Intellectual Enrichment to Build Cognitive Reserve in MS

Summary

Cognitive problems are a primary concern for people with multiple sclerosis. In many cases, people with MS report these issues to be more debilitating than the motor symptoms that are targeted by most treatment strategies. For people with MS, impaired memory and thinking skills can interfere with the ability to function efficiently in multiple professional and personal roles. Finding ways to decrease, slow, or reverse declines in memory and thinking skills is a vitally important research priority. We now know that engaging in intellectually enriching activities helps protect against the negative impact of MS disease-related declines in memory and thinking. Such activities contribute to something called 'cognitive reserve,' which serves as a protection against disease-related declines in memory and thinking. Thus far, no one has created a treatment that aims to provide a concentrated 'dose' of intellectual enrichment to build cognitive reserve. The present intervention aims to do precisely this. Here, we have developed a program of enriching activities that are delivered via a personal iPad. This allows for a 12-week 'treatment' that is entirely home-based, while also providing close personal contact between participants and our study personnel, who will communicate daily via emails. Week by week, participants choose from a menu of intellectually enriching activities such that their treatment is dynamic and customizable to fit their interests. The intervention is designed to be fun, as we hope the activities will be incorporated into people's lives beyond the period of the study itself. Given what we already know about the striking benefits of cognitive reserve to protect against disease-related declines in cognitive functioning, we expect to show that treatment with a daily, intense, intellectually enriching schedule of activities results in improved thinking and memory for people with MS. We will also investigate the positive impact of our treatment on the brains of people with MS through brain scans. We expect to see evidence for a shift toward more efficient processing in the brain, changes that translate to improved memory and thinking skills.

Conditions

• Cognitive Impairment in Multiple Sclerosis

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Intellectual Enrichment daily activities

A daily program of intellectually enriching, iPad/tablet-based activities: games, reading/writing, hobby activities, or a documentary video (control).

BEHAVIORAL

Intellectual Enrichment documentary videos

Participants watch daily documentary videos.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Multiple Sclerosis Society

  collaborator OTHER

• Kessler Foundation

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Victoria M Leavitt, PhD · Kessler Foundation

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

TRIPLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

25 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2013-06-01

Primary Completion

2014-06-01

Completion

2014-06-01

Countries

• United States

Study Locations