Sex differences in cognitive training effects of patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment

Abstract

Cognitive training has been shown to be effective in improving cognitive functions in patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). However, data on factors that may influence training gains including sociodemographic variables such as sex or age is rare. In this study, the impact of sex on cognitive training effects was examined in N = 32 age- and education-matched female (n = 16) and male (n = 16) amnestic MCI patients (total sample: age M = 74.97, SD = 5.21; education M = 13.50, SD = 3.11). Patients participated in a six-week multidomain cognitive training program including 12 sessions each 90 min twice weekly in mixed groups with both women and men. Various cognitive domains were assessed before and after the intervention. Despite comparable baseline performance in women and men, we found significant interaction effects Time × Sex in immediate (p = .04) and delayed verbal episodic memory (p= .045) as well as in working memory (p = .042) favoring the female MCI patients. In contrast, the overall analyses with the total sample did not reveal any significant within-subject effects Time. In conclusion, our results give preliminary evidence for stronger cognitive training improvements of female compared to male MCI patients. More generally, they emphasize the importance of sex-sensitive evaluations of cognitive training effects. Possible underlying mechanisms of the found sex differences are discussed and directions for future research are given.

A Systematic Review on Predictors of Working Memory Training Responsiveness in Healthy Older Adults: Methodological Challenges and Future Directions

“…We did not find a consistent influence of sex on responsiveness to WMT in healthy older adults, even though some kind of “sex-specific plasticity” and following sex-specific differences between training responsiveness to different cognitive domains are proposed in literature (Beinhoff et al, 2008 ; Rahe et al, 2015 ; Roheger et al, 2019 ). Note, however, that sex as a prognostic factor for WMT responsiveness was investigated in two studies with direct training effects as dependent variable only.…”

“…On the contrary, the magnification hypothesis constitutes that individuals with higher abilities would benefit most, as they have more resources “to acquire, implement, and sharpen effortful cognitive strategies” (Lövdén et al, 2012 ). Similar inconsistent evidence exists, e.g., for age (e.g., Borella et al, 2013 , 2014 , 2017b ; Zinke et al, 2014 ; Simon et al, 2018 ) and other demographic factors such as education (Clark et al, 2016 ; Mondini et al, 2016 ; Borella et al, 2017b ; Matysiak et al, 2019 ) and sex (Rahe et al, 2015 ; Matysiak et al, 2019 ; Roheger et al, 2019 ). Furthermore, motivational processes (West et al, 2008 ; Kalbe et al, 2018 ) and personality traits (Studer-Luethi et al, 2012 ; Double and Birney, 2016 ) might constitute important individual characteristics predicting training responsiveness as well.…”

Computerized Cognitive Training in Healthy Older Adults: Baseline Cognitive Level and Subjective Cognitive Concerns Predict Training Outcome

“…Regarding the influence of sociodemographic factors, the fact that female gender predicts gains in memory corroborates previous findings that women profit more from CT programs especially in the memory domain, although [34] found effects for verbal, not figural memory which fit better to the hypothesis of a "gender-specific cognitive reserve" [68], which assumes larger plasticity in verbal episodic memory in women. Thus, our finding that gains in non-verbal long-term memory, attention and set-shifting was predicted by female gender needs further investigation.…”

Cognitive training with and without additional physical activity in healthy older adults: cognitive effects, neurobiological mechanisms, and prediction of training success

“…Training sessions with a maximum of 10 participants per group were carried out twice weekly with a total of 14 sessions each lasting 90 min in all three interventions. The three interventions were based on standardized manuals and all of them contained the multi-domain CT NEURO vitalis (Baller et al, 2009 ; Petrelli et al, 2014 ; Rahe et al, 2015a , b ). For CPT interventions, CT was supplemented with a multi-component physical activity program and two additional sessions about Physical Activity and Nutrition .…”