Neuromodulation of Cognition in Older Adults

May 3, 2023 updated by: University of Florida

Neuromodulation of Cognition in Older Adults: The Stimulated Brain Study

This study will investigate whether transcranial direct current stimulation enhances the effects of cognitive training in healthy older adults.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

The current study will investigate methods for enhancing cognitive training effects in healthy older adults by employing a combination of interventions facilitating neural plasticity and optimizing readiness for learning. Adults over the age of 65 represent the fastest growing group in the US population. As such, age-related cognitive decline represents a major concern for public health. Recent research suggests that cognitive training in older adults can improve cognitive performance, with effects lasting up to 10 years. However, these effects are typically limited to the tasks trained, with little transfer to other cognitive abilities or everyday skills. A pilot randomized clinical trial will examine the individual and combined impact of pairing cognitive training with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). tDCS is a method of non-invasive brain stimulation that directly stimulates brain regions involved in active cognitive function and enhances neural plasticity when paired with a training task. We will compare changes in cognitive and brain function resulting from CT and CT combined with tDCS using a comprehensive neurocognitive, clinical, and multimodal neuroimaging assessment of brain structure, function, and metabolic state.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
31

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Florida
      • Gainesville, Florida, United States, 32610
        • University of Florida
      • Gainesville, Florida, United States, 32611
        • McKnight Brain Institute

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

65 years to 95 years (Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Men and women
  • Age: 65 to 90 years
  • English speaking
  • Physically mobile
  • working memory function between 0-75th percentile determined by screening results on the POSIT Baseline Cognitive Training computerized tasks.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Neurological disorders (e.g., dementia, stroke, seizures, traumatic brain injury).
  • Evidence of dementia (NACC UDS scores of 1.5 standard deviations below the mean for age, sex and education adjusted norms in a single cognitive domain on the task).
  • Past opportunistic brain infection.
  • Major psychiatric illness (schizophrenia, intractable affective disorder, current substance dependence diagnosis or severe major depression and/or suicidality).
  • Unstable (e.g., cancer other than basal cell skin) and chronic (e.g, severe diabetes) medical conditions.
  • MRI contraindications (e.g., pregnancy, claustrophobia, metal implants that are contraindicated for MRI).
  • Physical impairment precluding motor response or lying still for 1 hr and inability to walk two blocks without stopping.
  • Certain prescription medications may possibly reduce effects otherwise induced by the tDCS stimulation protocol.
  • Hearing or vision deficits that will not allow for standardized cognitive training.
  • Left handedness

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Quadruple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Cognitive Training + Active tDCS
Participants will undergo up to 10 hours of cognitive training. Cognitive training will involve computerized games that stress elements of cognition. The group will undergo active transcranial direct current stimulation.
Device: Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation
Participants will undergo 20 minutes of 2 mA electrical stimulation to the head through saline soaked electrodes.
Other Names:
  • Soterix 1x1
Sham Comparator: Cognitive Training + Sham tDCS
Participants will undergo up to 10 hours of cognitive training. Cognitive training will involve computerized games that stress elements of cognition. The group will undergo sham transcranial direct current stimulation.
Device: Sham Stimulation
Administer 30 seconds of 2 mA electrical current to the head through saline soaked electrodes.
Other Names:
  • Soterix 1x1 DC stimulator

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in NIH Toolbox Fluid Cognition Composite Score
Time Frame: baseline up to two week post test
The NIH Toolbox is a battery of neurocognitive tests created by the National Institute on Aging as a comprehensive measure of cognitive function. We used the change from baseline to two week post test in the NIH Toolbox Fluid Cognition Composite Score (FCC) to assess outcome. The uncorrected standard score of the FCC was used. The FCC is derived by averaging the standard scores of the NIH Toolbox Flanker, Dimensional Change Card Sort, Picture Sequence Memory, List Sorting, and Pattern Comparison tests and then deriving standard scores based on this new distribution. The uncorrected standard score is on a scale of mean = 100, standard deviation = 15. Higher positive scores mean a greater improvement at the post test. Difference scores ranged from a minimum of -7 to a maximum of 19. FCC scores ranged from a minimum of 73 to a maximum of 112 in this sample. On a population level percentiles are reported from a minimum score of 59 to a maximum of 140, covering 99.3% of the population.
baseline up to two week post test

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
University of Florida

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Adam J Woods, PhD, University of Florida

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
January 14, 2015

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
February 8, 2022

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
February 8, 2022

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
May 9, 2014

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
May 12, 2014

First Posted (Estimate)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
May 13, 2014

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
May 8, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
May 3, 2023

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
May 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • IRB201400328-N
  • 5KL2TR001429 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)
  • 1K01AG050707-01A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

Yes

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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