The Training Effects of Tinkering Activities on Cognitive Flexibility in Older Adults From Communities
Overview
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Intervention
- Not specified
- Conditions
- Cognitive Training
- Sponsor
- National Taiwan University Hospital
- Enrollment
- 118
- Locations
- 2
- Primary Endpoint
- Changes of Percent Perseverative Errors in Wisconsin Card Sorting Test
- Status
- Completed
- Last Updated
- last year
Overview
Brief Summary
Aging has been a serious global-wise concern in public health. In particular, elders face declination of cognitive functions that threaten their quality of life. A good approach to slow down cognitive declination during aging processes is therefore in urgent need. According to the Successful Aging model (Rowe, J.W. and Kahn, R.L) participation in meaningful occupational activity may maintains high cognitive and body function. This sub-project is a part of the larger integrated project that will address the need for cognitive promotion by conducting cognitive training interventions on community older adults, utilizing the National Taiwan Science Education Center (NTSEC) as the public recruiting site as well as intervention site. In this sub-project, a 12-week intervention will be carried out with three protocols: 1) Tinkering activities, 2)Controlled Tinkering Activities, and 3) Board Game intervention. Board games serve as a commonly seen cognitive training, with a growing series of literature continuing to support board games being the medium of cognitive promotion. Tinkering activities are primarily used in fields of education that comprise science, art, and technology. Through a series of themes objectives, participants can involve interestingly, creatively, and flexibly in the activity when the participants fulfill the goal with the materials retrievable at the site. The anticipation is that the elders participating in Tinkering activities may increase their cognitive flexibility as the participants involve in the elements hidden within the core of the training, such as problem exploration, active thinking and inference, trial and error, and problem-solving. The investigators target to obtain pre-and post-intervention behavioral and neurophysiological data, including electroencephalogram data in 40 experimental participants, 40 active control participants, and 40 passive control participants over a period of 3 years.
Investigators
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria
- •Literate in Mandarin and Taiwanese
- •Willing to participate entirely in this research.
Exclusion Criteria
- •Participated in cognitive-related training in the past two months.
- •Severe impairment of visual or auditory abilities.
- •Diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or Dementia
- •Severe psychological or behavioral disorder that would seriously interfere with the progress of activity
- •History of degenerative cognitive disorder (e.g., acute stroke, traumatic brain injury, unconscious), organic mental disorders, brain dysfunction, or other neurology-related diagnoses.
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Changes of Percent Perseverative Errors in Wisconsin Card Sorting Test
Time Frame: Week 0, Week 12, Week 36
The concentration of perseverative errors in relation to overall test performance (the number of trials given) multiplied by 100. The less the score, the better the executive function.
Changes of Failure to Maintain Set in Wisconsin Card Sorting Test
Time Frame: Week 0, Week 12, Week 36
When a participant makes five or more consecutive correct matches but then makes an error before successfully completing the category, the less the score, the better the executive function.
Changes of Number of Categories Completed in Wisconsin Card Sorting Test
Time Frame: Week 0, Week 12, Week 36
The number of sequences of 10 consecutive correct matches (maximum = 6), higher the score, the better the executive function
Changes of reaction time and accuracy of task-switching paradigm
Time Frame: Week 0, Week 12, Week 36
The task-switching paradigm will ask the participants to judge whether the number(stimulus) presented is 1) even or odd, OR, 2) more than or less than 5. The switching between these rules will induce a switch cost effect (the time when the rule changes, the reaction time will increase to compensate the cognitive process needed to make the change) if the reaction time decreases after intervention, it implies an improvement.
Changes of Event-related potential component (ERP): P2, N2, P3
Time Frame: Week 0, Week 12, Week 36
The EEG data is recorded while the participants are carrying out the task-switching paradigm. The data will then be analyzed in terms of Event-Related Potential(ERP), where the components' changes will be observed in terms of amplitude and latency.
Changes of Accuracy in Wisconsin Card Sorting Test
Time Frame: Week 0, Week 12, Week 36
Score ranged 0-128, the higher the score, the better the executive function
Changes of Trials to Complete First Category in Wisconsin Card Sorting Test
Time Frame: Week 0, Week 12, Week 36
Total number of trials to complete first category, the less the score, the better the executive function
Secondary Outcomes
- Change in Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale III Digit Symbol(Week 0, Week 12)
- Changes of Remote Associates Test(Week 0, Week 12, Week 36)
- Changes of Neural functional activity during inferential processing(Week 0, Week 12)
- Change in Wechsler Memory Scale III Face Memory(Week 0, Week 12)
- Changes of Cognitive Flexibility Scale (CFS)(Week 0, Week 12, Week 36)
- Changes of strategic performance during inferential processing(Week 0, Week 12)
- Changes of Geriatric Depression Scale(Week 0, Week 12, Week 36)
- Changes of Flow Scale(Week 0, Week 12, Week 36)
- Change in Wechsler Memory Scale III Logical Memory I & II(Week 0, Week 12)
- Change in Wechsler Memory Scale III Verbal Paired Memory(Week 0, Week 12)
- Change in Wechsler Memory Scale III Family Pictures I & II(Week 0, Week 12)
- Change in Wechsler Memory Scale III Spatial Span(Week 0, Week 12)
- Change in Wechsler Memory Scale III Digit Span(Week 0, Week 12)
- Change in Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale III Vocabulary(Week 0, Week 12)
- Changes of University of California, Los Angeles Loneliness Scale(Week 0, Week 12, Week 36)
- Changes of Color Trails Test (CTT)(Week 0, Week 12, Week 36)
- Changes of University of California, San Diego Performance-Based Skills Assessment (UPSA-BRIEF)(Week 0, Week 12, Week 36)
- Changes of learning rate during inferential processing(Week 0, Week 12)
- Change in Wechsler Memory Scale III Visual Reproduction I & II(Week 0, Week 12)
- Change in Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale III Block Design(Week 0, Week 12)
- Changes of Guilford's Alternative Uses Test (GAU)(Week 0, Week 12, Week 36)
- Changes of overall accuracy during inferential processing(Week 0, Week 12)
- Change in Wechsler Memory Scale III Word Lists I & II(Week 0, Week 12)
- Change in Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale III Arithmetic(Week 0, Week 12)
- Change in Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale III Matrix Reasoning(Week 0, Week 12)