Background: The late treatment outcomes of pediatric brain tumors and of hematopoietic and lymphoid tissue tumors are an important focus of both rehabilitation and research. Neurocognitive and motor disorders induce further learning problems impeding social-emotional adaptation throughout a whole lifespan. Core deficits in short-term and working memory, visuospatial constructional ability, verbal fluency, and fine motor skills underlie distorted intellectual and academic achievement. This study aimed to assess the individual differences in cognitive ability and fine motor skills of pediatric tumor survivors and the age-matched healthy controls. Methods: A total of 504 tumor survivors after treatment and 646 age-matched healthy controls underwent neurocognitive and fine motor assessments. Findings: The group of tumor survivors scored significantly worse in both neurocognitive and fine motor skill in compared with the healthy control group. The pediatric brain tumor survivors (PBT group) performed worse in cognitive (p < 0.001 for verbal fluency and p < 0.001 for visuospatial constructional ability) and motor tests (p < 0.001) compared to the healthy controls. Hematopoietic and Lymphoid Tissues tumors survivors (THL group) performed worse in verbal fluency (p < 0.01) and visuospatial constructional test (p < 0.001) compared to the control group. Furthermore, the PBT group had worse results in visuospatial constructional ability (p < 0.05) and fine motor (p < 0.001) ability than the THL group. Significant differences between females and males were found in fine motor test performance in the PBT group (p < 0.05), as well as in verbal fluency (p < 0.01) and visuospatial constructional ability (p < 0.01) in the control group. Neurocognitive and fine motor skill characteristics in the THL group did not correlate with age.

The purpose of this prospective pilot study was to evaluate the feasibility and effects of cognitive-motor intervention on the cognitive and motor abilities of pediatric survivors of posterior fossa tumors. The study involved patients aged 7 to 18 years with cognitive deficits who had completed primary treatment for posterior fossa tumors. 25 participants (M_age=11.3 ± 2.93, 64% male; 17 medulloblastoma, 1 ependymoma, 1 desmoplastic medulloblastoma, 6 piloid astrocytoma; 22 in remission (M_months =45), 3 in stabilization (M_months=49)) were recruited from the Research Institute for Brain Development and Peak Performance. The intervention consisted of two phases with a 3-month break for home training, and a total duration of 6 months. Each phase lasted 7 weeks and included two assessment procedures (pre- and post-intervention) and 10 training sessions over a period of 5 weeks (two 3-hour sessions per week). At baseline and pre- and post-intervention, all participants underwent a battery of cognitive and motor tests. Each training session included gross motor training (GMT), graphomotor training (GT), and cognitive-motor training (CMT). Statistical analysis was performed using the Friedman test for repeated measures and post-hoc Durbin-Conover test. The results indicated significant improvements in visuospatial working memory, visual attention, eye-hand coordination, semantic verbal fluency, auditory-motor synchronization, reaction time, and a decrease in the rate of ataxia. These improvements remained stable even in the absence of direct intervention. The findings demonstrate positive effects and feasibility of the intervention and suggest the need for further research in this area including randomized controlled feasibility studies with a larger sample.

Maze tasks, originally developed in animal research, have become a popular method for studying human cognition, particularly with the advent of virtual reality. However, these experiments frequently rely on simplified environments and tasks, which may not accurately reflect the complexity of real-world situations. Our pilot study aims to transfer a multi-alternative maze with a complex task structure, previously demonstrated to be useful in studying animal cognition, to studying human spatial cognition. The challenges to be resolved at this stage included developing a virtual maze and selecting an appropriate instruction that will elicit processes similar to those observed in animal models. A virtual maze was developed, and two types of instructions were provided to the participants: (1) to collect coins; (2) to interact with the maze in order to draw its structure after the game. The results indicate that a more structured instruction with a clear attainable goal (“collect”) prompted more in-depth exploration and engagement with the key elements of the maze, eliciting processes similar to those of animals. While the maze demonstrates promise as a tool for comparative studies, it also has the potential to uncover different aspects of human cognition.

Cognitive-motor interventions may help preserve and enhance cognitive, physical and sensorimotor function in aging populations, however, their feasibility for older adults working in cognitively demanding positions and experiencing subjective cognitive and physical complaints (SCPCs) remains unclear. This single-arm pilot study evaluated the feasibility and preliminary cognitive and sensorimotor effects of an 8-week combined group motor training and individual device-based cognitive-motor training (CMT). Twenty-three participants (M_age = 60.7 ± 5.29 years, 74% female) completed eight 60-min group balance and coordination motor training sessions and eight 90-min individual CMT sessions. Cognitive performance, sensorimotor function, and SCPCs were assessed at baseline and post-intervention, and feasibility was evaluated through attendance, attrition and written feedback. Participants demonstrated significant improvements in working memory (N-back, p < .001; r_bc = − 0.887), selective attention (Flanker, p = .021; r_bc = 0.543), perception span (p = .017, d = − 0.536), eye-hand coordination (p = .048; r_bc = 0.471), and dynamic visual acuity (p = .013, d = 0.561). No significant changes were observed in SCPCs (p > .05). Adherence was high (92%) and participant positive feedback indicated good acceptability. These findings suggest that combined cognitive-motor training is feasible and may produce cognitive and sensorimotor benefits for older working adults reporting SCPCs. This study provides a foundation for future randomized controlled trials with larger samples, which should focus on optimizing training duration and include follow-ups to confirm these preliminary observations.