The transfer of skills from cognitive and physical training to activities of daily living: a randomised controlled study

Ageing is associated with the deterioration of all cognitive functions, including attention, memory and psychomotor speed. It has not yet been clearly confirmed whether the effects of cognitive and physical interventions can improve activities of daily living (ADL). This study compared the effectiveness of cognitive and physical training on cognitive functions and the transfer to ADL. Eighty older people with mild cognitive impairment (mean age 67.07 ± 4.3 years) were randomly divided into an experimental group (n = 40) and a control group (n = 40). Data were collected in an outpatient psychiatric clinic in a randomised controlled trial. Primary outcome measures included the following: cognitive functions were evaluated using the mini mental state examination, the AVLT—Auditory verbal learning test, the Stroop test, the TMT—trail making test, the DRT—disjunctive reaction time and the NHPT—nine hole peg test. Secondary outcome measure was the Bristol activities of daily living scale. The experimental group underwent a CogniPlus and physical training; consisting of 20 training sessions over 10 weeks. Both groups went through 30 min of daily physical training for 10 weeks. After the training, significant differences in favour of the experimental group were found in almost all the tests. In memory (AVLT) (p ≤ 0.0001, effect size (ES) η ²  = 0.218. In reduction of the response time on attention tasks (Stroop tasks) (p ≤ 0.006, ES = 0.092–0.115). In lower error rates in all tests: Stroop tasks, DRT, TMT, NHPT (p ≤ 0.02–0.001, ES = 0.062–0.176). In ADL (p ≤ 0.0001, ES = 0.176). The combined cognitive and physical training had better efficacy for most cognitive functions and for ADL when compared with the physical training only.