Overall, our results suggest that patients with MCI can
improve their episodic memory performance when provided
with multifactorial memory training. These results
also indicate that the form of intervention proposed here
has a beneficial effect on some aspects of subjective memory
and well-being of participants. Given that persons
with MCI are at a high risk of developingAD, and given
the scarcity of symptomatic treatment presently available
for these persons, such results may have important clinical implications. They indicate that this is a form of treatment
that can have benefit for this population of older
persons by reducing the severity of their symptoms. These
findings also show that improvement remains possible
even among a population of cognitively impaired older
persons, which indicates that cognitive plasticity is present
in elderly populations that experience cognitive decline.
Important questions remain to be addressed regarding
cognitive interventions in MCI. One question concerns
the characteristics of those sub-groups with MCI
who are most likely to benefit from the intervention. Another
question is to determine the limit after which intervention
is no longer appropriate in the evolution of the
disease as cognitive deficits accumulate in severity and
quantity. The present study focused on short-term symptomatic
improvement and another critical issue that is
worthy of investigation is the extent to which intervention
can delay the manifestation of the disease in those
individuals who will evolve to AD. Answers to these
questions will necessitate the use of much larger sample
sizes, as well as the follow-up of treated and non-treated
patients. The present data suggest that this is a worthy
endeavor.