Efficacy of Cognitive Training When Translated From the Laboratory to the Real World.

INTRODUCTION: Research shows that cognitive performance and emotional well-being can be significantly strengthened. A high-performance brain training protocol, Strategic Memory Advanced Reasoning Training (SMART), was developed by cognitive neuroscientists at The University of Texas at Dallas Center for BrainHealth based on 25-plus years of scientific study. Randomized controlled trials with various populations have shown that training and use of nine "SMART" strategies for processing information can improve cognitive performance and psychological health. However, the multi-week intensive training used in the laboratory is not practical for widespread use outside the laboratory. This article examines the efficacy of SMART when translated outside the laboratory to two populations (military/veterans and law enforcement) that received SMART in condensed time frames. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In two translation studies with healthy military personnel and veterans, 425 participants received between 6 and 10 hours of SMART over 2 days. In a third translation study, 74 healthy police officers received 9 hours of SMART over 3 days. Training was conducted by clinicians who taught the nine "SMART" strategies related to three core areas-strategic attention, integrated reasoning, and innovation-to groups of up to 25 participants. In all three translation studies, cognitive performance and psychological health data were collected before and immediately following the training. In one of the military/veteran studies, psychological health data were also collected 1 and 4 months following the training. RESULTS: In both translations to military personnel and veterans, there were improvements in the complex cognitive domains of integrated reasoning (P < .0001) and innovation (P < .0001) immediately after undergoing SMART. In the translation to police officers, there were improvements in the cognitive domains of innovation (P = .02) and strategic attention (P = .005). Participants in all three translations saw statistically significant improvements in self-reported symptoms of psychological health. The improvements continued among a subset of participants who responded to the later requests for information. CONCLUSIONS: The results of translating to these two populations provide evidence supporting the efficacy of SMART delivered in an abbreviated time frame. The improvements in two major domains of cognitive function demonstrate that strategies can be taught and immediately applied by those receiving the training. The immediate psychological health improvements may be transient; however, the continued improvements in psychological health observed in a subset of the participants suggest that benefits may be sustainable even at later intervals.

Amygdala activation as a marker for selective attention toward neutral faces in a chronic traumatic brain injury population.

There has been great interest in characterizing the response of the amygdala to emotional faces, especially in the context of social cognition. Although amygdala activation is most often associated with fearful or angry stimuli, there is considerable evidence that the response of the amygdala to neutral faces is both robust and reliable. This characteristic of amygdala function is of particular interest in the context of assessing populations with executive function deficits, such as traumatic brain injuries, which can be evaluated using fMRI attention modulation tasks that evaluate prefrontal control over representations, notably faces. The current study tested the hypothesis that the amygdala may serve as a marker of selective attention to neutral faces. Using fMRI, we gathered data within a chronic traumatic brain injury population. Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) signal change within the left and right amygdalae and fusiform face areas was measured while participants viewed neutral faces and scenes, under conditions requiring participants to (1) categorize pictures of faces and scenes, (2) selectively attend to either faces or scenes, or (3) attend to both faces and scenes. Findings revealed that the amygdala is an effective marker for selective attention to neutral faces and, furthermore, it was more face-specific than the fusiform face area.