Frontostriatal dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease (PD) increases the
risk for working memory (WM) impairment and depression, calling for
counteractive measures. Computerised cognitive rehabilitation is a
promising option, but targeted training protocols are lacking and
lab-based training can be demanding due to the repeated visits. This
study tested the feasibility and efficacy of home-based computerised
training targeting mainly WM updating in PD. Fifty-two cognitively
well-preserved PD patients were randomised to a WM training group and an
active control group for five weeks of training (three 30-min sessions
per week). WM training included three computerised adaptive WM tasks
(two updating, one maintenance). The outcomes were examined pre- and
post-training with trained and untrained WM tasks, tasks tapping other
cognitive domains, and self-ratings of executive functioning and
depression. Home-based training was feasible for the patients. The
training group improved particularly on the updating training tasks, and
showed posttest improvement on untrained WM tasks structurally similar
to the trained ones. Moreover, their depression scores decreased
compared to the controls. Our study indicates that patients with
mild-to-moderate PD can self-administer home-based computerised WM
training, and that they yield a similar transfer pattern to untrained WM
tasks as has been observed in healthy older adults.