COgilus Remediation in Alzheimer Patients

Attention span is one of the most frequently and early impaired cognitive functions during aging, especially in neurocognitive disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. Decline of attention span can lead to a cognitive complaint by the patient or his or her relatives, even in the prodromal phase of the disease (DSM V: minor neurocognitive disorder). The current challenge is to develop strategies to prevent the cognitive decline in patients with minor neurocognitive disorder or major cognitive disorder with slight impairment, and thus to limit cognitive decline. However, to date, no strategy has shown clear effectiveness in preventing cognitive decline in patients with neurocognitive disorder.

Interestingly, the integration of perceptual skills are modified in patients with neurocognitive disorders, and in particular visuomotor skills (from early stages). Measurements of evoked potientials during visual stimulation in patients with minor neurocognitive disorder have shown a preservation of sensory responses but a decrease in cognitive responses. Based on this observation, a US team had recently tested the effectiveness of computer-based visual cognitive exercises performed regularly for 8 weeks in patients free of major neurocognitive disorder. They had reported an improvement in information processing speed and walking performance. These results suggest that regular cognitive stimulation exercises using tablet PC visual exercices could improve attention span and in particular the information processing speed in patient with minor or early major neurocognitive disorder.

In particular, Cogilus, a cross-platform tablet PC application (Android, iOS, Microsoft) has recently been developed for this purpose. The Cogilus project, is designed for health professionals who support patients with neurological syndromes including cognitive or attentional dysfunctions. The application is also open to carers and family members, who will be able to support the patient in using the application (based on the exercices proposed by professionals).

The finale objective of the Cogilus project is to assess the impact of the regular use of Cogilus on patient with minor or early major neurocognitive disorder. Considering the specific needs in usability for this population, the first step to devoloppe such technology is to assess the usability of the application in patients but also in unformal and professional cargivers.