Evaluating Two Types of Cognitive Training in Veterans With Schizophrenia

"This computerized bottom-up cognitive intervention is designed to improve the speed and accuracy of auditory information processing through increasingly more difficult stimulus recognition, discrimination, sequencing, and memory tasks under conditions of close attentional control, high reward, and novelty. BFP consists of 6 exercises. Stimuli across the exercises are chosen such that they span the acoustic and organizational structure of speech, from very simple acoustic stimuli and tasks to complex manipulations of continuous speech. The exercises adaptively progress based on the subject's individual performance during a training session and become more challenging as the subject's abilities improve. Participants will work with 4 of the 6 exercises (15 min per exercise) in each session."

"This computerized top-down cognitive intervention is designed to provide training across a broad range of cognitive functions. Cogpack consists of domain-specific exercises aimed at training specific cognitive areas (attention, working memory, verbal and visual memory, executive functioning, reasoning, language) and non-domain-specific exercises that require the use of several functions at a time. Cogpack includes low-level cognitive exercises (i.e., scanning, hand-eye coordination, and psychomotor speed) that will not be included in this protocol to better separate bottom-up from top-down training interventions. There will be a total of 34 exercises and variants of the same exercises with different levels of difficulty. In each session, participants will work on a different subset of 4 to 6 exercises."

"Sporcle computer games will be used as a placebo treatment to control for the effects of computer exposure, contact with research personnel, time spent being cognitively active, and financial compensation for participation. The games cover trivia-type questions about geography, entertainment, science, history, literature, sports, movies, etc. Subjects will receive the same amount of attention from staff members and the same monetary reinforcements as participants in the experimental treatment groups. They will also complete 3 hours of training per week over 12 weeks, for a total of 36 hours."