RT) reductions and increases in Correct Responses (CRs) during 2-back and 3-back performance. This improvement of task performance was accompanied by a decrease in brain activation in the WM frontoparietal network. The two effects were significantly correlated.

Conclusions: After WM training, both cognitively preserved MS patients and HC participants showed task performance improvement made possible by neuroplastic processes that enhanced neural efficiency.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of the phases of the study.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Neuroimaging results. (a) depicts the decreased activation (S2
Figure 3
Figure 3
Behavioral results. Panels depict mean ± SEM of correct responses (CRs) and reaction times (RTs) for correct responses in the 2-back and 3-back tasks at each session. Trained groups exhibited shorter RTs but not an increased number of CRs (a) in the 2-back task at the posttraining (S2) and in the follow-up (S3) sessions than in the baseline (S1) session. Trained groups exhibited higher number of CRs (c) and shorter RTs (d) in the 3-back task at S2 and S3 than in S1 (U: different from untrained groups; T: different from trained groups; S1: different from baseline; S2: different from posttraining session; see Tables 3 and 4 for details).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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