Computerised cognitive training may stimulate neuroplasticity and improve cognitive performance in adults living with chronic traumatic brain injury (TBI), according to new research.
The study, published in the Journal of Neurotrauma, provides further evidence that digital therapeutic interventions can drive measurable structural changes in the injured brain, even years after the initial trauma.
Measuring change
Neuroplasticity refers to the brain’s capacity to reorganise and form new neural connections. In healthy brains, dense bundles of white matter fibres enable efficient communication between regions responsible for speech, memory and executive function. After traumatic brain injury, these pathways can be disrupted, leading to persistent cognitive deficits.
To investigate whether targeted digital exercises could influence brain structure, researchers randomly assigned 17 adults (aged 24–56) with chronic TBI to either a cognitive training group or a control group.
Participants in the intervention arm completed 40 one-hour sessions over 14 weeks using the Brain Fitness Program 2.0, a computer-based training platform designed to challenge auditory processing, memory and attention. Tasks included recalling syllable sequences, distinguishing sound frequencies and remembering details from spoken narratives.
Structural and functional gains
Using diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI), which maps the movement of water molecules along white matter tracts, the researchers observed significant changes in white matter integrity among participants who completed the training programme. Importantly, these structural changes were associated with measurable improvements in processing speed, attention and working memory.
According to senior author Gerald Voelbel, Associate Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at New York University (NYU Steinhardt), the findings reinforce the brain’s capacity for recovery. “This study demonstrates that computer-based cognitive remediation can induce neuroplastic changes in adults with chronic brain injury,” he said. “We observed increased strength and stability of nerve fibres that were directly related to improved cognitive performance.”
Implications for digital neurorehabilitation
Although the sample size was limited, the study contributes to a growing body of evidence supporting the role of digital therapeutics in neurorehabilitation. For patients with chronic TBI, often years beyond the acute recovery phase, the results suggest that structured, technology-enabled training may still produce meaningful biological and functional gains.
As health systems increasingly explore scalable, home-based rehabilitation tools, computerised cognitive training programmes could offer a complementary strategy to traditional therapy, combining objective neuroimaging markers with measurable improvements in daily cognitive functioning.
