Current research has shown that elderly individuals transitioning from healthy aging to, for example, AD (sample size of 444) demonstrated a consistent and interesting trait, in that VS measures decline faster than any other cognitive abilities Johnson et al. 2009. In fact, these researchers showed that a decline in VS ability was observed on average to occur as

early as 1 year prior to any other cognitive measures demonstrating a similar trend (Johnson et al. 2009). Therefore, with the knowledge that (1) restorative approach appears to be most beneficial to helping individuals with cognitive impairments and (2) that VS ability Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical declines early in this process, application of this pilot program was developed based on its novelty and approach in trying to address generalized cognitive learn more concerns with the stimulation of a specified brain region(s). Brain region(s) supporting VS/VM ability therefore might be the impetus Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical for causing a cascading effect of reduced overall ability as a region of support for other brain areas affected by the progression of cognitive impairments. Rather than trying to implicitly understand the underlying brain process involved (which was well out of the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical scope of the program), the goal

was in trying to understand the role of this CT intervention in effectively combating the cognitive and behavioral systems related to identified cognitive impairments. Although it is Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical still unmistakable that declines are inevitable in populations such as AD afflicted individuals, theories such as cognitive reserve (Sole-Padulles et al. 2009;

Bosch et al. 2010) and CT (Loewenstein et al. 2004) certainly suggest that individuals have options for reducing the cognitive and behavioral effects associated with illnesses such as these. In addition, as reversing or stabilizing systems of dementia-related illnesses are still genetically unattainable, it is important to identify ways to combat these impairments and find the “best practice” strategies Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical on how to alter the progressive effects. Limitations One of the limitations of this study could be identified too as the number of available patients. However, a meta-analysis of CT tasks for individuals experiencing cognitive impairments indicates that average sample size for this type of research is approximately 16 with the range starting at 7; thus, the number of patients analyzed here is typical of this type of research (Sitzer et al. 2006), as such, although it is a drawback, it certainly is not extraordinary. Additionally, ensuring participants are able to attend each training session and maintain attendance throughout the program was another primary limitation of this research. Future research will have to consider ways to ensure full program completion for all participants.