Functional recovery after
stroke is dose-dependent on the amount of rehabilitative training. However, rehabilitative training is subject to motivational hurdles. Decision neuroscience formalizes drivers and dampers of behaviour and provides strategies for tipping motivational trade-offs and behaviour change. Here, we used one such strategy, upfront voluntary choice restriction ('precommitment'), and tested if it can increase the amount of self-directed rehabilitative training in severely impaired
stroke patients. In this randomized controlled study,
stroke patients with working memory deficits (n = 83) were prescribed daily self-directed gamified
cognitive training as an add-on to standard
therapy during post-acute inpatient
neurorehabilitation. Patients allocated to the precommitment intervention could choose to restrict competing options to self-directed training, specifically the possibility to meet visitors. This upfront choice restriction was opted for by all patients in the intervention group and highly effective. Patients in the precommitment group performed the prescribed self-directed gamified
cognitive training twice as often as control group patients who were not offered precommitment [on 50% versus 21% of days, Pcorr = 0.004, d = 0.87, 95% confidence interval (CI95%) = 0.31 to 1.42], and, as a consequence, reached a 3-fold higher total training dose (90.21 versus 33.60 min, Pcorr = 0.004, d = 0.83, CI95% = 0.27 to 1.38). Moreover, add-on self-directed
cognitive training was associated with stronger improvements in visuospatial and verbal working memory performance (Pcorr = 0.002, d = 0.72 and Pcorr = 0.036, d = 0.62). Our neuroscientific decision add-on intervention strongly increased the amount of effective
cognitive training performed by severely impaired
stroke patients. These results warrant a full clinical trial to link decision-based neuroscientific interventions directly with clinical outcome.