September 2020
in
Dementia and Neuropsycholigica
To investigate if cognitive training programs can reduce expected cognitive decline associated with aging.
44 participants of 60 years or older were equally divided into an experimental (with NeuroTracker) and a comparative group (without NeuroTracker) and completed 12 training sessions per week. Both groups practiced mnemonic memory training techniques. Pre and post assessments were also conducted, including a a sociodemographic questionnaire, neuropsychological assessment and NeuroTracker pre and post baseline measures.
Both groups experienced some benefits from the memory training, however only the NeuroTracker trained group achieved transfer benefits for attention, reaction time, visual processing speed, episodic, semantic, subjective and working memory as well as aspects of social cognition. The researchers concluded that NeuroTracker with memory training contributed to significantly improved cognitive performance over memory training alone, and that more research should be conducted for elderly populations with and without cognitive deficits.
To evaluate the potential for sports vision training to improve objective and subjective visuomotor function in a low vision patient.
A 37-year-old woman with Usher syndrome underwent a 14-week sports vision training program with pre-post cognitive assessments.
The patient was able to improve the use of remaining visual abilities. A 27 to 31% improvement in hand-eye coordination was achieved along with a 41% improvement NeuroTracker performance. The patient also subjectively reported clear improvements in visual abilities. The researcher concluded sports vision training may reduce the impact of the reduced visual function and aid in activities of daily living.
A variety of egg-based diets over 1-month improve performance on NeuroTracker compared to a no-egg diet.
To evaluate the impact of the nutritional impact of dietary intake of whole eggs, egg white, and egg yolk on visual cognitive performance (NeuroTracker) in healthy older adults.
99 healthy men and women aged 50 to 75 years were randomly assigned to one of five groups with different daily consumption of eggs alongside a record of their usual dietary intake. Over 1-month period participants either consumed four egg whites, two whole regular eggs, two whole omega-3-fortified eggs, four egg yolks, or no eggs (control). During the final 2 weeks of the study all participants completed 15 NeuroTracker.
On average male participants performed significantly better at NeuroTracker than females. All participants on egg-based diets performed significantly better across 2-weeks of NeuroTracker training than the no-egg controls. Findings suggest that whole eggs, egg whites and egg yolks are beneficial for visual cognitive performance in healthy older adults.
Detailed analysis of dietary intake in combination with daily NeuroTracker baselines reveals key nutrient levels for optimal perceptual-cognitive performance.
To examine the influence of nutritional intake on visual perceptual-cognitive performance, measured by NeuroTracker, in young healthy adults.
98 healthy men (38) and women (60) aged 18–33 years maintained their usual dietary intake while completing NeuroTracker 15 sessions of NeuroTracker over a 15-day period. Food logs and extensive lifestyle measures including body composition, cardiovascular health, sleep and exercise patterns, and general readiness to perform were collected for analysis.
Males consumed significantly more calories, macronutrients, cholesterol, choline, and zinc and performed significantly better on NeuroTracker than the females. Participants who consumed more than 40% of kcals from carbohydrates, less than 24% of kcals from protein, more than 2,000 μg/day lutein/zeaxanthin or more than 1.8 mg/ day of vitamin B2 performed significantly better on NeuroTracker than those who consumed less than those amounts. The researchers concluded that perceptual-cognitive performance is positively influenced by higher carbohydrate, lutein/ zeaxanthin, and vitamin B2 dietary intake, while high protein consumption had negative impacts.
NeuroTracker peer-reviewed research shows promising relevance for broad cognitive enhancement across different populations.
To assess the usefulness of NeuroTracker (3D-MOT) as a cognitive enhancement tool to overcome the common challenges associated with cognitive training products.
The author conducted a comprehensive review of current literature for cognitive enhancement tools, as well as the specific literature on NeuroTracker to probe its strengths and weaknesses as a research tool. Evidence was also examined for the cognitive domains that NeuroTracker addresses.
NeuroTracker was found to have broad scientific relevant for improving a number of cognitive domains, including information processing, attention, working memory, inhibition, and executive functions. Far transfer effects were found in the following human performance domains: visual information processing in healthy adults, biological motion processing in healthy aging subjects, on-field performance in soccer players, and in attention for populations with neurodevelopmental deficits. The author concluded, that while promising peer-reviewed research exists, more investigations are needed to robustly establish the beneficial effects of this method in the context of cognitive enhancement.
NeuroTracker training over 5 weeks improves the visual perception skills of motorcyclists.
To enhance the visual perception ability of motorcycle taxi riders by using a NeuroTracker training intervention.
60 motorcycle taxi riders were volunteers and recruited from Chonburi, Thailand, and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group completed 30-minutes of NeuroTracker training sessions for twice a week over five weeks in total. Pre-post assessments of the Development Test of Visual Perception – Adolescent and Adult (DTVP-A) were completed by both groups.
Results revealed that the experimental group had a significantly higher visual perception ability score after training. In addition, the average DTVP-A score in the experimental group increased to significantly higher than that of the control group. The study findings suggest NeuroTracker training can improve the visual perception ability of motorcycle taxi riders.
Perceptual cognitive training improves biological motion perception evidence for transferability of training in healthy aging
To investigate if the decline in biological motion perception associated with healthy aging can be reversed with a short NeuroTracker training intervention.
13 participants completed 3-hours of NeuroTracker training over 5-weeks, and 28 control participants did either experimental training or no training (overall mean age of 67 years old). Pre-post assessments of biological motion perception was assessed with a VR walker (point like display) at 4m and 16m.
Pre-NeuroTracker training participants displayed significantly lower performance for interpreting human movement at 4m, compared to 16m. Controls showed no change post-training, whereas the NeuroTracker trained group's performance at 4m rose to the level of their performance at 16m. As biological motion perception abilities are deemed to be important for social skills, as well as critical for collision avoidance at 4m, the researchers concluded that the results demonstrate NeuroTracker to be a useful form of generic training for helping older people deal with socially relevant dynamic scenes.
NeuroTrackerX is a cognitive training program designed to assess and improve mental performance.
