Background: Cognitive dysfunction is one of the most prevalent non-motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease (PD), often experienced as more debilitating for patients and caregivers than motor problems. Therefore, a deeper understanding of the course of

Identifying factors predicting effects of cognitive trainings (CT) is important for developing trainings for individuals with specific profiles. The objective of the present study was to evaluate predictors of CT success in several cognitive domains directly after and 1 year after a 7-week group CT in healthy older adults. Sociodemographic variables, baseline cognitive performance, physical activity parameters, apolipoprotein E-4 (apoE-4), levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were analysed as possible predictors of CT success. Outcomes were assessed directly after training and 1 year after CT. Results indicate that lower initial baseline performance was a significant predictor for CT success in most of the investigated domains. All tested predictors (except age and BDNF) predicted CT success in different domains. Our data indicate that healthy older adults with lower cognitive baseline scores show stronger benefits of a CT group intervention.

Background: Combining cognitive training (CT) with physical activity (CPT) has been suggested to be most effective in maintaining cognition in healthy older adults, but data are scarce and inconsistent regarding long-term effects (follow-up; FU) and predictors of success. Objective: To investigate the 1-year FU effects of CPT versus CT and CPT plus counseling (CPT+C), and to identify predictors for CPT success at FU. Setting and Participants: We included 55 healthy older participants in the data analyses; 18 participants (CPT group) were used for the predictor analysis. Interventions: In a randomized controlled trial, participants conducted a CT, CPT, or CPT+C for 7 weeks. Outcome Measures: Overall cognition, verbal, figural, and working memory, verbal fluency, attention, planning, and visuo-construction. Results: While within-group comparisons showed cognitive improvements for all types of training, only one significant interaction Group × Time favoring CPT in comparison to CPT+C was found for overall cognition and verbal long-term memory. The most consistent predictor for CPT success (in verbal short-term memory, verbal fluency, attention) was an initial low baseline performance. Lower education predicted working memory gains. Higher levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and lower levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor at baseline (BDNF) predicted alternating letter verbal fluency gains. Discussion: Within-group comparisons indicate that all used training types are helpful to maintain cognition. The fact that cognitive and sociodemographic data as well as nerve growth factors predict long-term benefits of CPT contributes to the understanding of the mechanisms underlying training success and may ultimately help to adapt training to individual profiles. Clinical Trial Registration: WHO ICTRP (http://apps.who.int/trialsearch/), identifier DRKS00005194.

Socio-cognitive abilities and challenges change across the healthy lifespan and are essential for successful human interaction. Identifying effective socio-cognitive training approaches for healthy individuals may prevent development of mental or physical disease and reduced quality of life. A systematic search was conducted in MEDLINE Ovid, Web of Science Core Collection, CENTRAL, and PsycInfo databases. Studies that investigated different socio-cognitive trainings for healthy individuals across the human lifespan assessing effects on theory of mind, emotion recognition, perspective taking, and social decision making were included. A random-effects pairwise meta-analysis was conducted. Risk-of-Bias was assessed using the Cochrane Risk-of-Bias-2-Tool. Twenty-three intervention studies with N = 1835 participants were included in the systematic review; twelve randomized controlled trials in the meta-analysis (N = 875). Socio-cognitive trainings differed regarding duration and content in different age groups, with theory of mind being the domain most frequently trained. Results of the meta-analysis showed that trainings were highly effective for improving theory of mind in children aged 3–5 years (SMD = 2.51 (95%CI: 0.48–4.53)), children aged 7–9 years (SMD = 2.71 (95%CI: − 0.28 to 5.71)), and older adults (SMD = 5.90 (95%CI: 2.77–9.02). Theory of mind training was highly effective in all investigated age-groups for improving theory of mind, yet, more research on transfer effects to other socio-cognitive processes and further investigation of training effects in other socio-cognitive domains (e.g., emotion recognition, visual perspective taking, social decision making) is needed. Identified characteristics of successful socio-cognitive trainings in different age groups may help designing future training studies for other populations.Registration:www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/ (ID: CRD42020193297).