Online Interplay Between Deciding and Acting With Mild Cognitive Impairment

The investigators aim to understand the interplay and neural structures involved with decision--making and movement for participants with mild cognitive impairment. Rapidly deciding and acting becomes bottlenecked with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's, leading to detrimental outcomes such as falling and car crashes. The investigators work will have a tangible impact by discovering sensitive biomarkers to detect disease onset and pave the way for informed and effective neurorehabilitation.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Mild Cognitive Impairment
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Reaching Movements

Detailed Description

Mild cognitive impairment leads not only to impaired decision making, but also movement deficits that predict the development of Alzheimer's disease. Recent behavioral work has suggested a common mechanism that throttles the speed of both decisions and reaching movements, which is supported by converging neural evidence that finds an interac-tion between decision making and movement (motor) circuits. Yet it remains unknown how the interplay between decision making and motor neural circuits becomes impaired and impedes rapid responses for those with mild cognitive impairment. Here the investigators test the central hypothesis that there is an impaired interaction between decision making and motor neural circuits with mild cognitive impairment.

First, the investigators will use human reaching experiments to establish that mild cognitive impairment disrupts the interplay of decision making and motor control. Second, the investigators will use Magnetic resonance elastography to elucidate whether brain stiffness in decision making and motor brain regions are related to altered movement behavior. The expected outcome is a mechanistic understanding of how impaired decision making and motor neural circuits impact movement for those with mild cognitive impairment.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 60
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Joshua Cashaback; Phone Number: (302) 831-2792; Email: joshcash@udel.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • Delaware
    • Newark, Delaware, United States, 19713
      • Recruiting
      • University of Delaware

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. age 45 - 90 years
2. Perfect or corrected vision
3. Ability to reach
4. Neurotypical Age-Matched control participants - No history of neurological disorders or injury.
5. Mild Cognitive Impairment participants - clinical diagnosis of amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Any injury or condition that impacts reaching
2. Traumatic brain injury, such as concussion, in the last 6 months.
3. Neurotypical Age-Matched control participants: Modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS-m) score < 34
4. Mild Cognitive Impairment participants: Modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS-m) score > 34
5. Mild Cognitive Impairment participants: Mini-Mental State Examination Second Edition (MMSE-2) score < 21.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Reaching task; Mild cognitive impairment participants will make decisions while moving	Behavioral: Reaching Movements; participants will perform a perceptual decision making task while moving their hand.
Active Comparator: Reaching Task; Age-match control participants will make decision while moving	Behavioral: Reaching Movements; participants will perform a perceptual decision making task while moving their hand.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Reaching Movements	Hand position will be recorded throughout each trial during the behavioral task	through study completion, an average of 1 year
Change in brain mechanical properties	Investigators are assessing change in brain structure through mechanical properties	through study completion, an average of 1 year

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Decision Time	Decision time will be calculated on each trial during the behavioral task	through study completion, an average of 1 year

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Delaware
• Collaborators: National Institutes of Health (NIH); National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Josh Cashaback, University of Delaware

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 28, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): June 30, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 18, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 2, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): July 10, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): October 15, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 10, 2025
• Last Verified: October 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Brain; Decisions; Reaching
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Neurocognitive Disorders; Cognition Disorders; Cognitive Dysfunction
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2026374-5; U54GM104941 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

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
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No