Table 3.
Cognitive and self-reported characteristics of the sample and changes resulting from the three group-by-time repeated measures models
| Characteristic | Standard training | Sham training | Non-active control | Standard vs. non-active | Sham vs. non-active | Standard vs. Sham | ||||||
| Baseline | Post-training | Baseline | Post-training | Baseline | Post-training | F-value | P-value | F-value | P-value | F-value | P-value | |
| Verbal working memory | ||||||||||||
| PASAT 3”† | 35.93±17.79 | 41.87±16.35 | 36.87±19.90 | 39.80±16.33 | 39.53±14.41 | 43.07±13.90 | 0.30 | 0.587 | 0.92 | 0.347 | 2.87 | 0.102 |
| PASAT 2”† | 21.40±14.98 | 26.93±16.00 | 23.73±12.90 | 26.40±14.96 | 23.40±15.51 | 28.33±15.83 | 0.35 | 0.558 | 2.43 | 0.13 | 2.36 | 0.136 |
| DS -F† | 6.00±0.84 | 6.60±0.99 | 6.47±1.68 | 6.53±1.19 | 6.33±0.98 | 6.07±0.70 | 7.61 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.914 | 1.98 | 0.17 |
| DS -B† | 4.53±1.06 | 4.93±1.49 | 4.93±1.53 | 5.27±1.33 | 4.73±1.10 | 4.60±0.91 | 6.35 | 0.018 | 0.28 | 0.599 | 1.49 | 0.233 |
| Verbal long term memory | ||||||||||||
| LMT -IR† | 13.40±3.52 | 14.27±3.61 | 13.93±3.90 | 13.73±4.46 | 12.73±3.26 | 11.40±3.68 | 3.13 | 0.088 | 0.81 | 0.377 | 1.34 | 0.256 |
| LMT -DR† | 14.87±3.89 | 17.73±3.08 | 17.13±3.54 | 16.33±4.27 | 15.00±2.90 | 14.20±5.28 | 9.40 | 0.005 | 0.01 | 0.918 | 4.78 | 0.038 |
| BSRT -total† | 90.33±17.43 | 115.80±12.76 | 100.93±13.30 | 110.60±15.44 | 102.33±15.87 | 107.73±15.37 | 19.21* | < 0.001 | 2.34 | 0.138 | 12.22* | 0.002 |
| BSRT -DR† | 8.13±2.53 | 8.93±2.37 | 6.80±2.76 | 8.73±2.55 | 7.47±2.56 | 8.13±2.26 | 8.88 | 0.006 | 0.23 | 0.637 | 3.77 | 0.063 |
| PF† | 28.40±9.17 | 38.80±10.53 | 38.93±9.58 | 43.73±12.03 | 32.07±9.14 | 36.87±10.49 | 9.42 | 0.005 | 0.54 | 0.469 | 2.9 | 0.1 |
| SF† | 43.73±9.47 | 55.93±13.91 | 52.87±9.22 | 55.73±8.78 | 43.47±9.65 | 44.67±8.68 | 18.96* | < 0.001 | 0.05 | 0.82 | 13.03* | 0.001 |
| Visuo-spatial memory | ||||||||||||
| CT -span† | 4.87±1.19 | 5.47±1.24 | 4.73±1.22 | 5.00±1.36 | 4.93±1.16 | 5.40±0.91 | 0.27 | 0.608 | 0.22 | 0.642 | 3.94 | 0.057 |
| CT -SU† | 25.00±3.82 | 27.04±1.94 | 25.64±3.46 | 25.76±3.66 | 26.11±2.68 | 27.50±1.42 | 0.09 | 0.769 | 1.64 | 0.211 | 1.76 | 0.196 |
| RF -copy† | 34.80±1.37 | 35.00±1.00 | 33.47±2.53 | 34.20±2.31 | 34.80±1.37 | 34.93±1.03 | 0.05 | 0.824 | 0.29 | 0.594 | 0.01 | 0.93 |
| RF -DR† | 14.53±4.26 | 22.47±4.94 | 18.27±6.38 | 18.80±6.90 | 18.16±3.77 | 22.20±5.17 | 6.69 | 0.015 | 1.64 | 0.212 | < 0.01 | 0.988 |
| PS/visuo-spatial attention | ||||||||||||
| DCT† | 50.87±7.38 | 55.07±5.24 | 52.00±6.00 | 54.47±5.89 | 54.27±4.83 | 54.47±5.36 | 3.00 | 0.095 | 2.4 | 0.133 | 0.27 | 0.605 |
