Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the efficacy of a cognitive training program among those with moderate cognitive impairment. A total of 23 individuals participated in the study and were randomly assigned to a wait-list control group or a cognitive training program that consisted of 24 cognitive classes for a total of 12 weeks. The cognitive training classes aimed to activate the six primary cognitive domains impacted with dementia, reaction time, attention, memory, language, visual-spatial skills, and executive functioning. All participants were evaluated with a battery of neurocognitive assessments pre-and post-treatment. The findings tentatively support the use of a structured cognitive training program for individuals with moderate dementia. Specifically, the cognitive areas that improved among those who received the cognitive training classes included verbal and visual memory recognition, learning, simple attention, complex attention, executive functioning, and visual memory recall. Furthermore the treatment group showed stabilization between pre- and post-treatment in general cognitive functioning, visuospatial skills, and verbal memory. The implications of the current study gives further support for the use of a cognitive training intervention for individuals with moderate stage dementia.

Advisor

Jeffrey A. Buchanan

Committee Member

Eric Sprankle

Committee Member

Donald J. Ebel

Date of Degree

2015

Language

english

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

College

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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