Examining Executive Functions in Medical Students Across Different Types of Study Breaks
Study Overview
Status
Conditions
Intervention / Treatment
Detailed Description
120 people will be recruited. Following consent procedures, those who choose to participate will be randomized to physical intervention, digital intervention or control. 40 will be randomly selected to be in the active physical break group, another 40 participants will selected to be in the passive digital break group, and another 40 will be selected to be in the group without any break.
All participants will complete a demographic form and a baseline Stroop and Sustained Attention to Response Task tests prior to starting the experiment. Next, participants in all three groups will self-study any form of class material for 45 minutes without any breaks or phone usage. At the 45 min mark, the first part of the List Learning Task will be administered to all participants. Following completion, participants in the active physical break and passive digital break groups will begin their 15 min breaks. Those in the former group will engage in 10 min of walking or upper body movement. Those in the latter group will engage in 10 min of social media usage. An additional 5 min will be allotted to allow participants to get settled after their break and use the bathroom if needed before continuing with the study. Participants in the control group will continue studying for 15 min. All participants will not be permitted to converse or interact with each other throughout the break. Once the 15 min break has concluded, all participants will be administered the second part of the List Learning Task. When that is completed, participants will be given the Stroop Test and Sustained Attention to Response Task. A survey will be given to the passive digital break group to determine which social media app(s) were used. All groups will be surveyed about their thoughts regarding their respective type of break or lack thereof and its effect on their studying.
Study Type
Enrollment (Estimated)
Phase
- Not Applicable
Contacts and Locations
Study Contact
- Name: Amber Sousa, PhD
- Phone Number: 516-686-7698
- Email: asousa@nyit.edu
Study Contact Backup
- Name: Joanne DiFrancisco-Donoghue, PhD
- Phone Number: 516-686-1300
- Email: jdonoghu@nyit.edu
Study Locations
-
-
New York
-
Old Westbury, New York, United States, 11568
- Recruiting
- NYIT
-
-
Participation Criteria
Eligibility Criteria
Ages Eligible for Study
- Adult
- Older Adult
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Description
Inclusion Criteria:
- have and regularly use some form of social media
- able to perform light physical activity such as walking or upper body movement
Exclusion Criteria:
- no social media usage
- color blindness (cognitive tests require color perception)
- ADHD or other known conditions that affect attention and/or concentration,
- current concussion
- any condition that prevents upper or lower body physical activity.
Study Plan
How is the study designed?
Design Details
- Primary Purpose: Other
- Allocation: Randomized
- Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
- Masking: None (Open Label)
Arms and Interventions
Participant Group / Arm |
Intervention / Treatment |
|---|---|
|
Experimental: Social Media Study Break
Medical students will engage in a 10 minute social media study break
|
Participants will engage in social media use/engagement during a 10-minute study session break
|
|
Active Comparator: Physical Activity Study Break
Medical student will engage in a 10 minute light physical activity study break
|
A 10-minute walking/upper extremity light movement indoor break from study session
|
|
No Intervention: No study break
Medical students will continue to study instead of a break
|
What is the study measuring?
Primary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
|
Sustained Attention to Response Task
Time Frame: from enrollment until the end of their partipation which lasts one day
|
Sustained Attention to Response Task is a go/nogo task with infrequent nogo signals to measure attention.
Participants are presented with a single digit 1-9 in the middle of the screen in varying font sizes.
The digit disappears after a short while and is replaced with a mask (circle with an X).
Participants are asked to press the SPACEBAR if any digit other than 3 is presented and to withhold the response if digit 3 is presented.
|
from enrollment until the end of their partipation which lasts one day
|
Secondary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
|
Stroop Task
Time Frame: from enrollment until the end of their partipation which lasts one day
|
The classic Stroop paradigm demonstrates the interference of word meaning on the naming of the color in which the words are written as measured by reaction time/accuracy differences to color-meaning congruent and color-meaning incongruent combinations.
Participants are given color words written in color and are asked to indicate the color of the word (not its meaning) by key press as fast as they can without making too many errors.
Congruent trials: color word and the color it is presented in are the same Incongruent trials: color word and the color it is presented in are not the same Control trials: colored rectangles.
|
from enrollment until the end of their partipation which lasts one day
|
|
List Learning Task
Time Frame: from enrollment until the end of their partipation which lasts one day
|
The List Learning Task is a basic computer-adapted List Learning Task inspired by the one used by The Repeatable Battery for Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). The script presents the list visually and accepts written input. Participants are presented a list of words (fixed sequence), one at a time, on the computer screen. Once the list has finished, a textbox appears and participants are asked to enter as many of the list words as they remember, in any order. The list learning/recall task is repeated 3 more times before a break (default: 15min). After the break, participants work through an optional delayed recall test and a recognition task: 20 words are presented to them, one by one, and participants have to decide whether the word was part of the orinal list. |
from enrollment until the end of their partipation which lasts one day
|
Collaborators and Investigators
Sponsor
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: Amber Sousa, PhD, NYIT COM
Study record dates
Study Major Dates
Study Start (Actual)
Primary Completion (Estimated)
Study Completion (Estimated)
Study Registration Dates
First Submitted
First Submitted That Met QC Criteria
First Posted (Actual)
Study Record Updates
Last Update Posted (Actual)
Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria
Last Verified
More Information
Terms related to this study
Other Study ID Numbers
- NYIT IRB-2025-152
Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)
Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?
Drug and device information, study documents
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product
product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.
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