Improvement of cognitive efficiency through cognitive training in healthy subjects

The aim of the study was to explore whether application of cognitive stimulation in young healthy subjects may improve their cognitive efficiency. The study included 12 healthy young subjects divided into two groups, experimental group and control group. Prior to cognitive stimulation treatment, both groups underwent baseline measurements with selected neuropsychological tests. The groups were matched with regard to the achievement on the baseline test. Only the experimental group underwent daily application of different computer-based cognitive tasks lasting for an hour a day for two weeks. After the treatment, both groups were tested with the same neuropsychological battery used at the baseline measurement. The experimental group showed a statistically significant difference between the measurements on the variables assessing immediate retention of visual material and recognition of verbal material. In addition, qualitative analysis showed that the experimental group also had better performance on the variables assessing delayed recall of visual material, visual and verbal range of attention, and delayed recall of verbal material. In conclusion, two-week cognitive stimulation in healthy subjects improves cognitive performance, expressed as higher average values of certain neuropsychological variables.