Internet, home-based cognitive and strategy training with older adults: a study to assess gains to daily life

Computerised training has been shown to benefit cognitive function in older adults but rarely, if ever, enhances performance in everyday life. This study examines how an entirely internet-based cognitive programme can generalise to daily functioning. This is an exploratory study (n = 25) of computer and video-based strategy training with older adults that was conducted over the internet to facilitate generalisation. Results found no evidence of gains to measures in daily functioning. The only training benefits were on tasks that had been trained. The results suggest that not all training procedures produce benefits and a lack of transfer to daily life was evident here. Caution should be taken in interpretation due to the small sample under investigation. This research may be useful for the design and conduct of future rehabilitation studies.