Can 1 month of daily computer training help improve memory and attention in people who have had a brain injury?

Investigating the effects of home based working memory vs selective attention training on cognitive functions and self-reported everyday functioning in individuals with chronic brain lesions - an exploratory proof of concept study.

Status

Active, not recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ISRCTN

Registry ID

ISRCTN11489327

Enrollment

Registered

2018-03-07

Start date

2014-03-15

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2019-05-13

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Poor attention associated with chronic brain injuries to frontal and parietal cortices Mental and Behavioural Disorders Mild cognitive disorder

Interventions

The commercially available Cogmed working memory training battery was compared with an internally developed selective attention training and a wait-list control sample. The individuals were randomise

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: 1. Individuals who had previously had a brain injury and were interested in research but were not currently undergoing clinical treatment 2. Included in the Cambridge Clinical Neuroscience Research Panel.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: 1. Colour blindness 2. History of or current evidence of other neurological or psychiatric illnesses 3. Severe language impairments

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Change in spatial bias from initial assessment to follow-up.	—

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
1. Working memory (as indexed by the Automated working memory assessment (AWMA) dot matrix task and AWMA spatial span task). 2. Attention measured using a partial and whole report paradigm as described in Bundesen’s Theory of Visual Attention (TVA), Bundesen 1990. This task involves briefly presenting letters on a screen and asking participants to report any letters they saw presented in a target colour (say black) whilst ignoring any presented in a distracting colour (say white). From this a number of attentional parameters can be derived including spatial bias (the preference in reporting letters that appearing on one side of the screen compared to the other), visual short-term memory capacity (the number of items that can be recalled at any one time) and attentional selection (the ability to focus attention on the target letters and ignore the distractors). 3. Everyday functioning measured using the European Brain Injury Questionnaire. Each of these measures were taken before the active interventions and were repeated after the completion of the intervention (or waitlist). As this was an exploratory study all endpoints were explored though the spatial bias end-point was considered the most important one.	—

Measure

Time frame

1. Working memory (as indexed by the Automated working memory assessment (AWMA) dot matrix task and AWMA spatial span task). 2. Attention measured using a partial and whole report paradigm as described in Bundesen’s Theory of Visual Attention (TVA), Bundesen 1990. This task involves briefly presenting letters on a screen and asking participants to report any letters they saw presented in a target colour (say black) whilst ignoring any presented in a distracting colour (say white). From this a number of attentional parameters can be derived including spatial bias (the preference in reporting letters that appearing on one side of the screen compared to the other), visual short-term memory capacity (the number of items that can be recalled at any one time) and attentional selection (the ability to focus attention on the target letters and ignore the distractors). 3. Everyday functioning measured using the European Brain Injury Questionnaire. Each of these measures were taken before the active interventions and were repeated after the completion of the intervention (or waitlist). As this was an exploratory study all endpoints were explored though the spatial bias end-point was considered the most important one.

—

Countries

United Kingdom

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ISRCTN (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026