Cognitive training perspectives show no significant far transfer effects in acute stroke rehabilitation trial

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the role of egocentric and allocentric perspectives in facilitating far transfer (improvement of emotional state and psychomotor functions) following cognitive training in stroke patients. METHODS: In a three-arm, non-blind, randomized clinical trial, 128 patients with acute stroke were randomly allocated to one of the following groups: 1) control, 2) allocentric perspective, or 3) egocentric perspective groups. Each group received a 2-week intervention, with the experimental groups completing an additional 10 sessions. Cognitive function was measured by the Addenbrooke Cognitive Evaluation-III, depression by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, anxiety by the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 scale, and psychomotor function by the Finger Tapping Test. RESULTS: Cognitive training tasks based on allocentric and egocentric perspectives, when combined with conventional rehabilitation, did not yield a statistically significant far transfer effect compared to conventional rehabilitation alone. No significant differences between-groups were observed for changes in anxiety (F(2, 111) = .056, p = .945, η = .058), depression (F(2, 109) = 0.831, p = .160, η = .074), or dominant (F(2, 111) = 0.059, p = .943, η = .001) and non-dominant (F(2, 108) = 1.375, p = .257, η = .290) psychomotor functions. CONCLUSION: The incorporation of an allocentric and egocentric perspective based cognitive training tasks in conventional rehabilitation do not provide significantly better improvements in emotional state and psychomotor functions. The ISRCTN clinical trial registry (https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN14922230).