Audiovisual Stimulation in Elderly (Older Adults?): Effects on Cognition, Depressive Symptoms, and Dual Motor-Cognitive Tasks - a RCT

Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) can be defined as a pre-dementia symptom and, when associated with aging, characterizes individuals with cognitive decline below the level of dementia. This decline, which can begin as early as 45 years of age, leads to impairments in memory, learning, language, orientation, and executive functions, which are more visible from the sixth decade of life onwards, with a risk of reduced autonomy and independence, and is seen by researchers as the first stage of a process of loss. This loss is progressive, lasting several years and resulting in MCI, characterized by objective cognitive loss, which does not yet compromise autonomy but has a conversion rate to dementia of 10% per year. Cognitive decline can be accompanied by increased depressive symptoms and decreased functional capacity and is related to inflammatory conditions, described in the literature as "inflammaging". Studies with beat stimulation have shown benefits in different important outcomes of cognitive function and depression. Thus, audiovisual neurostimulation (AVNS) is a possible non-pharmacological treatment that might have a direct influence on the brain wave patterns, altered in MCI and depression, modulating these specific wave frequencies to functional patterns similar to those found in healthy individuals. Having this, it can also influence agility and functional balance and reduce chronic inflammatory conditions.