| TMT-A (s) | 44.33±14.45 | 35.67±14.36 | 36.00±9.88 | 33.67±9.55 | 36.47±16.91 | 34.00±13.89 | 3.55 | 0.071 | 1.31 | 0.262 | 2.30 | 0.141 |
| SS (s) | 17.83±3.87 | 15.50±2.72 | 17.53±2.65 | 16.63±3.12 | 16.33±3.07 | 17.13±3.80 | 6.3 | 0.018 | 2.55 | 0.122 | 0.65 | 0.428 |
| DSCT† | 62.20±16.56 | 69.07±16.92 | 62.60±13.24 | 67.00±15.29 | 64.20±16.87 | 70.87±21.75 | 0.03 | 0.86 | 0.15 | 0.704 | 0.60 | 0.446 |
| Executive functions | ||||||||||||
| SI (s) | 16.27±8.63 | 12.10±5.46 | 16.10±5.99 | 14.97±5.47 | 15.40±7.62 | 13.87±4.68 | 3.90 | 0.059 | 0.1 | 0.758 | 0.79 | 0.381 |
| TMT-B-A (s) | 43.87±24.03 | 35.53±23.48 | 45.73±27.61 | 39.87±19.82 | 36.53±21.07 | 29.60±12.45 | 0.28 | 0.602 | 0.02 | 0.894 | 0.17 | 0.686 |
| Self-reported measures | ||||||||||||
| MFIS‡ | 44.00±16.67 | 32.40±15.98 | 53.07±14.23 | 45.13±17.92 | 48.27±17.13 | 49.53±17.91 | 7.12 | 0.013 | 1.56 | 0.222 | 1.85 | 0.185 |
| PHQ-9‡ | 8.93±5.65 | 6.53±3.96 | 10.87±5.79 | 8.60±5.34 | 8.40±3.60 | 8.73±4.03 | 4.42 | 0.045 | 3.79 | 0.062 | < 0.01 | 0.987 |
| GAD-7‡ | 6.87±6.08 | 4.33±3.31 | 6.13±4.53 | 5.87±5.07 | 7.20±5.06 | 5.27±3.86 | 0.03 | 0.86 | 0.02 | 0.894 | 0.21 | 0.647 |
| MSQoL-54 -P‡ | 51.68±20.25 | 61.80±21.21 | 44.81±16.63 | 44.45±17.81 | 52.02±19.79 | 50.38±22.08 | 10.66 | 0.003 | 0.17 | 0.679 | 4.74 | 0.038 |
| MSQoL-54 -M‡ | 58.64±17.52 | 66.58±19.87 | 53.38±18.83 | 56.03±24.42 | 64.53±19.79 | 59.30±19.28 | 4.97 | 0.034 | 2.04 | 0.164 | 0.01 | 0.914 |
Values are means ± standard deviations. n = 15 in each group. * (in bold) Tests that survived Bonferroni correction: P < 0.002; † Total number of correct items; ‡ Total score n a Likert-like scale. BSRT: Buschke Selective Reminding Test; CT: Corsi Test; DCT: Digit Cancellation Test (total number of correct items detected on the three matrices in 45 seconds); DR: Delayed recall; DS: Digit Span-B/F (B: backward, F: forward); DSCT: Digit Symbol Coding Test (total number of correct items reported in 120 seconds); GAD-7: 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder; IR: Immediate recall; LMT: Logical Memory Test; MFIS: Modified Fatigue Impact Scale; MSQoL-54-M/P: 54-item Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life (M: mental, P: physical); PASAT: Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test; PF: Phonemic Fluency; PHQ-9: 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire; PS: Processing speed; RF: Rey Figure; SF: Semantic Fluency; SI: Stroop inhibition (difference between completion time on colour-word inhibition trial and average completion time on word reading and colour naming trials); SS: Stroop speed (average of completion time for word reading and colour naming trials); SU: supraspan; TMT-A/B-A: Trail Making Test (A: part A, A–B: part B–part A difference).