A 20-year study confirms that specific speed-of-processing training, coupled with regular refresher courses, significantly reduces the risk of dementia. Traditional memory training, however, shows no significant long-term effects.
Groundbreaking research, spanning two decades, provides concrete long-term results: targeted speed-of-processing training substantially reduces dementia risk – but only under one crucial condition. The renowned ACTIVE (Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly) study delivers the strongest evidence to date that brain training can be a preventative measure. Researchers followed nearly 3,000 healthy adults aged 65 and older for two decades after their participation in various training programs. The surprising finding: only one method demonstrated a significant protective effect.
The Winning Training: Speed of Processing
The key to success lies in computer-based speed-of-processing training. Participants recognize visual information on a screen and respond to increasingly complex tasks in shorter amounts of time. The initial training phase lasted five to six weeks, with daily sessions of 60 to 75 minutes. The impressive result: participants who completed the training and later participated in refresher courses experienced a 25 percent lower rate of dementia diagnoses compared to the control group.
A critical detail: those who trained without subsequent reinforcement benefited far less. This underscores the importance of regular booster sessions after one and three years.
The Surprising Limit
Memory training and logical reasoning – frequently advertised standard programs – showed no statistically significant long-term effect. This is a setback for the brain-jogging app industry.
What Does This Mean for Practice?
These findings are poised to reshape the digital health landscape. Providers like NeuroNation may need to reorient their programs – shifting away from broad assortments and toward scientifically validated methods like speed training. Critics have long argued that apps improve performance on individual exercises, but a genuine transfer to everyday life remains elusive. This study refutes that skepticism – at least for specific, scientifically proven approaches.
Why This Study Is So Important
The study design is considered the gold standard: a randomized controlled trial spanning 20 years, utilizing data from Medicare records of over 2,000 participants up to 2019. The participant group was diverse – approximately three-quarters were women, a cohort particularly vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease.
Less than 24 hours of training spread over three years – and the protective effect lasts two decades. That is remarkable,
says Marilyn Albert, Director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Even small delays in the onset of dementia could have enormous implications for healthcare systems and rising care costs.
The Next Step: Personalization
Artificial intelligence could transform the field. Adaptive training that dynamically adjusts difficulty and delivers optimal stimuli – similar to the most successful training in the ACTIVE study. Research is likely to focus increasingly on personalized training plans tailored to individual cognitive strengths and weaknesses.
For those seeking to maintain cognitive fitness: it’s not too late to start. And it doesn’t take much – just the right method and regular repetition.
On , findings from the ACTIVE study were published, highlighting the long-term benefits of cognitive speed training.
