Impact of Intensive Computerized Cognitive Training (CCT)

November 4, 2025 updated by: Kirk Daffner, MD, Brigham and Women's Hospital

Computerized Cognitive Training: Characterization of Factors That Predict Cognitive Enhancement in Acquired Brain Injury

To investigate factors that predict cognitive enhancement following engagement in an intensive Computerized Cognitive Training Protocol.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

To investigate factors that predict cognitive enhancement following engagement in an intensive 6-month, 5 days per week training use the ABI Wellness BEARS platform and Brainex Software Symbol Relations Module.

The study will examine the impact of intensive working memory training on neurocognitive markers of brain plasticity (intervention-related changes) in 1) performance on neuropsychological tests, 2) BDNF levels in blood and salivary, 3) ERP measures of working memory, and 4) resting state fMRI and structural MRI.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

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 Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Massachusetts
      • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02115
        • Recruiting
        • Brigham and Women's Hospital

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patient of the Mass General Brigham Health System with primary attention and executive functioning difficulties and/or a diagnosis of mild cognitive disorder or mild neurocognitive disorder (non-amnestic profile), due to an acquired brain injury (ABI) sustained at least 12 months prior to study contact.
  • Ages 25-65 years old
  • Proficiency in English
  • Willing and able to complete all study-related activities for 12 months, including travel to Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston) for four in-person assessment visits and two serum and saliva sample collections.
  • Access to a computer with webcam and stable internet.
  • A reliable study informant who can complete one questionnaire about participant's cognition/daily functioning, at four time points.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • History of alcohol or substance abuse, or dependence, within the past 2 years, as per DSM-5 criteria.
  • High likelihood of an underlying progressive neurodegenerative disorder.
  • Evidence of moderate to severe cognitive disorder, based on a score of 21 or less on the Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) (Tombaugh & McIntyre, 1992).
  • Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-9 (Kroenke et al., 2010) Score ≥ 19, unless deemed by treating provider not to have active depression (e.g., adjustment disorder, grief reaction).
  • Active psychotic symptoms.
  • Severe sensory losses such that participants would unlikely be able to participate in the study training, even with substantial accommodations (self-report of extreme difficulty reading ordinary newspaper print or a performance-tested corrected vision test score of worse than 20/30).
  • Communication difficulties that prevent the participant from effectively participating in this highly interactive study protocol (based on interviewer's rating of a person's ability to be understood and to understand others).
  • Current participation in a pharmacological, or other interventional research trial.
  • Life expectancy of < 2 years.

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: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Computerized Cognitive Training
See section of intervention/treatment for additional information.
Behavioral: Cognitive Computerized Training
Participants will log into ABI Wellness Platform five days per week (M-T-W-Th-F) and train using the Symbol Relations module for 45 to 60 minutes. Every other week, participants will meet with their training facilitator via zoom to review training progress and troubleshoot any training-related questions.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Changes in cognitive outcome measures
Time Frame: 6 months
We will use age-corrected standard scores of the NIH toolbox Total Cognitive Composite, Fluid Intelligence Composite, and individual scores on RAVLT, Verbal Fluency, and Trailmaking Task as cognitive outcome measures.
6 months
Changes in BDNF Levels in blood and saliva
Time Frame: 6 months
Using FUJIFILM high sensitivity ELISA kits and commercially available ELISA kits.
6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Self-report exercise and physical activity
Time Frame: 6 months

Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (questionnaire).

Measures walking, moderate, and vigorous activity. Zero lower limit, no upper limit. Higher values indicate more physical activity.
6 months
Intervention-related changes in ERP measures, such as the P3 component (P3a and P3b)
Time Frame: 6 months
1) Measured in response to verbal and visual working memory tasks
6 months
Intervention-related changes in resting state fMRI
Time Frame: 6 months
A group ICA analysis procedure will be applied to pre- and post-intervention rs-fMRI BOLD signal activity. Correlations will be explored between fMRI parameters, cognitive, and training data (e.g NIH toolbox Total Cognitive Composite, Fluid Intelligence Composite, Crystallized Composite, CCT engagement and progress).
6 months
Quality of life self-report
Time Frame: 6 months

Flanagan Quality of Life Scale (questionnaire).

Measures quality of life. Likert scale 0-112, higher values indicate higher quality of life.
6 months
Sleep
Time Frame: 6 months

Medical Outcomes Study Sleep Scale (questionnaire)

Likert scale measuring sleep quality and sleep problems index. 0-60 with greater values representing higher sleep quality and lower sleep problems.
6 months
Anxiety
Time Frame: 6 months

Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 Item Scale (questionnaire)

Likert scale measuring severity of anxiety. 0-21 with greater values representing more severe anxiety.
6 months
Depression
Time Frame: 6 months

Patient Health Questionnaire Depression Scale (questionnaire)

Likert scale measuring the severity of depression. 0-24 with higher scores representing more severe depression.
6 months
Self-report on impact of fatigue
Time Frame: 6 months

Modified Fatigue Impact Scale

Likert scale on the impact of fatigue on one's physical, cognitive, and psychosocial activity. 0-84 with higher scores indicating a greater impact of fatigue on a person's activities.
6 months
Feelings about cognitive/thinking skills
Time Frame: 6 months

Cognitive Self- Efficacy Questionnaire

Likert scale on feelings people have about their cognition/thinking skills. 0-72 with a higher score indicating more positive feelings regarding the efficacy of ones cognitive/thinking abilities.
6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Brigham and Women's Hospital

Collaborators

Fujifilm

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Kim C Willment, PhD, Brigham and Women's Hospital
  • Principal Investigator: Kirk R Daffner, MD, Brigham and Women's Hospital

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 (Actual)

October 1, 2023

Primary Completion (Estimated)

March 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

March 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 30, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 8, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

November 14, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

November 5, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 4, 2025

Last Verified

November 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2022P003401

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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