JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Aging population is one of the major challenges affecting societies around the world. As the proportion of older people has grown dramatically, with it comes the number of age-related illnesses such as dementing illnesses. Preventative care should be emphasized as an effective tool to combat and manage the situation.

Objective:

This pilot project aimed to study benefits of using neurofeedback-based brain training games for enhancing cognitive performance in elderly. Especially, aiming for practicality, the training games were designed to operate with a low-cost consumer-grade single-channel EEG headset that should make the service scalable and more accessible for wider adaptation such as home-uses.

Methods:

Our training system which consisted of five brain exercise games using neurofeedback was serviced at 5 hospitals in Thailand. Participants were screened for cognitive levels using TMSE and MoCA. Those who passed the criteria were further assessed with CANTAB computerized cognitive assessment test battery. Physiological state of the brain was also assessed using 16-channel qEEG. After 20 sessions of training, cognitive performance and EEG were assessed again to compare pre- and post-training results.

Results:

35 participants completed the training. CANTAB results showed positive and significant effects in visual memory, attention and visual recognition domains. QEEG also showed improvement in upper alpha in rest-state (open eyed) measured from the occipital area, which similarly indicated improvement in cognitive domain (attention).

Conclusions:

Outcomes of the study show the potential use of practical neurofeedback-based training games for brain exercise to enhance cognitive performance in elderly.