Cognitive training - EUCAS 2025 - Aging & Cognition Conference

Friday 9th of May 9.45 – 11.15

Aula Volta

Chair of the session – Sara Bottiroli

9.45-10.05	Andrea Protzner	Are individual EEG connectome features more substantial than group effects in younger and older adults?
10.05 – 10.25	Ludmila Zajac-Lamparska	Investigating the role of cognitive training in facilitating compensatory scaffolding in older adults: an EEG measurement approach.
10.25 – 10.45	Alexandra Hering	Virtual day – training perspective memory in older adults with virtual reality.
10.45 – 11.05	Riccardo Domenicucci	Cognitive stimulation therapy for people with dementia and its collaborative-based adaptation: examining benefits in classical and Theory of Mind and metalinguistic outcomes.

Abstracts

Are individual EEG connectome features more substantial than group effects in younger and older adults?

by Andrea Protzner¹ | Petia Kojouharova² | Boglárka Nagy² | Gwen van der Wijk³ | Orsolya Horváth^{2, 4} | István Czigler² | Zsófia Anna Gaál²

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada

² Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, HUN-REN Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Budapest, Hungary

³ Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands

⁴ Doctoral School of Psychology (Cognitive Science), Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary

Recent connectomics research suggests that there is meaningful individual divergence from group-average connectivity patterns in deeply sampled datasets. MRI has dominated to date, but EEG offers a cost-effective alternative with high temporal resolution. Here, we use imaginary coherence to measure functional connectivity. We characterise the magnitude of individual differences in relation to between and within group differences that are commonly investigated (e.g., young vs old, cognitive training vs no training, task, and time effects). We collected EEG from 39younger (18-25yrs) and 40 older (60-75yrs) adults performing 180 minutes of task switching and transfer paradigms in two sessions. We calculated how much variance in functional connectivity was shared across all participants and sessions, within/across groups (young vs old, trained vs untrained), tasks, time, and individuals. Individual differences (40%) and common (53%) connectivity features contributed most to the explained variance, while group differences related to age (2.5%) and training (0.5%) made significant but small contributions. Overall, our work suggests that stable individually unique features of EEG connectomes are much larger than group effects and can provide complementary insights to MRI regarding individual differences in brain. The functional significance of these unique features should be considered in future research.

Investigating the role of cognitive training in facilitating compensatory scaffolding in older adults: an EEG measurement approach.

by Ludmiła Zając-Lamparska¹ | Dariusz Zapała² | Emilia Zabielska-Mendyk² | Paweł Augustynowicz²

¹ Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland

² The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland

A comprehensive theoretical model that encompasses both decline and preservation phenomena in cognitive aging is the Scaffolding Theory of Aging and Cognition (STAC) and its revised version (STAC-R) by D. Park and P. Reuter-Lorenz. According to this model, scaffolding enhancement is achievable through various interventions.

The presented study investigated whether working memory training can induce compensatory scaffolding in older adults through increased prefrontal and parietal involvement.

The sample comprised 90 individuals, including 45 participants from the experimental group (22 older adults and 23 young adults) and 45 from the control group (21 older adults and 24 young adults). We assessed the effects of a 12-session working memory training on theta and alpha power measured in frontal-midline and central-parietal areas by EEG in older and young adults during the n-back task performance at three difficulty levels. The results indicated changes in theta power but no significant alterations in alpha power. These changes were more pronounced in older than young adults and depended on the task difficulty level. Furthermore, these changes appeared to be more indicative of the retest learning effect and the participant’s familiarity with the rules of the cognitive task rather than a reflection of the training effect.

Virtual day – training perspective memory in older adults with virtual reality.

¹ Department of Developmental Psychology, Tilburg University, NL

² Department of Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence, Tilburg University, NL

³ School of Psychology, University of Aberdeen, UK

⁴ Department of Computer Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, NL

⁵ Department of Cognitive Neuropsychology, Tilburg University, NL

Prospective memory (PM) refers to the ability to remember daily intentions at the appropriate moment. Studies aiming to improve PM in older adults showed only limited training efficiency and often lack transferability to everyday life. In this study, we present a new training environment based on 3D-Virtual Reality (VR) called Virtual Day. Virtual Day simulates an immersive everyday environment with typical daily activities. Healthy older adults (N = 90) will be assigned to one of three groups: 1) Virtual Day training group, receiving a PM training in the novel VR environment; 2) Conventional training group, receiving PM training using the computerized 2D-boardgame Virtual Week; and 3) No contact control group, receiving no training. All three groups will be assessed before and after the training on their PM performance using the Virtual Day and Virtual Week tasks and real-life PM tasks including a call-back task and an intention diary. Data collection is ongoing and first preliminary results will be presented. VR offers the controlled setting of a laboratory study and allows to implement a complex, multisensory and realistic experience. Thus, the study aims to advance cognitive training research by integrating a real-life experience in the lab.

Cognitive stimulation therapy for people with dementia and its collaborative-based adaptation: examining benefits in classical and Theory of Mind and metalinguistic outcomes.

¹ Department of General Psychology, University of Padova

² Department of Communication Sciences, Humanities and International Studies, University of Urbino Carlo Bo Promoting quality of life among people with dementia (PwD) is a public health priority. Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) is among the psychosocial interventions for PwD with the strongest evidence of efficacy. This pilot study aims to examine the efficacy of an adaptation of the CST protocol based on collaborative activities (C-CST) compared with the Standard-CST (S-CST). Benefits in both traditional and novel outcomes, like Theory of Mind (ToM) and definitional competence of emotions, were also examined. Twenty-eight individuals with mild-to-moderate dementia (mean age: 87±5.74) were recruited. Benefits in global cognitive functioning (Mini-Mental State Examination), mood and neuropsychiatric symptoms (Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia, Neuropsychiatric Inventory), social and emotional loneliness (de Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale), ToM -affective (Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test), cognitive (Picture Sequencing Task)- and definitional competence of emotions (Definitional Competence Scale) were examined. Results from linear mixed model showed that both protocols alleviated social loneliness, maintained mood, and improved definitions of emotions, while only S-CST supported global cognitive functioning and cognitive ToM, and counteracted neuropsychiatric symptoms at post-intervention. These findings confirm the efficacy of the S-CST in supporting PwD’ cognitive and behavioral functioning and highlight the potentialities of its collaborative adaptation in ameliorating socio-emotional outcomes.