Efficacy of computerized cognitive training and mindfulness for improving cognition and mood in older adults: better together than separately.

Background: The risk of cognitive decline in older adults makes it necessary to design training programs for the improvement of cognition.

Aims: To determine the efficacy of applying a combined program of computerized cognitive training (CCT) and mindfulness for improving cognition and mood and quality of life in people aged 60 years and older, compared with using both interventions separately.

Methods: Adults, older than 95 years were assigned to groups that subsequently received one of the three interventions (CCT, mindfulness, and combined).

Resilience, Stress, and Cortisol Predict Cognitive Performance in Older Adults.

Objective: to determine the relationship between stress, resilience, and cognitive performance in older people without dementia.

Method: multiple linear regressions were performed using measures of cognitive performance as dependent variables, and measures of stress and resilience as predictors in a sample of 63 Spanish elderly people.

Results: participants reported low levels of stress during their lifetime.

Effects of aging on memory strategies: a validation of the Portuguese version of the Test of Memory Strategies.

Objective: Previous literature has shown that executive functions (EF) are related to performance in memory tasks. The fact that there are no psychometric tests that evaluate these two constructs simultaneously led a group of researchers to develop the Test of Memory Strategies (TSM). Given the potential importance of this instrument for neuropsychological evaluation, in this study, we aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the TMS in Portuguese sample.

Cognitive reserve during neuropsychological performance in HIV intravenous drug users.

HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders are frequently observed in people with HIV. We aimed to evaluate the influence of cognitive reserve on the neuropsychological performance of seropositive drug users. We carried out a neuropsychological assessment and compared the performance of seropositive drug users (n = 75) with that of a group of seronegative drug users (n = 48).

Influence of depressed mood on neuropsychologic performance in HIV-seropositive drug users.

Some studies point out that depression affects the performance of HIV patients in neuropsychological tasks, but at present this effect is not clear. The purpose of the present paper was to study whether the presence of symptoms of depression affects the neuropsychologic performance of seropositive drug users in tasks of attention/concentration, learning and memory, language, construction and visuospatial function, speed of motor performance, cognitive flexibility, manual skill and concept formation and reasoning. In order to carry out this research a sample consisting of 127 male volunteer subjects was used.