Targeted cognitive training improves working memory, information processing in autism
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Key takeaways:
- The findings support the efficacy and feasibility of long-term, auditory-based cognitive training for people with autism.
- Training engagement level may indicate the extent of benefits from training.
Targeted cognitive training increased auditory memory, processing speed and perception among adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorder, according to data published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine.
The findings suggest that those who engaged least with training would benefit most from more engagement.
Suma Jacob, MD, PhD, the Gloria and Dr. Martin and Segal Family Professor and an associate professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota, and colleagues recruited 25 participants (mean age, 17.4 years) with autism spectrum disorder to participate in an auditory targeted cognitive training (TCT) program.
Before TCT, participants and/or their parent reported demographics and family history and completed surveys to assess quality of life, social responsiveness and behavior. Participants completed the brief assessment of cognition (BAC App) and the Minnesota executive functioning sale (MEFS). Researchers evaluated auditory processing using the SCAN Test for auditory processing disorders.
For TCT, participants could complete up to 640 levels of the TCT program adaptive computer-based “games,” including:
- auditory sweeps assessing auditory processing speed;
- sound discrimination assessing auditory perception and processing speed; and
- syllable ordering and auditory spatial match, both of which assessed auditory memory.
Participants were ranked as low-, mid- or high-engagers based on how many levels they completed.
After the TCT program, participants completed all the baseline assessments.
A total of 15 participants completed all levels and were categorized as high-engagers; 10 participants completed fewer than all levels and were categorized as mid-engagers (mean levels, 322) or low-engagers (mean levels, 42.8).
Overall, the mean weighted average performance change was similar with all levels of engagement, although “performance metrics from low-engagers should be interpreted with caution since their level of exposure to the intervention was likely insufficient to effect/measure meaningful change,” Jacob and colleagues wrote. However, data suggested that low-engagers reaped the most benefit from greater exposure to TCT.
Additionally, participants in the mid-engagement group had lower scores on behavior-related surveys at baseline compared with low- and high-engagers. The researchers suggested this may make mid-engagers most compatible with TCT because they are more likely to engage with the program compared with low-engagers.
“Our findings are among the first to provide support for the efficacy and feasibility of long-term, auditory-based TCT for autistic adolescents and young adults,” Jacob and colleagues wrote. “We were also able to identify subsets of participants with similar patterns of symptoms and traits who engaged with and responded to the intervention program; further delineation of these clusters may be used to triage individuals into more appropriate therapeutic plans and inform the development of precision medicine approaches.”