Use of computer-presented games with memory-impaired stroke patients

Abstract

The present study reports on the use of computer-presented games, designed to retrain memory abilities, with memory-impaired stroke patients. Eleven patients underwent a six-week treatment course consisting of practice on computerized games for 40 minutes a day, up to a maximum of four times a week. The patients were assessed on objective memory tasks before and after treatment. Seven patients showed improvements of one standard deviation or more on at least one of the outcome measures, but as a group significant improvement was found only on the immediate recall form of the Prose Recall task. It appears that specific memory skills are learned as a result of treatment, but these skills generalize poorly to untrained memory tasks. The patients' patterns of cognitive deficits affect performance and this type of retraining may not be suitable for all stroke survivors. The study emphasizes the need for evaluation of computer-based cognitive rehabilitation.