Cognition and Cognitive Training in Patients with Neurodegenerative Diseases

Dear Colleagues,

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Frontotemporal Dementia, Parkinson's disease and Multiple Sclerosis are a health priority throughout the world with huge medical, psychological and economic repercussions. Their prevalence and incidence have increased with age over recent decades, and they are expected to continue to grow in the near future.

As no effective treatments for cognitive symptoms are currently available, various studies have started to investigate the potential contribution of cognitive training (CT) in contrasting patients’ cognitive decay. However, to date the evidence supporting CT efficacy and effectiveness is weak and definitely needs to be fostered.

In this Special Issue, we are interested in studies focused on the application of CT to pathological cognitive ageing. We aim to attract empirical articles investigating the impact of paper-and-pencil and/or more technologically advanced training (i.e., computerized CT, virtual reality training, training based on neuromodulation tools, and so on) on main cognitive domains (i.e., memory, language, temporal and spatial orientation, attention, concentration, and executive functions) in patients affected by neurodegenerative conditions. Studies recruiting large samples of participants and/or adopting a longitudinal perspective are strongly encouraged. Review articles on the current state of the art in this field are also welcome.

Potential topics include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Computerized cognitive stimulation studies in neurodegenerative diseases;
• Studies using virtual reality technologies for cognitive stimulation purposes of neurodegenerative patients;
• Neuroimaging, electrophysiology, and optical imaging studies of cognitive stimulation in dementias, other neurodegenerative conditions;
• Empirical studies using novel technologies to assist cognitively impaired patients;
• Long-term studies on the differences in quality of different cognitive stimulation techniques for patients with neurodegenerative disorders.

Dr. Marco Cavallo
Dr. Stefano Lasaponara
Guest Editors

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• cognitive training
• neuroimaging
• neurodegenerative diseases
• neuromodulation
• virtual reality