Recollection Training in Healthy Older Adults and Older Adults With Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment

November 15, 2018 updated by: Dr. Nicole D. Anderson, Baycrest

Memory Interventions for Older Adults

We have developed a training intervention that successfully improves older adults' memory. We have also shown that older adults whose memory is as good as younger adults' memory (Hi-Old) use an altered pattern of memory-related brain activity compared to younger adults, whereas healthy older adults with poorer memory (Lo-Old) do not. We have also shown that individuals with amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) have impairments of conscious, effortful, Recollection-based memory processes, whereas their automatic, Familiarity-based memory processes are intact. Our primary current goal is to investigate whether our successful memory intervention will improve Recollection and produce induce altered patterns of brain activity in the Lo-Old and aMCI.

Young, Lo-Old, Hi-Old, and aMCI will be scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing two memory tasks. Half of the Lo-Old and half of the aMCI will then receive the memory intervention, while the other half in each group will receive a control program consisting of information and games about aging. The Lo-Old and aMCI will then be rescanned while performing the two memory tasks. We predict that the memory intervention will improve performance on a number of memory tasks, and will induce altered patterns of brain activity. In the Lo-Old, their brain activity after the memory intervention will look more like the Hi-Old, while brain activity will become more focal in the aMCI.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

91

Phase

  • 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

  • Canada
    • Ontario
      • Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M6A 2E1
        • Baycrest

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

65 years to 90 years (Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • 65-90 years old
  • English as a first language or learned before kindergarten
  • Right handed

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Neurologic disorder
  • Major medical disorder affecting cognition
  • Psychiatric disorder
  • Metal in the body that poses a hazard in the MRI scanner

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: Basic Science
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: 1
Recollection training via graduated increases in task difficulty, carried out over 36 sessions over 9 training days
Behavioral: Recollection Training
Participants are exposed to long lists of words. Each word is presented either visually or auditorily, and each word is repeated after a variable number of intervening words (the lag), in each the same modality, or the other modality. Participants are instructed to respond "yes" only to words repeated in the same modality. If a performance criterion is met, the lag is increased for the next session; if the performance criterion is not met, the same lag is repeated in the next session.
Other Names:
  • Memory training
Active Comparator: 2
Computer-delivered information sessions about memory and aging with Jeopardy-like games to engage participants
Behavioral: Control
Participants view PowerPoint presentations on various topics related to memory and aging (e.g., structural brain changes, diet, stress, depression) and how each of these topics affect memory, and after each presentation, play a Jeopardy-like game to test their knowledge gain
Other Names:
  • Educational Control

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Recollection estimates
Time Frame: Immediately post-training and three months post-training
Recollection, defined as Correct "yes" responses to "Same" repetitions minus Incorrect "yes" responses to "Different" repetitions, as a function of condition (trained versus control), lag (3, 16) and time (pre-, post-, and 3 month follow-up)
Immediately post-training and three months post-training

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Brain activation as assessed by functional magnetic resonance imaging
Time Frame: Immediately post-training
Prefrontal (inferior, middle, and superior frontal gyri) activation for Different Repetitions minus Same Repetitions, as a function of group (trained versus control), lag (3, 16), and time (pre, post). Additional analyses will compare trained versus control older adults with younger adults on these measures at baseline (pre). Analyses will include an exploration of prefrontal laterality of the effects (left minus right), to see whether training induces greater bilaterality of activation.
Immediately post-training
Transfer to other recollection-dependent task and to subjective memory measures
Time Frame: Immediately post-training and three months post-training
Source memory, self-ordered pointing, n-back, a Sternberg task, CVLT, an AB-AC test of proactive interference, the Memory Controllability Inventory, Multifactorial Memory Questionnaire (Ability and Contentment subscales), Meta-Memory in Adulthood questionnaire (locus of control, anxiety, and capability subscales), and an in-house measure of the efficacy of the control program
Immediately post-training and three months post-training

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Baycrest

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Nicole D Anderson, PhD, CPsych, Baycrest

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

February 1, 2008

Primary Completion (Actual)

August 1, 2013

Study Completion (Actual)

August 1, 2013

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 26, 2008

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 24, 2008

First Posted (Estimate)

March 26, 2008

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

November 16, 2018

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 15, 2018

Last Verified

November 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • RecollectionTraining
  • CIHR MOP 67015
  • ASC 08 95

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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