How can cognitive remediation therapy modulate brain activations in schizophrenia?

The neuroplastic effect of working memory training in healthy volunteers and patients with schizophrenia: Implications for cognitive rehabilitation

“…A study (van Veelen et al, 2010) with first episode medication-naïve patients found a reduction of frontal brain activation, and this finding is consistent with a study recruiting clinically stable schizophrenia patients with a duration of illness of about five years (van Raalten et al, 2008). Moreover, short-term practice reduces brain activation while extensive training increases activation at the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the inferior parietal 23 lobule (Bor et al, 2011;Haut et al, 2010), which is consistent with results from healthy volunteers. Therefore, there remains neural plasticity and schizophrenia patients could benefit from WM training and cognitive remediation programmes (Ramsay & MacDonald III, 2015).Therefore, there is evidence that schizophrenia patients could benefit from WM training and cognitive remediation programmes (Ramsay & MacDonald, 2015).…”

Cognitive remediation, brain function and central coherence: an anorexia nervosa pilot study

“…In summary, the findings from larger CRT studies that have shown positive behavioural improvements have not been replicated in this study [13,16,18]. We do believe that while inconclusive, the conservative findings from this study validate the need to further extend research into brain functioning in AN.…”

“…Studies of CRT in schizophrenia have reported improvements in domains such as working memory, attention, social cognition and reasoning, alongside changes in brain activation [14][15][16][17] as well as preservation of brain structure and volume [17,18].…”

Cognitive Remediation for Schizophrenia: A Review of Recent Findings

“…There is some evidence that higher-level CR training impacts neural functioning. Two of the 16 studies in the table [24,25] used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to assess white matter integrity and functional MRI (fMRI) to measure regional brain activity of relevant brain regions; both showed positive results. In studies of higher-level computerized CR not included in this review because of publication date, repeated structural MRI assessments show CR resulted in significantly greater preservation of gray matter volume [26] and increased activation in attention and working memory networks (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate, and the frontal pole) [27].…”