TUESDAY, Feb. 10, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- Cognitive training, involving speed of cognitive processing with booster training, is associated with a lower risk for diagnosed Alzheimer disease and related dementias (ADRD), according to a study published online Feb. 9 in Alzheimer's & Dementia.
Norma B. Coe, Ph.D., from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and colleagues examined the very long-term effect of cognitive training on the risk for ADRD. Data from the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly study, a four-arm randomized controlled trial of cognitive training in adults aged 65 years and older, was linked to Medicare claims for 1999 to 2019. Participants in each of the three intervention arms -- speed of processing training, memory training, and reasoning training -- received up to 10 sessions of training over five to six weeks. Individuals who completed at least eight of these sessions were re-randomly assigned to receive booster training sessions at 11 and 35 months after baseline.
The researchers found that in 2,021 participants during a 20-year follow-up period, the risk for diagnosed ADRD was significantly lower among those randomly assigned to the speed-training arm who completed one or more booster sessions (hazard ratio, 0.75; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.59 to 0.95), while the risk was not lower for speed-trained participants with no booster training (hazard ratio, 1.01; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.81 to1.27). No main effect of memory or reasoning training was seen on the risk for ADRD.
"Seeing that boosted speed training was linked to lower dementia risk two decades later is remarkable because it suggests that a fairly modest nonpharmacological intervention can have long-term effects," coauthor Marilyn Albert, Ph.D., from the Alzheimer's Disease Research Centre at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, said in a statement.
Several authors disclosed ties to Posit Science.