Brain Fitness APP for Cognitive Enhancement

February 22, 2021 updated by: Dr. Zahra Kazem-Moussavi, University of Manitoba

Brain Fitness APP for Cognitive Enhancement of People With Dementia

Memory and cognitive declines are associated with normal brain aging but are also precursors to dementia, in particular the so called the pandemic of the century, Alzheimer's disease. While currently there is no cure or "vaccine" against dementia, there are hopes to delay the onset of the disease by living a brain-healthy life style. The proposed research offers a novel approach to prevent dementia and age-related cognitive disorders.

We propose to use our developed brain fitness APP for the aging population with dementia. The proposed APP is based on the premise of brain plasticity, and targets the brain functions that are declining with normal aging and dementia. In a pilot study, we showed very positive effects of our custom designed brain exercises to strengthen left-right side brain connectivity in older adults when used regularly. Leveraging our previous design, we have developed an end-user product with additional features and enhanced user interface and user experience that will allow it to be used for neuro-cognitive rehabilitation by an individual without supervision The proposed APP will be tested on 30 individuals with cognitive impairment.

Additionally, participants can receive an optional electrical stimulation called transcranial alternating current stimulation. This applies an alternating current to a person's brain by two electrodes placed on the scalp. The participants, who choose this option, will receive simultaneous stimulation during the brain exercise tutored sessions. Studies have shown that simultaneous application of the electrical stimulation and cognitive exercises further enhances the cognitive function by boosting the working memory improvement. Thus, this may lead to further improvements from any potential positive effects of the brain exercises.

We anticipate the frequent use of the proposed APP will help to slow and even reverse the progression of the cognition decline in individuals with mild cognitive impairment or dementia.

Study Overview

Status

Unknown

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The research is on the frequent use of our designed APP (for iPADs) that contains a series of our recently developed brain exercises that contains a series of our recently developed brain exercises, including orientation, associative memory, word-image association, recall memory, etc. Participant can receive an optional electrical stimulation called transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) simultaneously during the brain exercise tutor sessions.

Each participant will have a dedicated tutor for Brain Exercises with three scheduling options:

A) 5 days/week, 2 sessions/day each 30 min) for a period of 4 weeks, B) 3 days/week, 2 sessions/day each 30 minute for a period of 8 weeks, C) Remote program, 5 days/week, 40min/day for a period of 4 weeks (this option is not available for participants receiving tACS).

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

30

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

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

20 years to 95 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age: 20+ years
  • Have a score of 7≤ MoCA ≤ 25
  • Being diagnosed with either mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or mild/moderate stage of Alzheimer's.
  • Except the MCI/Alzheimer's diagnosis, have no known or diagnosis of major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, mood disorder, Parkinson's disease, Huntington disease, ALS, MS, and/or any other neurological disorder.
  • Reading/writing fluency in English

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: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Brain fitness app
Daily tutored sessions of brain exercises on an iPAD (in-person or remote)
Other: Brain fitness app
Daily tutored sessions of brain exercises on an iPAD (in-person or remote)
Experimental: Brain fitness app with tACS
Daily tutored sessions of brain exercises on an iPAD combined with simultaneous transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS)
Other: Brain fitness app with tACS
Daily tutored sessions of brain exercises on an iPAD with simultaneous transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS IV)
Time Frame: baseline, post-intervention within a week after the end of 4-week trial and a month after the second assessment
This assessment has a total of 11 tests, out of which we will use its six primary tests that assess our target brain functions, comprised of 12 subtests (subsections): Logical Memory 1, Verbal Paired Associates 1, Faces 1, Family Pictures 1, Logical Memory 2, Verbal Paired Associates 2, Faces 2, Family Pictures 2, Verbal Paired Associates 2 Recognition, Logical Memory 2 Recognition, Letter-Number Sequencing and Spatial Span. They are classified into 3 major memory indexes: Immediate Memory, General Memory and Working Memory.
baseline, post-intervention within a week after the end of 4-week trial and a month after the second assessment

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Egocentric Spatial Orientation
Time Frame: baseline, post-intervention within a week after the end of 4-week trial and a month after the second assessment
This test is one of the PI's designs that has been in use since a few years ago. It is used for detecting the onset of Alzheimer's. In this test participants sit in a customized wheelchair and by waking the wheelchair they move within a virtual cubic building to reach a particular target room. They can do this test either using the laptop screen or in its immersive version wearing a goggle (Oculus Rift 2).
baseline, post-intervention within a week after the end of 4-week trial and a month after the second assessment
Change in MONTGOMERY ASBERG DEPRESSION RATING SCALE (MADRS)
Time Frame: baseline, post-intervention within a week after the end of 4-week trial and a month after the second assessment
The MADRS is a ten item rating scale for rating levels of depression. Each item is rated on a 7-point scale from 0 to 6, where 0 indicates absence of the symptom and 6 indicates extreme presence of the symptom. The time frame for the scale is the previous four weeks.
baseline, post-intervention within a week after the end of 4-week trial and a month after the second assessment

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Manitoba

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)

June 20, 2018

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

December 1, 2021

Study Completion (Anticipated)

December 1, 2021

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 11, 2018

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 12, 2018

First Posted (Actual)

July 16, 2018

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 24, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 22, 2021

Last Verified

February 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • B2018:029GB

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

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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