HARP-Project 1 Cognitive Training

July 1, 2019 updated by: Vankee Lin, University of Rochester
Emerging evidence from social neuroscience suggests that prefrontal cortex (PFC), insular and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) regulate social and emotional responses to acute threats to social connectedness among young adults. Deficient neural reserve or overused neural compensation resulting from neurodegeneration is commonly observed in these frontal regions in old age. This aging-related "neural depletion" may have implications for how older adults respond to social threats, potentially increasing maladaptive emotional and social behavioral responses, such as social anxiety and social avoidance, which contribute to social disconnectedness. The central hypothesis is that cognitive deficits and associated aging-related 'neural depletion' in the frontal regions will contribute to maladaptive social-emotional responses to a social stressor -- social exclusion. Ultimately, maladaptive responses to acute social stress, such as social anxiety and avoidance, can compromise social connectedness by increasing social strain and isolation. The investigators have recently developed a neuroplasticity-based cognitive training program, called vision-based speed of processing (VSOP) training, targeting multiple aspects of cognitive capacity (e.g., attention, working memory and inhibition) and incorporating the speed component to improve the efficiency of these cognitive processes. VSOP training also targets several neural networks seeded in ACC and insular (default mode network) or PFC (the frontal-striatal network and central executive network). These networks also overlap with neural substrates of emotion regulation. Notably, VSOP training appears to improve emotion regulation, as depressive symptoms were reduced in older adults following VSOP training. Finally, the autonomic nervous system (ANS), critical to stress adaptation, is regulated by these frontal regions. The objective of the proposed pilot study is to provide proof-of-concept for the hypothesis that improvements in older adults' cognitive capacity, frontal regions' neural efficiency, and ANS function via the VSOP training will be associated with more adaptive social-emotional response to social exclusion, which, in turn, should confer longer-term protection for older adults' sense of social connectedness. Randomized Controlled Trial Design: 30 older adults will be randomly assigned to engage in 6-week VSOP training, or to an active control group. Differential changes from baseline to post-training in cognitive capacity, neural efficiency, and ANS function, and sense of social connectedness, will be compared between VSOP control groups. A social exclusion paradigm ('cyberball' task) will be conducted post-training to evaluate VSOP training effects on social-emotional responses to social exclusion, including anxiety and motivation for social affiliation.

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.

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.
30

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
    • New York
      • Fairport, New York, United States, 14450
        • The Northfield
      • Pittsford, New York, United States, 14534
        • The Highlands
      • Rochester, New York, United States, 14620
        • River Edge Manor
      • Rochester, New York, United States, 14620
        • St. Johns Meadows

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

60 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. aged ≥ 60 years, community-dwelling, English-speaking, adequate vision and hearing for testing, capacity to give consent based on clinician assessment;
  2. Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS) ≥ 31, Geriatric Depression Scale < 7 (i.e., free of major depression that can interfere with neural efficiency for social-emotional regulation), EXAMINER composite score (a comprehensive executive function battery test package that is sensitive to frontal regions' neural efficiency change) < .70 (i.e., reflecting decreased neural efficiency of frontal regions compared to cognitively health older adults in general);
  3. moderate social relation difficulties: identified by World Health Organization Disability Assessment Scale (WHO-DAS), "Getting Along with Other People" domain, at least "moderate" difficulties endorsed; from HARP Database Project screening)

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. a self-report clinical diagnosis of dementia or mild cognitive impairment;
  2. MRI contraindications (e.g., pacemaker, metallic implant, claustrophobia);

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: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

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: vision-based speed of processing (VSOP) cognitive training
use the INSIGHT online program (Posit Science), which includes five training paradigms (Eye for detail, Peripheral challenge, Visual sweep, Double decision, Target tracker) that practice processing speed and attention. All exercises share visual components and focus on accuracy and fast reaction times. Participants respond either by identifying what object they see or where they see it on the screen. The training will automatically adjust the difficulty of each task based on the participant's performance, ensuring that the participants always operate near their optimal capacity. The training programs will automatically record the percentage of completion of each game and scores.
Behavioral: VSOP training
a computerized cognitive training of attention and processing speed
Active Comparator: active control
The standardized computerized leisure activities program - MLA, including crossword puzzle, Sudoku, etc. will be used
Behavioral: MLA control
a computerized cognitive intervention of multiple mental leisure activities

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
cognitive capacity
Time Frame: baseline and 7 week post-training
change of executive function from baseline to 7 week post-training
baseline and 7 week post-training

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
brain function 1 (BOLD fMRI)
Time Frame: baseline and 7 week post-training
brain functional change in response to social scenario task from baseline to 7 week post-training
baseline and 7 week post-training
social well-being
Time Frame: baseline and 7 week post-training
change of social well-being measured by HARP Social Connectedness and Well-Being Core Battery from baseline to 7 week
baseline and 7 week post-training
brain function 2 (BOLD fMRI)
Time Frame: 7 week post-training only
brain functional adaptability to cyberball task
7 week post-training only

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 Rochester

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.
  • Study Director: Anne Corriveau, University of Rochester

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.
October 4, 2017

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.
December 14, 2018

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.
December 14, 2018

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).
September 18, 2017

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.
September 20, 2017

First Posted (Actual)

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.
September 26, 2017

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.
July 5, 2019

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.
July 1, 2019

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.
July 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

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.
  • RSRB00067540

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

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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