Using dual-task methods to enhance cognitive performance in the acute phase of stroke: a proof of concept study.

To test the effectiveness of using a non-targeted, dual-task methodology to promote positive cognitive behavior change in acute stroke. Three stroke survivors, selected because they exhibited different recovery profiles, different lesion sites, and time since suffering a stroke, were administered an anagram task five or six times across a two-week period in the days following a stroke. Task difficulty increased across sessions by means of adding a category instance detection task, where participants had to identify instances from either one or two different semantic categories. The same regime was administered to a control group over a two-week period. All three participants were in the clinical range on early tests but were in non-clinical range on their last test session. Dual-task effects on completion time were also similar across participants as were anagram length effects. The three participants exhibited enhanced cognitive performance. The results suggest the possibility that cognitive interventions aimed at restoring lost function can be administered in the early days post-stroke and can produce beneficial outcomes, in much the same way that early motor or speech intervention programs have been shown to produce long-term benefits.