New 'Brain Training' App Could Help People With Schizophrenia

This study, published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, found that 22 patients who played the memory game made significantly fewer errors and needed significantly fewer attempts to remember the location of different patterns specific tests. They also improved their scores on the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale, which doctors use to rate the social, occupational and psychological functioning of adults. Importantly, the patients also said they enjoyed the game and were motivated to play it across the eight hours of cognitive training. The researchers said this was important, since lack of motivation is a common feature of schizophrenia. "We need a way of treating the cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia, such as problems with episodic memory, but slow progress is being made toward developing a drug treatment," said Barbara Sahakian from the department of psychiatry at Cambridge University. "This proof-of-concept study... demonstrates that the memory game can help where drugs have so far failed. (And) because the game is interesting, even those patients with a general lack of motivation are spurred on to continue the training." (Reporting by Kate Kelland, editing by Angus MacSwan) -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news