Brain-Boosting App Halts Mental Decline in Older Adults While Control Group Slips

For residents in assisted living facilities facing the shadow of cognitive decline, a new smartphone app is offering a ray of hope. A recent study found that older adults using a customized mobile program showed measurable improvement in brain function, while those not using the technology actually declined slightly over the same period.

The clinical trial, conducted by researchers from Texas A&M University and the University of Utah, tested the Silvia Program—a free cognitive health care app—among residents diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment at an Indiana assisted living facility. Their findings were published in Public Health and Practice in December 2024.

“We evaluated the Silvia Program’s overall efficacy on the cognitive functioning of these residents, while also examining whether age or gender influenced the outcomes,” said Junhyoung “Paul” Kim, a researcher from the Texas A&M University School of Public Health and co-author of the study. “This is significant, as many assisted living facility residents face challenges such as social isolation and limited access to health care, which can exacerbate cognitive decline. Tools like the Silvia Program could offer valuable support.”

The researchers randomly assigned 20 participants with mild cognitive impairment to either an intervention group using the Silvia app or a control group following their usual routines. The average age of participants was 78, with similar gender distributions between the groups, though educational levels varied significantly.

Personalized Digital Intervention

Unlike traditional one-size-fits-all approaches to cognitive health, the Silvia Program delivers personalized activities based on individual abilities and progress. The comprehensive program includes daily goal setting, cognitive training through 15 tailored programs, monitoring of nutrition and activity patterns, and guided home-based exercise routines.

Over the 12-week study period, participants engaged with cognitive training sessions three times weekly for 15-30 minutes each, complemented by twice-weekly 30-minute physical exercise sessions. Perhaps most innovative is the app’s AI-driven component.

“Participants in the Silvia Program also engaged in individualized, AI-generated conversations about their activities, including the difficulty of tasks, time spent and cognitive exercise scores,” explained Kim.

The AI system continually assessed users’ performance, adjusting difficulty levels accordingly for an optimized experience—something difficult to achieve in traditional group settings.

Measurable Brain Benefits

To measure cognitive changes, researchers used the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), a standardized test evaluating various aspects of brain function including memory, attention, language, and visual-spatial abilities.

While both groups started with similar baseline scores, follow-up assessments revealed a striking difference: the intervention group showed statistically significant improvement (p = 0.04), while the control group experienced a nonsignificant decline (p = 0.49).

Breaking down the results further, researchers observed that app users improved in several key areas: visuospatial/executive function (the ability to successfully complete tasks), language skills, delayed recall (remembering information after a time lapse), and orientation (awareness of time, place, and person). Interestingly, attention scores decreased slightly, while naming and abstraction abilities remained stable.

Meanwhile, the control group showed a different pattern—nonsignificant increases in visuospatial/executive function, naming and abstraction, but declines in language and delayed recall performance, with no changes in attention and orientation.

Beyond the Numbers

The significance of these findings extends beyond statistical improvements. For older adults in assisted living settings, maintaining cognitive function directly impacts quality of life, independence, and sense of self.

Digital health technologies like the Silvia Program may address several critical challenges simultaneously: they’re accessible within residents’ living spaces, can be customized to individual needs and abilities, and provide engagement opportunities that might otherwise be limited in institutional settings.

The study builds upon growing evidence that multidomain interventions—those combining multiple approaches like cognitive exercises, physical activity, and nutrition guidance—are more effective than single-focus interventions for brain health.

Study Limitations

Despite the promising results, the researchers acknowledge several limitations to their pilot study. With only 20 participants followed for 12 weeks, the findings are more suggestive than definitive. The sample also lacked diversity, consisting predominantly of white females, which limits generalizability to the broader assisted living population.

Additionally, the researchers didn’t account for variables like existing health conditions, functional abilities, and technology acceptance that might influence both cognitive health and willingness to use digital tools.

Looking Forward

“Our study demonstrates that customized, mobile multidomain programs can benefit older adults experiencing mild cognitive decline,” Kim said. “The potential for even greater outcomes as these programs are further refined and expanded is immense.”

As the population ages and assisted living communities continue to grow, accessible interventions for cognitive health become increasingly vital. The study suggests that smartphone-based programs like Silvia might offer a scalable, cost-effective approach to addressing cognitive health challenges in institutional settings.

The researchers recommend larger, longer-term studies across multiple locations to more fully assess the technology’s benefits and optimize its implementation for diverse populations.

For millions of older adults and their families navigating the challenges of cognitive aging, the digital frontier may offer new pathways to maintaining mental sharpness and quality of life—one app notification at a time.