Behavioral and Physiological Effects of Visual Training

September 10, 2007 updated by: Posit Science Corporation

Computer-Based Cognitive Training in Normal Healthy Aging: Pilot Study of Behavioral and Physiological Effects of Visual Sweeps Training Exercise, 2-Arm Model

The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the learnability of a 3 week, 40 minutes per day, 5 day per week, computer-based visual training exercise by healthy mature individuals undergoing normal aging.

Study Overview

Status

Unknown

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Virtually all adults will suffer a decline in their cognitive capacities to some degree. Typically, cognitive decline is characterized by a slow, progressive decline in abilities (frequently in memory, attention, inhibition and speed of processing) relative to younger adults, commonly called normal aging, age-associated memory impairment, age-consistent memory impairment, benign senescent forgetfulness, late-life forgetfulness, ageing-associated cognitive decline, and the preferred term, age-related cognitive decline (ARCD) As virtually all adults experience a reduction in their cognitive abilities with age, ARCD has generally been considered to be a normal, inevitable, and irreversible part of aging; and the extremely severe forms of pathological cognitive decline (e.g., Alzheimer's disease, AD) have dominated therapeutic research in this area. However, ARCD represents an important cause of quality of life decline in almost every older adult, as the impact of forgetfulness and mental slowing increasingly change the abilities of individuals to successfully manage their day-to-day activities. Therapeutic approaches targeting the specific problems of ARCD in normal aging (as opposed to the pathological problems of AD) would unto themselves represent important clinical advances.

This trial investigates the effects of a computer-based visual training exercise built on the principles of positive brain plasticity and designed for use by healthy mature individuals. The program is specifically designed to improve the fidelity of sensory representations in early visual cortex.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

54

Phase

  • Phase 2
  • Phase 1

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
    • California
      • San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States, 94104
        • Recruiting
        • Posit Science Corporation
        • Contact:
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Joseph L Hardy, PhD
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Daniel Tinker, BS

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

Ages Eligible for Study

60 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age 60 or older at the time of consent.
  • Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) score of 26 or higher.
  • Adequate visual capacity adequate to read.
  • Adequate hearing capacity.
  • Willing and able to commit to study time requirements.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Self-report of current diagnosis or history of major neurological illness.
  • Self-report of current diagnosis or history of psychiatric illness. c. History of psychiatric hospitalization in the past twenty years.
  • History of a stroke, transient ischemic attack (TIA) or traumatic brain injury within the past year; or lifetime history of stroke, TIA, or traumatic brain injury that has left residual expressive or receptive language problems. - Fibromyalgia or symptoms of severe tremor.
  • Self-report of current substance abuse, including alcoholism.
  • Current useof medications with substantial CNS effects. Inappropriate behaviors during screening or baseline visits.
  • Inability to perform behavioral evaluations.
  • Participant is not capable of giving informed consent or unable to comprehend and/or follow instructions.
  • Participant is enrolled in a concurrent clinical study that could affect the outcome of this study.

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: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: I
No contact control (NCC)
Experimental: II
Computerized, SAAGE-designed, visual memory-based cognitive training
Behavioral: SAAGE-designed, visual memory-based cognitive training
Training sessions take 40 minutes per day, five days per week for a total goal of 15, 40-minute sessions.
Other Names:
  • Hawkeye

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Improvement in visual memory assessment after training or no-contact period.
Time Frame: 6-8 weeks
6-8 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Improvement on at least 1 of the Computerized Visual Attention, Speed and Memory Tests conducted.
Time Frame: 6-8 weeks
6-8 weeks
Improvement on the computerized cognitive assessments.
Time Frame: 6-8 weeks
6-8 weeks
Improvement on exercise-based assessments.
Time Frame: 6-8 weeks
6-8 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Posit Science Corporation

Collaborators

University of San Francisco

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Joseph L Hardy, PhD, Posit Science Corporation

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

Helpful Links

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

August 1, 2007

Study Completion (Anticipated)

August 1, 2008

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 6, 2007

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 7, 2007

First Posted (Estimate)

September 10, 2007

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

September 11, 2007

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 10, 2007

Last Verified

September 1, 2007

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • RES-203-2007

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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