Neural Plastic Effects of Working Memory Training Influenced by Self-perceived Stress in Stroke: A Case Illustration

Abstract

This case study examined the effects of auditory working memory (WM) training on neuroplastic changes in stroke survivors and how such effects might be influenced by self-perceived stress. Two participants with a history of stroke participated in the study. One of them had a higher level of self-perceived stress. Both participants underwent a course of auditory WM training and completed baseline and post-training assessments such as self-perceived stress, performance satisfaction questionnaires, behavioral task performance, and functional magnetic resonance imaging. They were trained on a computerized auditory WM task (n-back) 5 days a week for 6 weeks, for a total of 20 h. Participant 1 had high levels of perceived stress, both pre- and post-training, and showed improvement on the satisfaction aspect of functional engagement only. Participant 2 had lower levels of perceived stress and demonstrated improvements on all performance tasks. Neuroimaging results showed evidence of improved neural efficiency on the trained task for participant 2. The results shed light on the need to evaluate psychological influences, e.g., stress, when studying the neuroplastic changes in people with stroke. However, the case design approach and other factors that might have positively influenced outcomes mean that these results must be interpreted with a great deal of caution. Future studies using a larger sample are recommended to verify the findings.

Working memory updating training promotes plasticity & behavioural gains: A systematic review & meta-analysis

“…Of the 3493 records identified, 31 were included in this systematic review (Figure 1). Twentythree of those were conducted in Europe (37, four took place in Canada (73)(74)(75)(76), three in the USA (77)(78)(79) and one in China (80). Eleven studies employed a randomized controlled trial methodology (37, 51-54, 59, 65, 71, 73, 74, 78), while eighteen used a quasi-experimental design (55-58, 60-63, 66-70, 72, 77, 79, 80) and two were case studies (75,76).…”

“…Twentythree of those were conducted in Europe (37, four took place in Canada (73)(74)(75)(76), three in the USA (77)(78)(79) and one in China (80). Eleven studies employed a randomized controlled trial methodology (37, 51-54, 59, 65, 71, 73, 74, 78), while eighteen used a quasi-experimental design (55-58, 60-63, 66-70, 72, 77, 79, 80) and two were case studies (75,76). Twenty-seven of the studies included healthy adult participants, three included neurological populations (55,75,76) and one study included both (51).…”

“…Four studies included in this review assessed neurological samples; two of those were stroke case studies conducted in Canada (75,76), and the other two took place in Europe and included adults diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (51, 55), (Table 1). Only one of the studies employed a pretest-posttest control group design (51) while the rest did not include a CG (55,75,76). All studies applied an n-back training protocol and the training duration ranged between four and 20 hours.…”

“…Participants improved their criterion task accuracy as a result of WMU training across studies (51,75,76), (Table 3). Aguirre…”

WOME: Theory-Based Working Memory Training — A Placebo-Controlled, Double-Blind Evaluation in Older Adults

“…Other moderators that are discussed to influence training efficacy include motivation ( Jaeggi et al, 2014 ; Au et al, 2015 ), self-perceived stress ( Leung et al, 2016 ), initial cognitive capacities ( Basak and Zelinski, 2013 ; Holmes and Gathercole, 2014 ; Titz and Karbach, 2014 ; Weicker et al, 2016 ; Borella et al, 2017 ), and personality measures ( Studer-Luethi et al, 2012 ; Alesi et al, 2015 ; Minear et al, 2016 ). To account for such differences, we did not only include a passive control group, but also an active condition to check for various placebo effects.…”