TY - JOUR
T1 - Neuroplastic changes in patients with schizophrenia undergoing cognitive remediation
T2 - Triple-blind trial
AU - Ramsay, Ian S.
AU - Nienow, Tasha M.
AU - Marggraf, Matthew P.
AU - MacDonald, Angus W.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2017.
PY - 2017/3
Y1 - 2017/3
N2 - Background: Patients with schizophrenia have shown cognitive improvements following cognitive remediation, but the neuroplastic changes that support these processes are not fully understood. Aims: To use a triple-blind, placebo-controlled trial to examine neural activation before and after cognitive remediation or a computer skills training (CST) placebo (trial registration: NCT00995553)). Method: Twenty-seven participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging before and after being randomised to either cognitive remediation intervention or CST. Participants completed two variants of the N-back task during scanning and were assessed on measures of cognition, functional capacity, community functioning and symptoms. Results: We observed a group6time interaction in the left prefrontal cortex, wherein the cognitive remediation group showed increased activation. These changes correlated with improved task accuracy within the cognitive remediation group, whereas there was no relationship between changes in activation in untrained cognitive measures. Significant changes were not observed in other hypothesised areas for the cognitive remediation group. Conclusions: We replicated the finding that cognitive remediation increases left lateral prefrontal activation during a working memory task in patients with schizophrenia, suggesting this may be an important neural target for these types of interventions.
AB - Background: Patients with schizophrenia have shown cognitive improvements following cognitive remediation, but the neuroplastic changes that support these processes are not fully understood. Aims: To use a triple-blind, placebo-controlled trial to examine neural activation before and after cognitive remediation or a computer skills training (CST) placebo (trial registration: NCT00995553)). Method: Twenty-seven participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging before and after being randomised to either cognitive remediation intervention or CST. Participants completed two variants of the N-back task during scanning and were assessed on measures of cognition, functional capacity, community functioning and symptoms. Results: We observed a group6time interaction in the left prefrontal cortex, wherein the cognitive remediation group showed increased activation. These changes correlated with improved task accuracy within the cognitive remediation group, whereas there was no relationship between changes in activation in untrained cognitive measures. Significant changes were not observed in other hypothesised areas for the cognitive remediation group. Conclusions: We replicated the finding that cognitive remediation increases left lateral prefrontal activation during a working memory task in patients with schizophrenia, suggesting this may be an important neural target for these types of interventions.
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U2 - 10.1192/bjp.bp.115.171496
DO - 10.1192/bjp.bp.115.171496
M3 - Article
C2 - 28153927
AN - SCOPUS:85018214926
SN - 0007-1250
VL - 210
SP - 216
EP - 222
JO - British Journal of Psychiatry
JF - British Journal of Psychiatry
IS - 3
ER -