Correction of Cognitive and Emotional-Personal Processes Modification in Elderly Persons in a Non-Medicamentous Way (Method of Artificial Stable Functional Brain Connections)

Abstract

The relevance of the study is associated with an increase in population of the number of elderly and senile people suffering from dementia and anxiety-depressive disorders, as well as with the need to find effective ways to modify the psychological state of elderly people. The aim of the research was to study cognitive and emotional-personal processes in elderly people when exposed to the method of development and activation of artificial stable functional connections of the human brain. We examined 134 people 65–75 years old (69.12±7.64 years old) with mild cognitive impairments. To assess short-term memory, the Double test was used (Muchnik, Smirnov, 1969), to assess attention ― correction task (Sysoev, 2007). The emotional state was assessed using Taylor's Manifest Anxiety Scale (Nemchin, 1983), the Buss–Durkee Hostility Inventory (Hvan et al., 2005) and the Questionnaire of the hierarchical structure of actual fears of the individual (Shcherbatykh, 1998). To study personality traits, the Standardized multifactorial method of personality research was used (SMIL, Sobchik, 2000). It has been shown that elderly persons with mild cognitive impairments, along with a decrease in working memory and attention, are characterized by a high level of anxiety, fear, and intrapersonal tension. Statistically significant interrelationships of memory with anxiety, aggression and indicators of SMIL personality scales (Neurotic overcontrol, Pessimism, Emotional lability, Impulsivity, Rigidity, Anxiety, Individualism, and Social introversion) were established. From the general group of elderly people with mild cognitive impairment, 34 people were selected for a course of modification of cognitive and emotional-personal processes. After exposure to the method of artificial stable functional connections (10 sessions), an increase in indicators of the volume of short-term memory and attention, a decrease in the level of anxiety, fear and personal tension was observed. A decrease in the number of statistically significant relationships between short-term memory and resentment, hostility, and general aggression was found. The data obtained indicate the need to modify cognitive functions, emotional state and personality, even with mild impairment in the psychological state, to prevent early dementia and improve personal adaptation in the elderly.

Keywords

• elderly persons
• cognitive functions
• emotions
• personality
• artificial stable functional brain connections