Effect of cognitive rehabilitation for early schizophrenia patients on cognitive function and brain structures

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24591694
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Psychiatric science
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: HIROO Matsuoka 東北大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (00173815)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): MATSUMOTO Kazunori 東北大学, 医学系研究科, 准教授 (40301056) ; TAKI Yasuyuki 東北大学, 加齢医学研究所, 教授 (10375115)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 認知リハビリテーション / 精神医学 / 統合失調症 / 認知機能

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Cognitive impairment is one of the core symptoms of schizophrenia that significantly influences patients’ social function. Cognitive remediation, of which a main component is repetitive cognitive training, is a promising approach for this impairment. In this study, we used brain training games as a cognitive training program. In addition to measuring the change in cognitive performance from pre- to post-intervention, we investigated the influence of cognitive training on gray matter structures. An 8-week intervention revealed that cognitive training using brain training games significantly improved patients’ processing speed and executive function compared to visuospatial puzzle games. In addition, the improved cognitive performance was accompanied by regional gray matter volume changes. These findings suggest that cognitive training not only influences the performance on cognitive measures, but also patients’ neural structures.

Free Research Field

生物学的精神医学