This article explains how to carry out an intervention with NeuronUP in elderly people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The group with which we are going to work is a group of five patients with MCI at the Mevefares Residential Center.

MCI is considered when cognitive impairment exceeds what is expected for the age of the patient but does not meet the criteria for dementia. To be considered MCI, memory problems must be present, functionality must be maintained and there is no diagnosis of dementia.

There are four subtypes of MCI: amnestic, multi-domain amnestic, non-amnestic and non-amnestic multi-domain; so patient may have memory dysfunction or other higher functions, such as language or attention.

In the evaluations carried out in the center, by means of the MMSE and the Clock Test, it can be seen that individuals present slight difficulties in time orientation, language, sustained attention and, above all, memory; so it is decided to intervene in these aspects.

Objectives of intervention in people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI)

The main objective is to improve the affected cognitive skills to prevent the possible referral to dementia in the elderly with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

In addition, there are a number of specific objectives:

• Improve sustained attention.
• Maintain temporal orientation.
• Develop working memory.
• Improve logical reasoning.
• To strengthen semantic memory as well as vocabulary.
• Develop problem-solving skills.

Cognitive session in elderly people with MCI

To carry out the intervention in people with MCI, users will perform the following exercises, with an estimated time of 45 minutes.

Location in time

This activity consists of choosing the correct answer among several options. It consists of questions related to time orientation, such as what day it is, what time it is, the season of the year or the month, among others.

Duration: 5 minutes.

Objective: to improve time orientation.

Straighten up the kitchen

In this exercise, a picture of a kitchen and different items to be stored on the shelves, fridge or freezer will appear on the screen. To do this, by hovering over the different storage places, you can see what is stored there. It is also important to remember what is stored in each of the places in order to take as little time as possible.

Duration: in this case, 10 minutes are set for the activity.

Difficulty level: phases 1 and 2.

Objectives:

• To strengthen semantic memory and also short-term memory.
• To develop reasoning capacity.
• To improve sustained attention.

Press Conference

In this activity the patient will see people sitting in a waiting room. They will stand up, following an order that the patient will have to replicate. Therefore, the patient will have to click on the people who have stood up following the same order.

Duration: 5 minutes.

Difficulty level: levels 2 and 3.

Objectives:

• To improve working memory.
• To develop sustained attention.

Correct Image Name

An image and five response options will appear on the screen, among which is the name of the item that appears in the image. Therefore, the patient will have to identify the correct one among those with misspellings or other words and click on it.

Duration: 10 minutes.

Difficulty level: difficult.

Objectives:

• To develop semantic discrimination.
• To strengthen semantic memory and also short-term memory.
• To improve sustained attention.

Word Scramble

In this activity the user will have to order the letters that appear on the screen to form a word with them

Duration: 10 minutes.

Difficulty level: stages 2 and 3.

Objectives:

• Improve semantic memory.
• Increase vocabulary.
• To develop sustained attention.

Consequences

A situation will appear on the screen and the patient will have to choose among three options which is the consequence of that action.

Duration: 5 minutes.

Difficulty level: medium.

Objective: To develop logical reasoning.

Conclusions about the intervention with NeuronUP in the elderly with mild cognitive impairment (MCI)

There is a belief that older people have greater difficulty in using ICTs. However, with an intuitive and easy-to-use platform such as NeuronUP they can perform different tasks on the computer or tablet successfully.

In addition, the fact of performing them on the computer makes them also work fine motor skills by moving the mouse, and sustained attention as it is a medium that they do not know so much, unlike paper and pen that they’ve used their whole life

Finally, it should be noted that to achieve the greatest success in interventions for people with MCI, it is advisable to combine this type of session with other cognitive activities, such as labor therapy or paper worksheets.

Bibliography

Custodio N, Herrera E, Lira D, Montesinos R, Linares J, Bendezú L. Deterioro cognitivo leve: ¿Dónde termina el envejecimiento normal y empieza la demencia? [Mild cognitive impairment: Where does normal aging end and dementia begin?]An. Fac. med. 2012; 73 (4)

Meléndez Moral JC, Sanz-Álvarez T, Navarro-Pardo E. Deterioro cognitivo leve: método y procedimiento de clasificación [Mild cognitive impairment: method and classification procedure]. An Psicol [Internet]. 1 de mayo de 2012 [citado 1 de diciembre de 2020]; 28(2):604-10. Disponible en: https://revistas.um.es/analesps/article/view/analesps.28.2.148891