**1. Introduction**

416 Neuroimaging – Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience

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The brain remains plastic throughout the human lifespan. This unique property holds great promise for the better treatment of cognitive disorders, and forms the basis for behavioural interventions aimed at promoting mental function that may help delay and prevent the onset of dementia. Brain training (BT) is a direct method for targeting brain plasticity that employs repetitive cognitive exercises. Over the past decade increasing evidence has accumulated that BT can lead to clinical and cognitive benefits in psychiatric samples (McGurk et al., 2005, 2007), as well as in healthy older individuals (Valenzuela & Sachdev, 2009). However, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying these clinical benefits are not well understood. Advances in neuroimaging therefore has potential for revealing the complex *in vivo* structural, functional and metabolic brain changes that accompany BT. The aim of this systematic review was to compare and integrate results of several recent clinical trials of BT that have employed Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), with a particular emphasis on design and technical issues. These studies are beginning to provide fascinating insights into the nature of BT effects on the human brain.
