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The Effect of an Online Cognitive Training Package in Healthy Older Adults: An Online Randomized Controlled Trial
Corbett A, Owen A, Hampshire A, Grahn J, Stenton R, Dajani S, Burns A, Howard R et al.. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 2015-11-01
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Introduction Cognitive training (CT) offers a potential approach for dementia prevention and maintenance of cognitive function in older adults. Online delivery provides a cost-effective means of implementing CT compared with in-person interventions, with the potential of providing an effective public health intervention for risk reduction. Methods A double-blind 6-month online randomized controlled trial in adults older than 50 randomized to General CT, Reasoning CT, or control. The primary outcome was instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) in adults older than 60. Secondary outcomes were reasoning, verbal short-term memory, spatial working memory, verbal learning (VL), and digit vigilance in adults older than 50. Secondary analyses were performed with a group defined as showing age-associated impairment in reasoning according to baseline scores in this domain. Results A total of 2912 adults older than 60 (6742 > 50) participated. General and reasoning packages conferred benefit to IADL (P = .008, P = .011), reasoning (P Conclusions Online CT confers significant benefit to cognition and function in older adults, with benefit favoring the Reasoning package. Scale of benefit is comparable with in-person training, indicating its potential as a public health intervention. Impact on the group with age-associated impairment indicates a particular sensitivity to this at-risk group, which merits further investigation.
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APA 7th
Corbett, A., Owen, A., Hampshire, A., Grahn, J., Stenton, R., Dajani, S., et al. (2015). The Effect of an Online Cognitive Training Package in Healthy Older Adults: An Online Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2015.06.014
Vancouver
Corbett A, Owen A, Hampshire A, Grahn J, Stenton R, Dajani S, et al. The Effect of an Online Cognitive Training Package in Healthy Older Adults: An Online Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association. 2015. doi:10.1016/j.jamda.2015.06.014. PMID: 26543007.
BibTeX
@article{corbett2015-26543007,
author = {Corbett, A. and Owen, A. and Hampshire, A. and Grahn, J. and Stenton, R. and Dajani, S. and Burns, A. and Howard, R. and others},
title = {{The Effect of an Online Cognitive Training Package in Healthy Older Adults: An Online Randomized Controlled Trial}},
journal = {Journal of the American Medical Directors Association},
year = {2015},
doi = {10.1016/j.jamda.2015.06.014},
pmid = {26543007},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2015.06.014}
}
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
Key findings
- Online delivery provides a cost-effective means of implementing CT compared with in-person interventions, with the potential of providing an effective public health intervention for risk reduction.
- Results A total of 2912 adults older than 60 (6742 > 50) participated.
- General and reasoning packages conferred benefit to IADL (P = .008, P = .011), reasoning (P Conclusions Online CT confers significant benefit to cognition and function in older adults, with benefit favoring the Reasoning package.
Why it matters
In this online randomised trial of over 2,900 adults older than 60, general and reasoning cognitive training packages improved activities of daily living and cognition, with the reasoning package showing the most benefit. The authors say the size of benefit is comparable with in-person training and could be a public health option, but the trial measured cognition and function rather than whether dementia was prevented.
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Study details
- Study designrandomized controlled trial
- Participants2,912
- Evidence strengthHigh
How this study scored 70/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a randomized controlled trial. Scored zero for effect reported because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Journal of the American Medical Directors Association) |
| Journal's citation record | 2 / 4 | Journal of the American Medical Directors Association: journal h-index 172 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 11 / 12 | A randomized controlled trial |
| Strength of evidence | 5 / 5 | Rated “high” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2015 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 3 / 4 | 2,912 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomized / blinded | 2 / 2 | Randomized and blinded or placebo-controlled (as stated in the record) |
| Times cited | 5 / 7 | Cited 215 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 3 / 5 | 16.5 citations a year over 13 year(s) since 2015 |
| Impact for its field and year | 4 / 6 | Cited 15.5× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 2 / 6 | Cited by 6 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 2 / 4 | Cited 34 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 4 / 4 | Last-listed author Clive G. Ballard: h-index 141 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 2 / 3 | University of Oxford: institution h-index 2,205 (OpenAlex) |
| Multicenter collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 6 institution(s) in 2 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 26543007) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 70 / 100 | — |
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Read the original
- DOI: 10.1016/j.jamda.2015.06.014
- PubMed: 26543007
- Original source →
- Free full text: Journal of the American Medical Directors Association →
Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).
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